Rainwater Leaks into Portside Cabin compartment

[chefjekyll]

Hi Folks,
1999 C320 #627 -- I have had a leak in the cabin for over three years, unable to track it down. After heavy rain or a good boat-washing, I find that water has collected in the small compartment furthest aft behind the Portside settee (just fwd of the electrical panel/plotting table area). Water is coming from somewhere near, or forward of, the V-Berth bulkhead and seeping behind the cabin panelling. I have re-bedded two stanchions that were suspect. Also replaced the non-opening port light just above that area. No luck. I have removed the rub rail screws and re-sealed them all the way around the bow. No luck. Short of removing every topside screw, are there any ideas out there? The leak has to be from the deck, as the water damage to the panelling is very high up. Any help will keep my wife from tossing me overboard some day...

 

[CrispyCringle]

Anchor locker drain fitting?

 

[jssailem]

Water is insidious in its way to enter our boats. Pictures of the deck above your boat in the area might help to get ideas that are more then guesses. Also the inside where you see the damage.

Include the ports.

 

[Calif. Ted]

Chainplates, look carefully at yours and if you haven't rebedded recently you will see a gap between the top plate and chainplate. When leaking they allow water into the deck which then migrates to wherever it can get thru the inner liner into the cabin. Once heard GD tell an owners group that you should just plan on rebedding every 8 years or so.

 

[chefjekyll]

Thanks for the ideas. Here are some photos. Chainplates could indeed be the culprits. Photo 1 is the small compartment collecting water. #2 is paneling damage aft of the v-berth bulkhead. #3 is close up of same. #4, 5, and 6 are topside of the chainplates. #7 is mainsheet block, port side. What do you all think?

 

[Calif. Ted]

The screws in the teak lath directly above the damaged area usually go into the deck space, if you remove it water from a saturated deck core will drip. As this piece runs under the galley shelf it will be necessary to remove it also, 5 minutes with a screw gun. I've used a piece of mason's twine stuffed into the screw hole with dental pick as a wick, lead down to a plastic cup, leave overnight. Clear water is better than brown water which may indicate some damage to the core.
I'm pretty sure your chainplates are leaking and you've got some water in the deck.

 

[chefjekyll]

Thanks, Calif. Ted, will give it a try and report back.

 

[RoyS]

Agree your chainplates look like they need re-bedding. I am presently chasing down a leak by encapsulating each suspect deck fitting with plumbers putty, one at a time. Eventually by the process of elimination I hope to find the guilty deck fitting. If your leak is extensive look where puddles form on your deck around a deck fitting. A fitting that sheds water during rain and does not end up underwater is unlikely to cause a fast ingress of water below deck.

 

[chefjekyll]

Covered all 3 chainplates with butyl tape last week, after a gentle 12 hour intermittent rain, about 1/4 cup water ended up in the compartment. Photo below. Clearly there is a leak from somewhere else, perhaps along with the chainplates. Has anyone discovered leaks under the jib car tracks? They seem to be pretty firmly attached, can't begin to unscrew without an impact driver, so I don't know what it looks like between the metal and the deck. Handrail is another possibility, but it seems to be too far aft to be the culprit. Still tracking it down...

 

[gtg]

Anyway you could have someone hose down the boat while you chase down the leak inside?

 

[RoyS]

You can target a suspect fitting on your deck and build a dam around it with clay, plumbers putty, or whatever, and submerge the fitting in water. Then watch the interior for leaks. Time consuming but easier than re-bedding everything.

 

[chefjekyll]

Thanks for the ideas. Yes, gtg, I have hosed the boat for hours while watching from inside. The leak manifests itself at the junction of the V-berth bulkhead on the portside, and the interior of the hull. No way to tell from there where it is originating. I re-bedded the fwd chainplate, which is right beside the leak) two days ago. In the process, put some pressure on the narrow teak trim that runs the length of the cabin. Water dripped a little, so I took the trim (and the galley shelf) off. Voila! about a cup of water was sitting in the space behind the teak. Water dripped out of two of the screw holes, so I connected a "wick" as Calif. Ted suggested. Water did continue to wick out of the screw hole for a bit. I am sure the wood is wet, not sure the damage it may have caused yet.

I will try the "reservoir" suggestion around the remaining chainplates, blocks and jib tracks, RoyS. I have already done a similar thing on the portside foredeck handrail.

Meanwhile, yesterday's severe weather (50mph gusts and funnel clouds in Destin) hosed the boat aplenty, and I went down later to see the results. More water in the small compartment, more dripping from the screw holes and lots around the forward opening port light. The chainplate I rebedded appeared to be dry, but hard to tell.

I believe I will re-seat the port light next, as a lot of water seems to be coming in around the seals and the latches. Yes, I have replaced these once already, but perhaps I didn't get the window completely waterproof. I have also tried to isolate that port light by taping plastic over the whole thing. Leak was still present. So frustrating...

Jekyll

 

[Reiner]

Hi Folks,
1999 C320 #627 -- I have had a leak in the cabin for over three years, unable to track it down. After heavy rain or a good boat-washing, I find that water has collected in the small compartment furthest aft behind the Portside settee (just fwd of the electrical panel/plotting table area). Water is coming from somewhere near, or forward of, the V-Berth bulkhead and seeping behind the cabin panelling. I have re-bedded two stanchions that were suspect. Also replaced the non-opening port light just above that area. No luck. I have removed the rub rail screws and re-sealed them all the way around the bow. No luck. Short of removing every topside screw, are there any ideas out there? The leak has to be from the deck, as the water damage to the panelling is very high up. Any help will keep my wife from tossing me overboard some day...

We got a 2006 320 here in Australia which had the same problem and after resealing the trough hull standing rigging chainplates and all windows and hatches the problem persisted. I bought myself a moisture meter and found a trail of water coming from the companion way sliding hatch cover on the upper deck. I removed that cover and found Catalina screwed the screws holding that cover down straight into the balsa core. Tomake it worse the area where the screws go down has a lean to it so it holds water and gives it plenty of time to slowly make its way to the inner liner. I oversize drilled this screw holes and filled them with epoxy followed by drilling guide holes to put the screws back in sealing the screw holes from the balsa core. I refitted the hatch and sealed the hatch with sikaflex 291 to the deck. That did the trick, no more leaks. That might fix your problem too
Cheers
Reiner

 

[sesmith]

Also check the seal in your windlass (under the capstan). On the C350s this is a fairly common leak point when the seal fails, though the leak usually shows up in the v birth area. Maybe with the right circumstances the water could track that far back in the 320 ??

 

[chefjekyll]

Reiner, where was the water gathering in the cabin? I'm trying to see how it would move forward from the companionway cover (which is forward of the windscreen?), but possibly it could since the deck slopes downward and a little forward from there.
Sesmith, I will check the windlass seal just to eliminate it as a source.
Thanks guys, keep the stories and ideas coming. I have rebedded all 3 Portside chain plates. Waiting for some more butyl tape to get "droned" in from Amazon so I can do the starboard chain plates.
I also noticed that the upper deck handrails are leaking, as they have stained the "curtains" over the fixed plexiglas port lights in the galley...geez.

 

[sesmith]

If there's a cover under the windlass in the v birth area, just take it off and flood the windlass with a water hose for a while. Any leak should be pretty obvious with the cover off.

 

[Reiner]

Reiner, where was the water gathering in the cabin? I'm trying to see how it would move forward from the companionway cover (which is forward of the windscreen?), but possibly it could since the deck slopes downward and a little forward from there.
Sesmith, I will check the windlass seal just to eliminate it as a source.
Thanks guys, keep the stories and ideas coming. I have rebedded all 3 Portside chain plates. Waiting for some more butyl tape to get "droned" in from Amazon so I can do the starboard chain plates.
I also noticed that the upper deck handrails are leaking, as they have stained the "curtains" over the fixed plexiglas port lights in the galley...geez.

We used to get water sitting on both sides on the top shelf in front of the switchboard. There is a lot more to this story but sealing the sliding hatch cover did the trick, we had no more water coming in.
Good luck
Reiner
PS keep in mind you got the upper and lower deck mostly made from balsa core plus you have the inner deck liner with air gap below the upper deck being one piece. The water leaking in can run from the windscreen right to the hatch in the v berth in theory as it all slopes that way.