Under cockpit cushions..

[Karyon]

Any one tossed out their under cockpit cushions on there 23.5 or 240? or 26 or 260?
I pulled my boat home yesterday to get her ready for the maiden voyage to Flathead lake Montana .
I noticed that the cushions underneat the cockpit were wet, somehow rain leaked in thru the companionway.
I was thinking of putting down somesort of out door mat and use it as storage , since the old cushions starting to stink and no one sleeps there anyway.

What did you do with that space?

 

[Kermit]

We use ours for storage but are not ready to give up on it as sleeping space. If it were my boat I would clean the innards and the covers thoroughly and try to reuse them before discarding them. I see no reason not to put down mats if that's what you decide to do.

You also need to keep the rain out. We bought an Ameriseam companionway cover that does the trick. Rain didn't come in often but when it did, well, it did.

Good luck to y'all and enjoy your boat, eh!

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Make sure if you buy that cover Kermit suggested, throw a throw cushion underneath it to keep rainwater from pooling; otherwise, you might find that green frog, living in the water.

 

[Kermit]

Dave is right about keeping something under the cover. We don't remove the cover completely when sailing so I just leave a life jacket there. Makes for quick access in case of emergency. Such as DNR doing a life jacket inspection.

 

[GGordonWoody]

I've been having to drag out the cushions for the same reason. Without a cover, the rain seems to collect on the Plexiglas, forward of the wooden grab rail. If the rail isn't sealed, water drips through the screw holes. If it is sealed, water pools up against it and wicks under the starboard edge of the plexiglass and drips below. My GF suggested simply drilling holes in the grab rail to let the water out. That would definitely work, but it was cheap and way too easy, so I ordered the Ameriseam companionway cover from SBO. It's pretty awesome and I think it will do the trick, at least when the boat is moored. I stuck a square throwable cushion over the plexiglass to elevate the cover and provide some run-off. I'm hoping the pop-up canopy will keep out the rain when we're aboard.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

First you need to fix the problem before the Ameriseam cover or should I say I had Ameriseam build for me years ago which worked and now sold to you folks. No I never received one penny for that one as it was an idea suggested by me for my customers

There are two strips of wood teak that run across the plexiglass slider. The first is the most obvious which is the handle. You need to remove and all screws clean or remove the old caulk. You can use alcohol on plexiglass but NEVER USE ACETONE ON PLEXIGLASS OR YOU WILL CRAZE IT. If asked if I ever used moonshine to clean plexiglass, well it was a darn good cleaner. Run a bead from one end of the handle to the other end and around the screw holes. Also coat the threads of all screws and reseal onto plexiglass. The second strip of wood is the brake which keeps the plexiglass in place from coming out which cannot be seen as it is under the slider and on top of the plexiglass. You will for safety need an extra pair of hands and remvove the plexiglass from the slider which is held in place with screws on the side of slider or fiberglass top of the companionway hatch. You will then see the second strip of wood and do the same. I would use a pure silicon architechual grade like the stuff you use on the windows is the best.

Now for the cover. Follow the instruct ions on installation but one food for thought. If you already have the companionway cover installed, order the cover without the snaps attached. There is an inexpensive tool kit that you can buy and put them on yourself to eliminate the additional snaps on the boat but matching that cover to the existing snaps for the companionway cover.
Finally, put a square throwable under that cover so water will not pool up on top of the material and drain off to the sides. well folks, that's about it on this one today

 

[GGordonWoody]

Dave - did the H23.5 come with the male snaps already mounted on the deck? I wasn't sure if we had enough already installed, so I ordered the cover with the toolkit option so I would have a few extras. We spent a few hours pulling and stretching, mounting only two snaps at a time. It turned out awesome! I wound up drilling and adding four new snaps in the deck, just to get the cover tight on the vertical part. We stuck the throwable under the cover, just like you said. My only criticism was the toolkit. The round cup that holds the female button part for hammering is plastic, and it seems to allow hammer marks to appear on the surface of the snap. It works fine for the softer snaps that come with that tool (nickel over brass maybe?). But the snaps that come with the cover seem harder (stainless?). It might have been better to have an aluminum holder for the buttons, to help resist denting.

As for the Plexiglas, ours seams to have warped a tiny bit, so it doesn't seal perfectly against the rails it slides on. The Plexiglas offers a pretty good drip edge, but water does seem to wick under and drip in. We thought that adding a few weep holes might eliminate the pooling and allow the water to drip through into the cockpit (after landing on the hatch cover, probably). I would probably drill them as half circles and bed a short piece of 1/2" pvc (cut in half) to act as a liner. What do you think about this?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

NO to that idea of drilling into the plexiglass. Creates more problems as I did that once/. YOu could put two boards or aluuminm strips long wise to try to straighten out the curvature of the Plexiglass with nut and bolt screwing in from the top which I did a few times but hard to describe here. The screw would have to be oval to slid under the fiberflass portion when coming out. gotta run to the dr. appt.

 

[isaksp00]

Are you seeing this leaking only while the boat is on the trailer - that is, do you know it happens when afloat? On mine, it never sits exactly horizontal (like it would afloat) when trailered, even if parked on a very flat surface. I do get some flows on my hatch area that don't recur once it is floating. If you have only tested while on the hard, may want to wait and check it on the water. For example, does the pooling on the Plexiglas sit up against the teak handle, and then wick around the sides? If so, it is possible the angle when floating won't make it dam against that handle.

 

[GGordonWoody]

Hey Dave, thanks for all the replies, to all the members. I'm so sorry, I only just joined the forum. If I may ask, wut up with your medical condition?

 

[GGordonWoody]

Are you seeing this leaking only while the boat is on the trailer - that is, do you know it happens when afloat?

Excellent point. Yup, trailer only. We haven't floated her yet...maybe tomorrow!

We have been here at the lake all week fixing things and checking everything we can think of. We evaluated the launch area and ramp depth, and actually raised and lowered the mast yesterday - scared s*-less! That the thing is huge! It was heavier than we thought too. But it went up and came down Our practice place was angled slightly, so the mast listed to starboard. Very scary. We are hoping for enough good weather tomorrow to raise the mast for real, and float her off. The ramp at Millbrook is very shallow and I'm so afraid the centerboard will drag. I'm planning to run a line under her belly as she (hopefully) comes off the bunks, until we get her out of the ramp area. We almost launched her today, but I wanted boots to over the shroud turnbuckles to keep from bending the tee-bolts (I didn't even have the shrouds connected yesterday, only the baby stays, never doing that again).

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

call me. ;PM to you with cell phone

 

[MaxinCalgary]

Only ever get water in the boat when its on the trailer.
when its on the mooring bouy no water. I think its because when its on the bouy the boat faces the rain. The first wooden strip always needs to be sealed. Also velcro strips help the hatch slide and help with sealing the hatch.

 

[John23883]

I've found that on my boat the water only came in through the hatch boards during a hard rain. The only time water comes in through the sea hood or the plexiglass top hatch is when I use the pressure washer, never from rain. The boards sit an angle and quite a bit of water seeps in at the joints. I first solved it by adding door threshold pieces and that worked quite nicely. Eventually I cut new pieces from HDPE because I got tired of trying to get the wood hatch board to stay nice looking . But when I did I found most of the angles to be a little off and the bottom piece didn't sit level because the fiberglass on the port side had a bump on it. I cut a relief in the bottom plexi, then made sure every piece was level as I put them in one at time or corrected it. One of the replaced wood pieces was way off because it was cut to fit the un-level plexi bottom piece. Once everything fit tight, I have no water coming in and I didn't need the threshold pieces, although I had the option of adding them again if needed. The last picture shows the white plastic board with the backer attached to lock it tight, not over the front to stop water. I would try the above, but first use a hose outside with someone inside to check and see where the water is coming in and then solve the problem