Water in boat

[TERRLOCKE]

Hi
My wife and I have just purchased a brand new second hand Beneteau 311 (2002), whilst out sailing the week end we found water coming out of the port side speaker and head lining at the forward bulk head when the boat was healing over, any ideas where this ingress of water could be coming from.
we had washed the deck down the day before and gave it a good hosing.
any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
regards
Terry

 

[jssailem]

Welcome to the world of yachting. And to our forum of interesting Sail boat Owners. Yes you likely identified the leak with your hosing down the deck.
The how water gets into your boat is the nightmare we all live with. There are the usual suspects. Open hatches, loose deck hardware, spills. Then there are the more subtle sources... deck finings that have loss their bedding seal, cracks in corners etc.
It takes a keen eye and a willingness to inspect the boat to find the culprits and fix them.

While we likely, at least some of us, know in general what a Beneteau 311 looks like, we do not know what your boat looks like. Who knows if the previous owner modified the boat to meet their needs and added or subtracted something. Perhaps you could upload a photo of the area (both inside and out) where you think the leak is happening.
Note that sometimes in our fervor to make the boat a shining gem, we knock or spray out the bedding compound that keeps the interior of the boat dry from window cracks or under fittings like hand holds or winches. Then it is the new owner that discovers the leak and has to "rebed" the hardware.
We have some excellent stuff here " butyl tape called Bed-It" it is produced and sold by MaineSail a member here. I found ti exceptional to use for bedding hardware.
Here is a link so you can read about it and make your own decision.
https://marinehowto.com/bed-it-tape/
Good luck. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your new baby.

 

[Calif. Ted]

I recently replaced a clutch for the furling line on a 2006 Bene, because the owner was unfamiliar with the butyl used to bed he ran the hose on it to test. The butyl didn't leak but the gate stanchion behind it let water pour thru as it had not been bedded and they even neglected to put a nut on it. You'll have to check all the deck penetrations in the leak area.

 

[Mechone]

Re -bed everything on the deck you will find the leak.Could be mast base, around opening hatch, more than likely something that is forward near the bulkhead

 

[TERRLOCKE]

Many thanks for the words of wisdom, we shall run keen eyes over the boat, take photo's and see what we can see, i'll let you know how we get on, were not going back up till the 17th of April.
all the best
Terry

 

[cstonedent]

I also have a 2002 Beneteau 311. I had water entering the boat through the seal between the deck and hull at the base of the swim platform. There is a rubber bumper that covers the joint. Water would enter about 20 centimeters port of the rudder stock exiting the hull. The boat had to be pulled and the joint repaired. In the aft cabin most aft panel there is an insert that can be removed, this is where I could see the water coming in, then went downhill collected around the base of the engine then into the bilge area of the saloon. It took quite a while to track down where the water was coming in. The boat was always very dry, dust in the bilge, no water until this happened. Good luck tracking down your water penetration point.