water in rear sleeping berth

[Rick]

With all the rainy weather we've had in the Southeast so far this season, a problem is raising it's ugly (wet) head. I've found water in the rear sleeping berth of my 1990 H-27 (inboard diesel, wheel steering). When I remove the cusions, the fiberglas is completley wet. When I wipe it up, I notice the bottom of the vinyl wall liner is wet, too, although I don't know if the water is leaking in behind the liner or it's just the wick effect. Does anybody have any suggestions as to the likely source of the water?. I suspect that there may be a leak either from the rear, port-side stanchion/chainplates or even the sternrail on the port side. If so, does this mean I can just re-caulk or do I need to remove things entirely and rebed? I'm afraid if I don't take corrective action, I'll soon either have an odor or mildew problem. So far the cushions are okay (thank goodness for the vinyl bottomside!)

 

[river9150]

Same Problem Here

I'm having the same problem. First thought it was a leak in the fresh water holding tank. After resealing the top of the tank, water still came in. Like you, I now suspect that there may be a leak either from the rear, port-side stanchion/chainplates or even the sternrail on the port side. My wife wants to just re-caulk but I think we need to remove entirely and rebed. Let me know what you run into.

 

[LLOYD]

WATER IN REAR BERTH

I DON" KNOW IF YOUR LAYOUT IS ANYWAY LIKE MY 31,BUT I HAD THE EXACT PROBLEM LAST YEAR.COULD NOT FIND LEAK,I DECIDED IT CAME IN FROM ABOVE FITTINGS OR TOE RAIL.BUT I WAS IN THE REAR LAZERET CHECKING ,HAD MY WIFE START THE ENGINE AND FOUND THE EXHAUST HOSE HAD DRYROT AS IT EXITED THE HULL AND THAT WAS MY PROBLEM.IT ONLY LEAKED WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING.

 

[FP]

Toerail

Check the toerail bolts they may need some tightening and rebbeding. Mine leaked on my 1987 31 and stopped when I torqued them. After years of flexing they worked themselves loose. One way to find the leak is to pressurize your cabin with a blower and spray they suspected areas with soapy water.

 

[Jeff D]

Exhaust Hose Too

Same thing on my 28.5. Leak had ben a problem with the previous owner. Took me 3 months to find it.

 

[John Powell]

Starboard port?

I have a 1992 H-27 and I have water along the bottom of the wall liner on the rear, starboard side. I am in the process of having the window resealed. Your article is giving me pause since there may be other water entry points I am not considering. Why didn't you start with this port? I don't have water all the way across, only along the base of the liner. It was getting under the mattress, but when I moved the mattress, the water is only at this base point. Your thoughts?Thanks, John

 

[Rick]

Well ... let's think here

I have water that appears along the edge of the liner, too, but on the opposite side (the port side) which sort of clears the window of guilt. However, I've noticed that the wooden wooden panels in the center of th esleepign berth that cover the propeller shaft/muffler area are soaking wet. I'm really stumped, but feel like it's got to be a leak from above somewhere .. hence my suspicion about pulpit, chain plates, etc. On the other hand, I haven't ruled out that water could be coming from a defective/rotted exhaust hose as another writer mentioned. You know the trouble? We all get to spent only a limited amount of time at our boats so you're always left guessing if you don't have endless hours to chase things down or remove suspected culprits thrurgh the proces of elimination. I sometimes wish I could bring the boat home and fuss around with it at night during the week. Of course that's not an option for many of us.

 

[John Powell]

One by one.

I have hired a boat repair person to fic my leak, but he has yet to get to it after three weeks. Sometimes I think I should have gotten into that line of work, since no one who works on boats ever gets to anything in just a few days -or so it seems. If he doesn't get to it, my plan is to try to find the problem by isolating areas with duct tape and plastic or Saran Wrap. I intend to dry out the liner area as best I can with paper towels. Then, I will tape off the window to make it water proof and turn a hose on that side of the boat. If water collects, I may not have found the problem, but I will have marked one area off the list. I plan to keep isolating areas until I find the culprit. This may be more trouble than the blower method mentioned elsewhere, but to isolat the window, it should be quicker and simple.John