Water in the bilge

[Richit]

Hi all,

Newbie question. I'm getting water (fresh water) in the bilge after a rain shower with no visible leakage from the deck fittings or windows. A guy at our sailing club who owns a 2006 Catalina 30.9 (mine is a 2005 310), and said that he had the same problem and found it was due to size of the lazzerette locker on the port side. That locker is so large, that if you store anchors and other heavier items in it, the boat lists to port a bit, and causes rain water to accumulate over the lazzerette hatch cover drains, which overflows into the locker and eventually the bilge. He said Catalina recognized the problem with his boat, and installed counter-weights on the starboard side. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[Tom J]

My 310 lists to port also. I think it has more to do with the fact that the batteries and the holding tank are all on the port side. I already insstalled some ballast in the stbd settee, which helped. Never had a problem with rain water in the bilge, though, and the port lazerette has never gotten wet.

 

[Witzend]

Dry Bilge… I had a leak in the STRB screw head that mounts the channel iron support for the stay. The fiberglass was never formed correctly leaving a gap around the screw head on the deck. The water was accumulating under the STRB forward holly sole.
Lazerette dry, check for hot water heater leak.

 

[RWW]

I have the same issue - lots of rain water in the bilge after any heavy downpour. I think I narrowed this down to the forward section of the bilge and suspect it is coming down the mast. I have an in mast furling system.

 

[Witzend]

Again, check the chin plates and screws.

 

[Richit]

Thanks all. I'll check out the areas you suggest. Interestingly, I also have iin-mast furling as does my friend who has the 309.