The only leaks I have had in my 1981 25 is the Cockpit Lockers. Not sure if they came with weather stripping but I plan to add permanent weather stripping. Temp. stripping with home weather stripping has stoped the leaks but I am thinking automotive stripping will be a nice permanent fix Only the starboard and rear lockers look to require it. Anybody know how the boat was delivered? Anyone had to fix their lockers?
Weather Stripping Cockpit lockers on 25
- Thread starter KennyH
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Mine has them also. If you notice when it rains hard they fill up/back up and water comes into the locker space. The one on the stern has almost no flange at the back ie maybe it was damaged. Takes very little rain for it to leak.
I live in Florida and so far the drains on the lockers have been able to keep up with the rain with no problem. I did have a small leak that I repaired where the locker drains attached to the helm, but it never leaked enough to cause any significant water in the bilge.
For me it was my cockpit drains. Under the bottom edge of each fitting was a small slit, and It actually looked like it was meant to be there. I was so unsure that I posted pictures on the forum to get feedback.
Needless to say they were not supposed to be there and it was nothing for me to find my bilge pump running after a rain. Since then I've repaired the area an it's very rare to find any volume of water now in the bilge.
For me it was my cockpit drains. Under the bottom edge of each fitting was a small slit, and It actually looked like it was meant to be there. I was so unsure that I posted pictures on the forum to get feedback.
Needless to say they were not supposed to be there and it was nothing for me to find my bilge pump running after a rain. Since then I've repaired the area an it's very rare to find any volume of water now in the bilge.
Leaky cockpit-seat hatches
Mine have never stopped leaking since I got the boat. This is a source of never-ending aggro.
For an installation which I later abandoned I had cut out one of the drain troughs on the port side and recently refabricated it in well-epoxied wood. I have yet to seal up the outboard (upper) end of it and it is on a much shallower angle than the original one-- but I don't think the water is coming from there. I sealed up the lower end of the under-cockpit compartment and installed PVC leading straight into the bilge. Any gap under the inlet of the PVC pipe I flooded with epoxy so as to have a clean, level flow for water with no residual dampness. (I do this with all voids likely to catch water.) Today (after 4 days of rain) I found a bit of water in the bilge from it, so I know it works-- but I have been keeping that hatch covered with a plastic drop cloth because I know it admits water from the cockpit seat. Still don't know why.
I think the weatherstripping should be on the underside of the hatch, not the perimeter of the coaming, as it will last longer. Reaching over it and moving gear past it will erode it away in short order. But there is no way to actually see the underside of the closed hatch to mark it-- the port-side locker is too small to get into and look up. KennyH, if you come up with a pattern for installing it, it'd be worth more than a few steaks and beers from me to get to borrow it!
Mine have never stopped leaking since I got the boat. This is a source of never-ending aggro.
For an installation which I later abandoned I had cut out one of the drain troughs on the port side and recently refabricated it in well-epoxied wood. I have yet to seal up the outboard (upper) end of it and it is on a much shallower angle than the original one-- but I don't think the water is coming from there. I sealed up the lower end of the under-cockpit compartment and installed PVC leading straight into the bilge. Any gap under the inlet of the PVC pipe I flooded with epoxy so as to have a clean, level flow for water with no residual dampness. (I do this with all voids likely to catch water.) Today (after 4 days of rain) I found a bit of water in the bilge from it, so I know it works-- but I have been keeping that hatch covered with a plastic drop cloth because I know it admits water from the cockpit seat. Still don't know why.
I think the weatherstripping should be on the underside of the hatch, not the perimeter of the coaming, as it will last longer. Reaching over it and moving gear past it will erode it away in short order. But there is no way to actually see the underside of the closed hatch to mark it-- the port-side locker is too small to get into and look up. KennyH, if you come up with a pattern for installing it, it'd be worth more than a few steaks and beers from me to get to borrow it!
I am surprised that the 1981 boat has too-shallow drain troughs; as all the post-1978 boats I have seen have the much deeper channels molded into the cockpit/deck mold as compared to the ones on the earlier boats (like mine) on which the troughs are only about 5/8" deep. The improvement came after we devised the seat lockers on the Cherubini 44, the lids of which are essentially wedge-shaped sitting in deep angled grooves. They do not leak in any weather ever reported. When Hunter redid the H25 mold to modernize the boat, they mimicked the C44's. For a long time I found it amusing that this is one feature these two otherwise vastly dissimilar boats have in common. 
After reading your email I am fairly certain the back locker is the main problem. I think the lip in the back of the back locker has been damaged. Maybe a little fiberglass could fix it better than weatherstripping. I have some fire hose in the channel now and it has slowed it down a lot. Thanks for all the input.
OK this is what I found. The back locker has only a 1/4 inch lip. Maybe my boat is stern heavy but I don't think that is enought for the rain we get in my area of North Carolina. The port locker has had the cover modified to allow for wires or gas line etc to run out the locker. The lip is 3/4 of inch but the cover/lid leaves an opening of about 1/2 inch when closed for the water to come in. You can tell the 1/2 was cut off the cover at some point. Only solution is weatherstrip on back of both lockers. I am thinking car trunk weatherstripping. Thanks for everyone who helped with this issue.
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