Arrived in FL with gallons of water in my boat!

[alsantini]

The drive down here was not without incidents.  We drove on Tuesday all day through rain and wind.  In Nashville traffic going 3 mph a young lady, on her phone, ran into the back of me.  Luckily her car was short and went under the boat hitting the back of the trailer. phew, no damage.  When I opened up the boat, expecting to find a little bit of water, I found 4+ gallons in the port quarter berth cabinet, and under the sink.  I have the boat open during daylight after bailing.  Interesting that it is dirty brown water??  I figure if it came in under the companionway iyt would be in both sides of the cabin.  The middle and starboard side of the cabin was dry.  Only the port side.  Water ran through the cushion.  It weighed 50 lbs!!
Any ideas appreciated.  I will try and get a mirror up the side and look between the cabin roof pieces.  Hard to believe the leak will not be obvious but not sure.  Anyone experience this much water?

[PJ]

Port lights?  Would be my guess, I already replaced them in our Horizon Cat.  Put some light pressure on them with water from a hose to see if water reappears.  Water from port lights will weep back under and come down near your hull seam, (at least that is what the horizon cat leak did).  Best of luck finding it.

[slode]

Was the carpet wet on the port wall?  If not I would have to agree with portlight/s being the likely culprit.  It seams water leaking from them drips down before making it to the hull. I would think a leak this large at the hull-deck joint would soak the carpet liner.

[Vectordirector]

Hi Al,

Sorry to hear of your leak.  My boat was always dry inside until Irma.  Water got in (not sure where, wasn't more than a pint on the floor and nowhere else), I saw a small drip line on the starboard cabin side carpet, under the aft porthole that I suspect was it but not sure.   It wasn't wet when I got to the boat a week later but the floor was.  That was a 65 knot wind event max, so likely the same as driving through a thunderstorm with the boat on the trailer. 

The reason I mention this is that later that winter I noticed the teak and holly veneer floor was coming apart and growing mushrooms!  And black mold.  If you got that much water in I would suggest you get a big fan and dry the boat out as much as you can.  Humidity is coming down so that will help.  Keep an eye out for mold. 

Fair winds!

Bryan

[Fastdoc98]

Al, glad to hear that there was no damage to the back of Off the Wind from that incident - that could have really put a damper on the start of your season down there.  When I was washing mine on the drive for the end of the season I had my wife spray moderately on the big hatch (which I just installed after I got it) and on all 4 ports.  I had just a tiny trickle from the aft ports on both sides, but only with a pretty hard spray.  I tried adjusting the little plastic screws to get a tighter seal, but one is maxed out and the other is frozen in place.  The gaskets seem to be in good shape, not looking real dried out or anything.  Do you get water in the boat when its in its slip?  I'm assuming you drove through some rain on the way and it would seem that rain while trailering would have a lot more force than when sitting still.

[BobK]

Just a thought ---- when driving my suv in the rain the vacuum created by driving highway speeds pulls the rain water back on the rear window.  Could this have happened in your companionway?
BobK

[alsantini]

I finally have the boat dry and tomorrow we head off on a cruise.  So, I bought a 10X12 tarp which covers the cabin area +.  Bungee cords and I think I will be dry until we get back.  Then I plan on re-beding anything that is not moving.  I am leaning more and more on the port, rear window.  It has been an issue since I bought the boat.
Al

[Jim in TC]

I finally have the boat dry and tomorrow we head off on a cruise.  So, I bought a 10X12 tarp which covers the cabin area +.  Bungee cords and I think I will be dry until we get back.  Then I plan on re-beding anything that is not moving.  I am leaning more and more on the port, rear window.  It has been an issue since I bought the boat.
Al

I pulled a port window on our Sun Cat this autumn, suspecting it of the (hopefully) final cabin leak. If they used the same sealant (black and persistent) on your craft as they did on our 2006 Sun, note you can soften it with alcohol and thus probably most any other solvent. Before I tried that, I spent many an unhappy hour trying to cut through caulk and pull the port away. I happened to have some Everclear (95% grain alcohol) in the cabinet that was getting little attention, and decided to see if it would soften the caulk and vowed to use it personally, and internally if it did not.