Came across this old post while researching water leaks.
Yes, the ballast tank in the 26M can leak. It happened to mine, a 2005 model. I'm the original owner, and I have nothing screwed into the bottom anywhere; it was a production defect.
The leak occurred under the aft berth and galley area, on the port side structural water ballast 'rib tube', on both the forward and aft side of the bulkhead at the forward end of the aft berth. The storage covers for these areas are labelled 'P1' and 'RPF' on my boat. The fiberglass fabric had wrinkles in the layup of the ballast 'rib tube' at that location. Two or three years ago I noticed wetness in that area and found water seeping out of the wrinkle in the cured fabric of the tube. As salt water is easy to taste, I didn't need a dye tab to tell me it came from the ballast tank.
As I don't have my trailer anymore (the boats sits full time in the canal behind my house), the in-water fix was simple; I ran the boat to empty the ballast tank, let it dry for a week or two, used a compressor to force air into the wrinkles with the ballast plug open to force remaining water back into the tank, and shot about 1/3 of a cartridge of West System Six10 epoxy into the wrinkles. Leak fixed.
I was researching this topic because my wife and I aborted a trip to the Dry Tortugas last week when we 1: hit some bad weather, and 2: developed a salt water leak somewhere under the aft berth. Fortunately I can't find another leak in the ballast tank, so I'm going to replace the motor well and galley sink drain hose, clamps and T-fitting (all original) with some newer, better stuff. We were heavy and that through hull fitting was under water (normally not the case), so I'm hoping that will fix this mystery leak. The water came from under the center section of the aft berth, through the bulkhead drain hole into the battery compartment, where I have a bilge pump installed. The leak was bad enough to run the pump once every 50 minutes at anchor, and every 10 minutes when we were briefly offshore in 4'-5' waves. There was no evidence of leaking at the top of the rudder tubes.
Our 26M is a great boat; we love it for it's unparalleled versatility and shallow water capabilities. I post this merely because someone may find it useful, and ballast tank leaks DO happen.
Anybody got any other ideas for the mystery leak, please pipe up! Regards.
