Water leak

[ohiotj]

I just got a 1996 26x. I have it pretty well cleaned out inside. When i got the boat there was water sitting in the stern sleeping area. i thought it may be from sitting for so long and it just gathered there. However i wet vac the whole boat and closed it up for a few days. came back after a day of rain and there was the water again. i looked for a source and couldnt find any tracks from where the water would have come in from.
I was wondering if there is a known location with these boats that would cause this. let me know if i am missing something easy or should i plan on spending a little time in there when it is raining. Thanks for any ideas.

[Tomfoolery]

Pull the wide, blue, skinny cover off the stern inside the stern berth and check the integrity of the motor well drain hose and elbows. If it's leaking, water will get in without you seeing it.

Chainplates are another leak source, and those are easy to fix if they're leaking. Just drill out the pop rivets, remove the SS cover, clean up any mess, and put a thin bead of butyl tape around the chain plate where it disappears into the deck. Put the cover back on and pop rivet it back down. Don't forget the forestay chainplate.

[beechkingd]

The wetness in the rear bed area in the cabin can be from the fuel tank locker inner seam, or control cable pass through holes in the pedestal. It will all run to the liner low point, which is below the motor splash well. I fixed the two areas I mentioned and still had a dribble of water I couldn't find a source for so I added a sheet metal scoop/gutter to that part of the liner. I then notched out the rear access panel in front of the transom so any future leaks will drain from the gutter into the bilge in the instead of the bed area.

[ohiotj]

Man i really appreciate the advise. i will check both of those areas. i have the cover off from the transom area. i dont think it could be coming from their based on the location of the water. it looks like the fuel cuddy is a very real possibility. i will check all the things mentioned though because i am sure it will be the least likely thing. again thanks alot for the ideas.

[Jimmyt]

One other issue is condensation. If it rained, the atmosphere was saturated around the boat, and would fill the boat with saturated air. If the temperature dropped, the saturated air would start to condense on the cold surfaces. It's a real problem when you have rains then cooler temps immediately following. Sorry for the psychrometric ramble.

You may actually have a real leak, but my buddy's "new to him" island packet 31, has some rot areas due strictly to condensation water. Lots of water in the boat, even when it hadn't rained here. Boat is on the hard, within 50 ft of the water's edge. Pretty much saturated air conditions any time there's a sea breeze. A mechanical dehumidifier with continuous drainage solved the issue. Boat stays bone dry now.

But, we did an extensive leak search before we determined that it wasn't a leak.

[Be Free]

That is the spot that will always collect water when the boat is on the trailer regardless of where it is coming from. It could be coming from any of the places previously mentioned or several others. Put a little talc (baby powder) in the bilge and see if you see any water tracks in it after it rains. If you see tracks keep moving forward until you find the source. Paper towels or toilet paper could also be used the same way.

My money would be on the chain plates though.

[ohiotj]

My first thought was it could be condensation. however i think there would be puddles in other places other then just where the stern bed area is. also it is only on the area where the cushions sit. it did not get into the lower part of the boat thats is still open with out the wood covers on them. I am going to grab some beverages and hunker down in there next rain we get and see if i can find the water as it is coming in. i like the idea of using powder to trace it. I was surprised to not see any traces of water marks coming in there. I work in service at a ford dealership and have to find water leaks all the time. so while i am polish i am half smart about what i was looking for.

[beechkingd]

If it's going on the floor where the rear cushions go, look at the liner area above them where the bump for the splash well is. It is usually cracked from freezing water at that point since there is no where for it to drain (bad design). Except for the cable pass through from the steering and throttle cables its really the primary source for the water you are describing in my experience. Everything in the cockpit area topsides that develops a leak will go to that point since it leaks into space above the liner ceiling. That is why I mentioned above that I added a little sheet metal gutter to direct any water to the bilge so it doesn't end up getting on the cushions. I fixed the cracked liner and added a drain hole.

[Highlander]

I,ve been chasing two leaks on mine one on the port side & another one at the mast base around the top of the dagger board port side also & not much room there to see where it,s coming from for about a yr now only when it rains , I,m thinking of using a water based food dye & try & trace it & hope I can wash out any colouring dye that gets onto the carpeting
best of luck J

[kmclemore]

I,ve been chasing two leaks on mine one on the port side & another one at the mast base around the top of the dagger board port side also & not much room there to see where it,s coming from for about a yr now only when it rains , I,m thinking of using a water based food dye & try & trace it & hope I can wash out any colouring dye that gets onto the carpeting
best of luck J

At the end of a dry week, use a garden hose and starting at the lowest point, flood the area and check for leaks... then move up a bit to the next potential area, flood the area, check for leaks.... etc. by moving from low to higher you'll slowly eliminate the places it isn't leaking and get to the ones that are.

Another way to check for leaks is to dust the area in flour. When the water leaks it will make very visible tracks in the flour. The rest can simply be vacuumed up when you've found it.

[OverEasy]

Okay, so I’m not alone inaftberth water dribble chasing obsessions....

Over Easy is a Mac26X so not sure if these apply to an M....

On our Mac26X there are two penetrations up from the aft berth into the pedestal.

So far what we’ve found is the dribble following the cables down from the power quadrant.
Our fix has been to reroute the electrical cables from the quadrant up from the opening in the Lexan (gathering up the surplus cable from the aft berth at the same time) and hanging it up inside the pedestal. That way there is no longer a direct gravity run down the electrical cables.

The quadrant throttle and shift Teleflex cables are another story...... Too stiff to make a loop within the pedestal..... our “temporary” fix has been to spray mold release silicone on the electrical and Teleflex cables and the PVC pipe then infill with GreatStuff water resistant expanding foam. The silicone mold release keeps the foam from sticking permanently to everything involved but still get up tight enough to seal.

The second penetration is for the steering cable. No leaks there but the wasps were finding it a ready passageway. There we followed the suggestion of spraying the foam into a plastic bag while it was inside the PVC tube and allowed the foam to fill and expand while the plastic bag was open. (Note: The foam needs to be able to breath to expand so don’t seal the bag until afterwards.) We then sealed the bag and now have an easily removable plug to eep the wasps out.

The next place we checked was the motor well drain line. (Who ever dreamed up the routing and access back there must have done it the morning after a bender...not quite sober and with a hangover. ( The same person must have done the anchor locker drain and forward cleats on the same day.... ... Obviously we are not impressed with these particular feats of illogical locational inaccessibility.... ) This aft drain wasn’t leaking nor was the fwd one fortunately... still doesn’t excuse the “ppp” exhibited!

While there we did happen to notice that the interior liner for the motor well had a curved lip that had water in it ! Could this have come from one or the other or both fuel lockers?!? We poured water in each locker and waited...and waited...and waited....and....nothing changed. But we did notice that the drain holes for each locker was located such that a rivulet of water never seemed to drain out as the holes were about a 1/2 above the bottom of each locker. We enlarged the meager 3/8 diameter holes to a good 1” vertical oblong that was fully flush and slightly below with the locker bottom.

While working on installing new quadrant Teleflex cable to the engine we noticed that the engine cable boot seal to the fiberglass wall had disappeared. Taking it off to clean it we also found that the vinyl routing tube had slipped into the void area behind the fibergass. We were able to pull it out eventually enough to seal to within the fiberglass hole with the GreatStuff water resistant expanding foam. Once that set up we spayed silicon mold release into the center of the vinyl tube and on all electrical and Teleflex cable to keep the expanding foam from permanently bonding then filled with the expanding foam. The cleaned boot was reinstalled using 5200 sealant/ adhesive.

So far these efforts have diminished the leaks but not eliminated them entirely....

We may go ahead and strip out the old fuel locker bottom seams and redo them in new thin flowing sealant.... so it can crawl into any possible nook or crevasse.

Our next trick is removing and reinstalling the seat cushion snaps in the cockpit and place a neoprene washer under each snap.

We also removed our cockpit wall compass and found that the factory seal job on to had misinstalled the seal for it and hadn’t done a very good job of the fiberglass cutout for it. This is a bit more involved and will most likely involve a splice plate to cover the old hole and wiring (while we’re at it to illuminate the compass.

We are also pulling out the companionway ladder brackets, adding a spacer so the ladder can fully fold up against the companionway panel when it is in place and resealing the bolts.

Additionally we are resealing the cleat and railing penetrations one by one as time allows later on....

While any leakages we have found have only been an annoyance at worst, we have not found anything of concern.

We hope this helps....