Our is kept on a open mooring for the season (5 mths) as it was our first season I was paranoid about water leaks and checked every time we were on board. Over a period of time there were signs of a small leak but this was inconsistent sometime there was water in the boat other times there were none. The most water seemed to be on the outboard sides of the water ballast tunnels. I think I have traced the leak to water shooting up the inside of the rudder shafts in rough conditions has anybody come across this before.
Hi Jack
I found when I had water accumulating on the outside of the tunnels that it was coming from the bow area. My worst leak was one under the anchor locker (diconnected hose", but another was a poorly sealed forward hatch. You might try getting a few "dye Marker tablets" from your local Ace hardware, and throw a couple in the anchor locker. Folow it with a couple gallons of water and wait a couple of minutes. Look for blue water.
Sad report for the newer membership ... the 26M fore-hatch is woefully less capable than the 26X's.
The X's fore-hatch is a heavy, balsa sandwich structure with heavy, box-like lips hanging down 2 inches on all 4 sides. It's as stiff as a sheet of 3/4" plywood. It seals tightly and rigidly against a quality rubber gasket.
Just from the past few months' reading here,
Roger's probably working on a re-design for the 26M's fore-hatch.
Emphasis for benefit of that mysterious factory reader.
I have a 2004. First I discovered water in bow area. Anchor locker hose connections tightened (after drilling with hole saw and creating access hole). Hatch leaked as well. 5200 around hardware fixed that.
If your problem is usually after a rain: I dock on a river here in Pgh. and
there is a lot of banging of the hull/deck joint (behind rub rail) I was
eventually getting more and more unexplainable water in the boat. I pulled the 'rub rail' off, starting in the middle of the boat and discovered that the screws are on 5" centers. I think this is the trouble spot. Capillary action.
I discovered the area in between the screws (bolts) is leaving a gap for water to enter. (Simply amazing how much water runs into and around that area in a rain.) I only repaired the sides as far as easily possible to not completely remove the rub rail.
I bought SS screws and nuts (around 100 each) and and placed in between existing...yielding 2.5" on centers to sqeeze down the deck and hull (some water squeezed out) Electric disc sanded off old 3M 5200 and ground a small 'V' into joint. applied new 5200 and let cure. Took about 8 hours total.
So far no water as it sat on trailer...put her in the water 2 days ago and had rain last night. So far no water in boat.
My problem is salt water, hatches and port holes all tested for leaks with a pressure washer, the boat was out of the water for 6 mths in the weather with out any leaks
is kept on a open mooring for the season (5 mths) as it was our first season I was paranoid about water leaks and checked every time we were on board. Over a period of time there were signs of a small leak but this was inconsistent sometime there was water in the boat other times there were none. The most water seemed to be on the outboard sides of the water ballast tunnels. I think I have traced the leak to water shooting up the inside of the rudder shafts in rough conditions has anybody come across this before.
Glad to know it's possible now.