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I have found small amounts of water in the aft portion of the boat and into the bilge. Some drops come down from the control cable opening to the aft berth, some come down the rounded plastic hump in the far aft portion and drip down into the bilge and inside the berth. It seems like small amounts of water are getting into the liner space somehow. I just sealed the bases of the deck openings inside the binnacle. I also sealed the fuel locker joints today. Need to wait and see if that clears up the water accumulation. It is not a lot of water, but enough to make things musty which I don't much like.

Just curious as to what others have found to be common sources of leakage into the liner. I think I remember reading someone had leaking around the forestay tang. Anyone else?

One more thing- my control cables droop down into the starboard side of the aft berth. Is this common? If so has anyone done anything to keep them secured up out of the way?

-Jeff S

Hi Jeff,

A lot of stuff has been posted here about leaks. Try a search at the top of the page. You will find some interesting stuff like this and this

Wrt the cables, mine look the same way. I suppose there is a way to tidy them up some, but you have to be careful not to put too small of a radius in those cables or they won't work properly.

Yes, I finally got all the leaks sealed on my X. The last fixes were:

1) to scrape loose the caulking inside the fuel lockers, and recaulk with a large amount of good quality polysulphide caulk. Also really opened up the drain holes and made them as flush as possible with the bottom of the fuel locker.

2) wire penetration through the helm pedestal - in addition to caulking around the PVC pipe stub, I also shot some "Great Stuff" foam into the hole alongside the wires and built up a large glob above it. Then I shmucked a 2 liter pepsi bottle (cut so as to make a water deflecter) on top of the glob. Then I used electrical tape to seal along the top edge of the black plastic steering bezel.
Now lets see water drip down the steering cable and into the hole. This water also ran inside the liner aft to drip from the aft motorwell bulge into the back of the boat along with water from the fuel lockers. It is now dry as a bone.

3) I also found that the mast light wire deck connector was leaking a little water into the liner and would exit just forward of the sink and drip down the back of the bench seat. I removed it entirely and replaced it with a flat 4 trailer connector and simply 5200'ed the wire into the hole.

4) galley sink drain had a leak at the throughhull that would only show up after a day of sailing or motoring hard in chop.

5) centerboard cheek block in front of the jib track had a leak along the deck fastener. This showed up as water in the light housing over the dinette.

regarding the wires and steering cables in the aft berth, some were already supported by a large cable tie which went to a screw through the liner overhead.

When I installed an inside helm, I simply drilled 2 decent sized holes in the liner spaced about 4 inches apart and ran a small line up one hole and down the other, then around the cable with a knot. should be very secure for the life of the boat.

Also a good idea is to add a nicro solar power ventilator. Mildew is nasty stuff. Especially if you are allergic to it like I am. I didn't know I had an allergy at all until I got my boat. I almost thought I would have to give up boating because I got so messed up when I spent any time on the boat. Sure wish they would have exercised some quality control to eliminate those leaks at the factory. Good luck fixing those leaks. Be aggressive and you should be able to get them all. I just never had the time or had the boat in the backyard until last year to find the darn things.

The only leak weve had was when I enlarged the fuel locker holes. There is a gap in the liners when you do this.

A little squirt of two part fixered it up.

CRAIG WHERE DID YOU MOUNT YOUR POWER VENT? do you need an air opening at the other end of the boat for circulation freebreze took care of my mildue smell. try it

Seems like the biggest leak problems I have had are from the rudder brackets. Accumulates under the cooler or galley, but the bulkhead divider that runs fore-aft keeps it contained in the outter area.

Never had a leak and we're in our second season with the new X

Guess I've been real fortunate. This is our 5th season for our 2000 26x and no leaks. The only water to come in was due to me using a water hose on high and spraying around the front of the companion way hatch. Roger must have been out in the shop watching production the day my boat was put together.