Bilge question - where is the water coming from?

[Jim and Anne]

I'll get out on the boat on Friday and will try to take some photos and then post them over the weekend.
Jim

[marvin4239]

Joe the reason I suggested an inspection port was there is no way to tell that I've found if your particuliar boat has foam in it. On looking at it closely today there really isn't room for an inspection port on the vertical surfaces so it you did it would have to be in the deck. Maybe a better idea is as you suggest a drain plug and perhaps use a bore scope to examine the inside to tell if you might have water logged foam. I did some measuring today and I figured that the void is capable of containing 18 gallons of water or 152 pounds. The real solution is to fix the leak which is on the cabin bulkhead. I took a picture of mine and it appears to be sealed with something beside 5200 it's actually pretty soft and I believe you could actually pick it out with a screw driver. Mine like Jim's had turned black and I cleaned it with Spray 9 and it seamed to have a white coating on it which almost looked like paint. It came off revealing black beneath. Here's the picture.

[Pandy Girl]

Did anyone hear back from the factory, I think about 2 people called the factory?
I don't think it is a big deal with the water in there, if it is got out and dried out. If a fix or something is done it should comstant with all 2007 year models
Jim

[marvin4239]

Jim I called the factory twice but never got through to anyone. I left my number and asked to have someone call me and haven't heard from anyone so I'm a little disappointed with Fluid Marine. I agree I don't think it's that big a deal but I'd like to know what the factory recommends as a sealant between the deck and bulkhead.

[petemos]

I just noticed this tread about water under the floor on 2007 22” CD’s. I have a 2007 and I’m now wondering if I have issues that I have to address. I never noticed whether I had this aft hole in the floor just before the bilge, but now I’m wondering if some if this bilge water I was finding after I drained, clean and wiped down the bilge is coming from under the floor and not just water that sloshed around from under the gas tanks.

I don’t see anywhere in these discussions what the final plan is and whether the factory ever came back with what should be done. As CD has new owners, I can’t call the factory or try to get something done under warrantee, so what is the best approach from the Crew? Re-caulk the bulkhead and hope, drill and install a access port, plug the aft hole, all of the above?

Any ideas would be great and appreciated.

Thanks Jim

[jmcintyre]

I had talked to Fluid Marine just as they were being sold to Seasport. Seasport had no obligation to take over the warranty, so I had to fix it myself. They was another long topic on the warranty issue.

I ended up following the advice Fluid Marine gave me. I get my service done at Cook Engine, so I told them to cut a small access port on the vertical surface of the cockpit deck where it drops down about two inches and the fuel tank walls are. They borescoped it and found structural foam stringers, but no filler foam.

Then, they tilted the bow up and let it drain with a heater running on it for three days until all the water was out and the best I could tell it was dry. Then they epoxied the hole in the bilge corner. Last, they installed a plastic drain port to close the hole in the vertical surface.

It's been back in the water about a month now and I haven't had any more problems.

Reading back through this, I think Fluid Marine was trying to keep the back of the boat as light as possible. When installing the cockpit deck, that corner of the bilge probably got bashed on something, causing more than one boat to have the hole.

Since you can't see the hole, nobody notices until you vacuum the bilge complety dry and lo and behold, hey, where is that water coming from?

[Tim & Dave Kinghorn]

This sounds exactly like the Venture problems with water under the aft cockpit. See great pictures of the under cockpit area by Pacific Wanderer in the recent photo section on the home page.

Many of us Venture owners have added an aft inspection plate (between the fuel tanks) and one forward near the bow in the cabin. As Ross (of Pacific Wanderer) shows this void goes from the bow to the stern. Some of us have some foam under the decks but it seems most do not. Leaks into this area come from the joint at the cabin bulkhead, the chain locker, and any screw holes or bolts through the cockpit deck or cabin sole.

Tim and Dave

[Tim & Dave Kinghorn]

Dave (C-Voyager) of Toland Marine (The New Marinaut) has an excellent reply about how the Ventures were built with the double hull configuration, and what might account for water intruding into the between hull void. See toward the end on page 5 of the thread "Water Under Aft Cockpit of 07 Venture.

He also describes how their building process addresses this issue in the new Marinaut.

Tim and Dave

[petemos]

Guys thanks for all the additional info.

From what it sounds like even if I don’t really have a hole at the end of the flooring aft, I would want some type of access, a sealable plug or inspection plate to validate you’re not dragging around water and to make sure the caulking at the aft bulkhead and floor is still intact. I don’t think the CD 22’ has a double floor in the cabin like a Venture, so I would just be dealing with the aft cockpit area floor.
Anyone drill a horizontal hole on the aft cockpit area floor and just install one of those round access ports that screw in and have a gasket? They look like they are 5-6” in diameter? Anyone see any issues going that way?

Thanks Jim

[jmcintyre]

When I talked to Fluid Marine about this problem, they said there is very little clearance between the hull and the cockpit deck in the area between the fuel tanks. In fact, the deck is glassed to the hull there at the transom so there is no space between the deck and the hull.

Drilling a hole on the horizontal surface between the fuel tanks wouldn't get you much access as the hull is likely less than a quarter of an inch below the deck. That's why they told me to drill on the vertical surface where the cockpit deck goes down the two inches into the fuel tank area.

You can barely see the little access port they put there and they had a pretty good view into the void between the deck and the hull with a borescope. I'll get a picture next time I am down at the boat.

[petemos]

I was actually thinking of putting the access port on the top of the floor with a flush mount round access port. The type that screws down and has a big O Ring. It would be in the raised section prior to the drop off, in the center and forward of the gas tanks. That way I could inspect the cavity between the real hull and the raised floor. The only problem I see, with my luck, is that i would hit or be in the middle of a stringer.

Jim

[Pandy Girl]

Hi Jim,
I have a little water under our floor on the rear, On the inside of the door at the bottom it was not sealed good, there is a little hole, a little water comes out there that tells me that water under the rear floor. It has been in the water for 3 months.
If you install a hoz. inspection plate let us know where you did it. When I get it out of the water in about 2 weeks I will pressure check it to see where the water got in at. But would like to have a inspection plate to look in there.
I had some under there last year, I found a little place that was not sealed good on the outside right of the door, I sealed it and have not had a problem until about 3 weeks ago.
Jim (Pandy Girl)

[jmcintyre]

Fluid Marine told me there are three foam stringers supporting the cockpit deck. One running down the center and two more about half way between the center and the edge.

[petemos]

Good Information on where the stringers are. That tells me I don’t want to center it forward on the floor lined up with the drain hole. As my boat is in Canada and I’m in New Jersey I won’t even know if I have this water problem until I get up north again, at the end of the month, and check thinks out. I’m going to check to see whether or not I have a hole in the aft part of the floor and then maybe try to hook a shop vac up to it and see what I pull out. If I get water, then I’m going to try to reverse the shop vac and spray some soapy water in the cockpit area to see if I can find out where the water in getting in from. Depending on the outcomes, and my tolerance for aggravation I may then go to the access port route, or some simple type of drain plug/access at the floor hole that lets me keep checking on whether water is getting in or not. As I’m still working, the boat and home is at a remote location and only get to use this boat about 30-40 hours a year now, I have balance my projects to boating time or all I will be doing is working on boat and housing projects. I’ll keep you guys informed on what I find and progress.
Thanks for all the help and advice.
Jim

[jhayes1068]

Folks I'd been serious about buying a C-Dory and up until the last couple of days I assumed the design with the glass enclosed balsa wood and the manner that the boats were manufactured, that they were a top line boat for the money. Now having read about all of the water intrusion problems into areas of the boat that should be dry, I'm having second thoughts about the boat. I'm concerned that a boat as new as a 2007 would have the problem after all of the years of manufacturing.
Is this a problem that's common throughout the different years and sizes of the boat? Thanks, Jim