Water on Cabin Floor, CD 25

[msgchef]

this was a first for me. Came aboard and had about a quart of water in the cabin under the dri deck flooring. Had torrential rain the day before and did not have my cockpit cover on. My question is: Can water flow from the bilge area of the cockpit under the head/shower flooring to the bilge area of the cabin step. There is a bilge pump in the step but I do not believe enough water flowed there to activate it. Or is the bulkhead supposed to be sealed between the two areas and I have to now look for a leak somewhere where one cannot see.

Thanks
Paul

[thataway]

Each boat is slightly different. I have seen couple of boats where the aft bulkhead was not fully tabbed to the bottom of the hull outboard in 25's, and water got into the the cabin thru this area--and in at least one, there was some intrusion into the core of the aft bulkhead.

In my 25, the well under the step was sealed from the cabin.--and there was an opening to the area under the cockpit. In my friends 2005, there is an opening between that step sump and the cabin floor--and it appears that water comes from the under the aft cockpit floor, into the sump, and then into the cockpit.

In my 22 recently I found water comping in via the grab handles on upper bulkhead or the rails, and then into the core--and eventually getting into the floor. I repaired the area where the water came in--and no more problem, after sealing all of the railings. Also check windows, rub rail, and even foredeck/ancohr locker.

[localboy]

Just a thought, but ours had the same once when the shower bilge failed (under the closet floor) but we were using the shower.

[msgchef]

Thanks, Mine is like Dr. Bob's friend, sump in the step with a cutout forward to allow water to enter the cabin. Haven't spent any stormy days on the boat to hard to determine penetration from other areas but will do some inspections regardless to see what we see.
Paul

[nytopher]

Hi Paul.
I found the same condition on my 25' last year and after extensive flood testing with a hose I found water coming in on the starboard side sliding window. From here it would get down behind the sink cabinet. The deck in this area has some flutes built into it so it will tend to hold some water without spilling over but when it does it would track along the head wall and run down to the interior bilge area and pool. Believe me this was not easy to find as there was no trace of where the water was coming from so I was looking in the cockpit area for a leak. Anyways I resealed the window and have not had a problem since.
Hope this helps.

[homerjack]

Interesting. Can you please explain how you resealed the window Chris?

[msgchef]

Wow, Water does know how to travel. Will check out that possibility today

[Ferg]

Chris, I've came to the same conclusion (through the windows), but I can't see any water below the frame inside of the cabin.

[smckean (Tosca)]

Perhaps my recent experience in my CD25 provides a possibility....

I've had water (few cups at a time) on the cabin sole. It was very hard to diagnose. The water was always fresh (or nearly fresh); therefore, I thought it was a leak from the water system.

The leak turned out to be under the steps in the cockpit that helps one step up to the gunnel. On a factory intact boat perhaps this can not happen, but on my boat those steps were modified when the fuel tank had to be replaced.

This problematical issue was not the leak per se, but that the water that came in at the forward end of the cockpit (near the cabin bulkhead), under those steps, ran down into a "channel" molded into the inside of the CD25 (2005) hull. This "channel" is just at the spot where the topsides of the boat take a hard chine that starts the curve toward the bottom. This "channel" runs nearly the length of the boat and is about 1/2" to 1" deep. I'm not sure one can see this "channel" from anywhere in the boat. I finally saw it by looking into the hole created when I finally removed that modified step in the cockpit. I noted that water had collected in this "channel".

The tricky part is that this "channel" is high on the boat and can carry water fore and aft along the boat's interior well above the cabin sole and such things as shower bulkheads or whatever. Also tricky for me was that in attempting the trace the location of the leak, the water could show up first almost anywhere fore and aft on the cabin sole. It also tended to show up only after the boat was in rough water.

Here's what was happening.....fresh water from rain or wash down in the cockpit would accumulate in this channel, and then spill out almost anywhere along the interior sides of the boat onto the cabin sole when the boat rocked from side to side. In heavy rains, no rocking was required for water to appear on the cabin sole

Attaching the modified cockpit steps in a much more secure fashion and replacing the caulking that had cracked due to the flex the steps experienced due to inadequate attachment completely solved this sticky problem.

[thataway]

smckean (Tosca) makes an excellent point (At least in the boats which are the 2005 (and perhaps other years). This "step" was not properly tabbed into the cockpit deck from the factory. (It was not a result of the deck being replaced, but the way that those boats were produced). I would tab in the step, or at the very least be sure it is properly sealed. There can also be core in the cockpit floor issues from this water intrusion.

The 22 and 25 have a "reverse chine", which slopes outward, rather than inward as most of the bottom. This is to give more lift. The amount of water that can be trapped can vary, but it can be a place where water can come into the cabin, if the bulkhead is not properly tabbed into the bottom of the hull at this point. It is more work--and I suspect that most aft bulkheads were just cut at the contour of the bottom, ignoring this "dip" at the chine. Thus there was either no tabbing or poor tabbing. In at least two occasions I know of, there was some water intrusion into the aft bulkhead.