Air vent not tightened properly causing leak

A

ahpeterson

New member
Hi all,

I went to check on my 07 22' Cruiser at Edmonds today and found water in the cabin. After some searching, I found the culprit; the thru-hull fitting for the air vent on the fresh water tank was only finger-tight. So when water ran down the port gunwale some of it was able to get in behind the vent and into the boat. The result was water on the port aft dinette seat, and additionally in the aft portion of the cabin on the deck.

It's certainly a pain to tighten properly, as the location does not offer much room to work a wrench, but I think it's 'tight enough' now. But the real question is this: The two vents for the gas tanks don't appear to be very tight either (at least one of them I can see space between the rubber gasket and the hull). My main concern there is that water may be getting into the fiberglass itself and cause damage. Unfortunately the location of those nuts is such that I don't think I can tighten them myself without taking half the boat apart.

So, is this really something to worry about? If so, would it be enough to just put some caulking around the seam between the vent and the hull?

Alec
 
I had exactly that same problem with my 2006 22', exacerbated by poor drilling of the vent hole. C-Dory fixed under warranty. Haven't checked the fuel vents but I will now. Check the 22' cutaway but I don't think there is any balsa there, just fiberglass.
 
Since this part of the hull is not cored, the problems will not be as bad as a cored hull. If this were to be immersed in water all of the time, it could cause some wicking into the glass, but since this is only occasionally wet, probably not a big problem. But, I would have it fixed under warantee.

You could put silicone around the vent inner rim--but this is not really a "fix"--more of a bandaid.
 
So one issue I've got is that I don't have the boat on a trailer. Does anybody have advice for what the best way to get warranty service is if it a bit of a chore to move the boat great distances?
 
A servicing dealer should be able to find a trailer and pick the boat up. I had a deal worked out with a local mechanic--I "stored" my 12,000 capacity up to 32 foot trailer in his yard, in exchange, he could use it occasionally to bring customers boats to his shop.
 
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