Water in the Hull????????????????????????

M

mkendrick

New member
Upon checking on my trailered 25' C-Dory during hurricane Sandy (the second hurricane in 13 months) I was surprised to find about 4" of water in the cabin. It appeared that water was collecting in the cockpit and seeping under the door. It was at this time that I noticed the bow was not high enough to allow water to flow back toward the stern.

After cleaning up the cockpit and raising the bow (the boat stayed hooked to my truck for extra stability during the storm) I noticed that water was still seeping out of the plastic plug that sits in the middle of the raised floor directly under the removal cushion that is part of the V-berth. When I removed the plastic plug water came forcibly flowing out. Luckily, when reinserting the plug it stopped the flow; however the water continued to seep out. Note: The boat's drain plug was already removed but didn't appear to be helping.

3 Questions: 1) How did this water get into the hull? 2) How do I get it out? 3) How do I keep it from happening in the future?

As always, thanks for all the support -- couldn't do this without all of you.
 
I'm not as familiar with the 25 as I am with the 22 or the Tomcat. So I have a question or two Do you have a picture of the plug you are speaking of? E.g. is this a small plug (1/2-1" in diameter) or the inspection port (4-6" in diameter) that is often in that area?

Also, if water is in the compartment in between the V-berth platform and the hull, you don't want to leave it in there. So I'd pull the plug and let it all drain out. Unfortunately, this will put it back into the newly dry cabin but the sooner you de-water the areas where water shouldn't be, the better. Generally there is a plug just below the cabin door that can be removed to improve drainage of the cabin. If you have such a plug, pull it prior to pulling the other one.
 
As to how the water got in there, that's hard to say. Given that the boat was bow down and the cockpit filled with water and then leaked into the cabin, there's a number of paths that water could take to other areas of the boat. Again, I'm not familiar with the 25 but on the Tomcat water could get under the berth through limber holes or other holes put in the forward bulkhead to route wires and plumbing. With 4" of water in the cabin, my guess is that there are paths such as those that account for the water under the V-berth.
 
I don't think there is a continuous bulkhead across the beam between the stern to the bow. If there is water in the bilge and the bow is down, then that water can flow along the cabinets and along the dinete and end up in the bow area. What bulk heads that are there are penetrated by a hose to my holding tank. That's why there is a bilge pump under the step.

Tom
 
Captains Cat":283af2ri said:
Check the drain in the anchor locker.

Charlie
Click to expand...

Besides the drain in the anchor locker, there were some boats that had an issue with screws that were too long being used in the brass stem protector. Either of those issues can allow water to collect in the area under the v-berth.

Best to check both of those (I'd be leaning towards the anchor locker drain as the problem) to determine the source. You also want to get that water out of that area; we put an inspection plate in that storage area under the v-berth to keep tabs on that. Our 25 has foam under the v-berth. Earlier boats had the fresh water tank in that area - depending on where the fresh tank is on that boat, that could be another potential leak source.
 
The first thing I'd check is the caulking in the anchor locker. C-Dory had an issue with getting a good seam around the base of the locker. Water would come in the anchor locker drain and some would flow between the anchor locker base and the bulkhead. This, after a while fills up the volume under the v-berth, from there it leaks around the edges and back to the rear of the cabin, to where the bilge is located. When this happened to us, the factory (at the time, not Triton,) denied any knowledge of the problem. Judy looked into the locker, while we were underway and saw the water coming in and I found the uncaulked area. When we brought the boat back to the factory, without a moments hesitation, they drilled a hole in the little step at the start of the v-berth molding just above the cabin sole, let the water out and resealed the anchor locker and the hole they drilled. The bums. I never understood why they never fixed the production problem, but it's common. Or maybe that's why Triton now builds C-Dories (C-Dorys?)

So now that I'm done with the bitching, here's my recommendation. You can (optional) taste the water to see if it's fresh or salt. If it's salt, it's the anchor locker. If it's not see below.

Either way you have to let the water out of that area. Drill a little hole right above the cabin sole level to let the trapped water out. Mop up the mess and let it dry for at lease a couple of days. Look into the anchor locker, find the sealing gap, reseal and hope that was the problem.

The factory also sealed the top and bottom of the rub rail, where it meets the hull. I've never seen water seep in that way, though.

BTW, I just washed the boat and fresh water gathered in the back of the cabin. Yes it was fresh, I follow my own advice. Now, I sprayed water up into the gap between the cabin side and the cabin top. Anybody ever have water leak in there?

Boris
 
Come on guys. He indicates that he had 4" of water in the cabin that he believes came in through the cabin door as the boat was tipped bow down on the trailer. The anchor locker drain etc. seems less likely to be the source of the problem given this information.
mkendrick":2281oaet said:
Upon checking on my trailered 25' C-Dory during hurricane Sandy (the second hurricane in 13 months) I was surprised to find about 4" of water in the cabin. It appeared that water was collecting in the cockpit and seeping under the door. It was at this time that I noticed the bow was not high enough to allow water to flow back toward the stern.
Click to expand...
 
We have a TomCat 24, 2003, that was getting water in the cabin. Searched for months for the leak to no avail. Eventually, at anchor during a storm, I discovered water coming thru the factory horns. On further inspection I discovered that there was a thin membrane used in construction of the horn that was torn or failed form age. I have since sealed that area and mounted real horns (trumpets) on the radar arch. Water leaks can be most frustrating. What I remember most was how much water could come thru such a small hole. I visually saw the leak in progress and was very surprised. Don't be fooled by the amount of water present, as it depends on how long it's been leaking, though I agree it's not the anchor drain, especially bow down.
 
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