Water Leaks Into Cabin of 2003 25' Cruiser

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Ben Davis

New member
Greetings;

My name is Ben Davis. New owner of an old boat....2003 25' Cruiser. Hull seems to be in pristine shape. However, we just did our first test trip on Lake Chelan in Washington and discovered a few very minor leaks into the cabin floor area.

At first I thought it was the fresh water tank under the berth in the bow. I added red food coloring to that tank. no red water yet...but maybe needs time. I wondering if its possible to have the fresh water tank leak into the hull core. Seems unlikely

After reading forums on leaks I started digging in and found one source coming thru the screw penetration into the floor... on the bracket supporting the cabinet the seat sits on. This means I have water in the core of the boat I presume. On a dry day, five days after being on the water...no rain and hot and dry.... about a 1/2 cup of water accumulated in a 24 hour period slowly seeping thru that screw hole.

After reading the forums on leaks, I don't believe the source is on the rub rails. They look solid and I see no signs of leaks down the thinner fiberglass walls of the Hull/ Cabin.

I leaning towards the brass protection plate on the front keel (bow). sorry my terms are not solid yet! I pulled a few screws... they are very short screws. No water came out there...but the bedding compound under the bar looks old and maybe this is the source of water getting into the core of the hull.

Anchor locker looks good, No rain so I am ruling that out.

What to do? My plan was the reseal all crews with 4000 and caulk the edges of the brass plate with the same...thin bead.

What about the water in the core?...if I find the leak and get that fixed by sealing the brass strip plate...can it just live there...does it eventually make its way to the bildge? Or should I drill a bigger exploratory hole?

Sorry for long post.....any comments more than welcome

Ben
 
On 22s a source of leaks into the cabin is the aft bulkhead. I'm not sure of how the 25 is put together in that area, but it is something you might check.
 
An issue that many 25s have had is the drain from the anchor locker not being sealed through to the outside. Even if rain hasn't come through the opening for the anchor rode, you will get water in there everytime you use your windlass. If your boat is one that has that disconnect between the locker and the hull exterior, water will get down in that area under the berth.

Our 25 had that situation, and we put an inspection port on the flat portion under the berth and siphoned water out of there. If your boat has foam in there, it will absorb the water and continue to leak out of there.

Check that drain tube. We put a brass tube from the locker to the hull, insuring proper drainage. Also, the hole for the drain was originally nearly an inch above the floor of the anchor locker, meaning water would certainly collect there.

One other situation we had: even though the rub rail looks well-sealed, when I pulled the rubber out of the middle of it, the metal extrusion had holes drilled, screws moved to a different spot, and the holes were never filled. Water would come in through there and drain to the floor (behind the galley and the head). The fix for that was to inspect and seal every hole and put some 4200 at both edges of the metal extrusion to keep water out of there.

Our boat was a 2007 (made in 2006), and two years after we reported the issue to the factory, boats were still getting sent out with that same situation. The fix isn't anything technical, just takes a bit of time... shouldn't have been necessary, though.
 
Thanks for chiming in

anchor locker seems to be out of the question. Zero rain in three weeks. And have never dropped the anchor and pulled wet rope into locker. Dry as a bone in there and have full access from sleeping berth into locker with a big door

Going to pop in into the water again and see what happens after tightening up gaurd rail and bow plate

Water from the cockpit bulkhead. That is certainly as possibility. Water does seem to come up thru the thru port for the washdown hose. Just a tiny bit There is water back there also…. Seems to be able to run under the head/ shower. How to waterpriof that entire area seems impossible without tearing out the shower / head
 
Definately water from the cockpit gets into the cabin. The aft cabin bulkhead, may or may not be properly tabbed to the hull. Water channels outside of where the fuel tank is (and also under/around fuel tank. The only "cure" for this is to cut out the cockpit floor, clean, dry and then properly tab the bulkhead into the hull. We did that in our 2003 boat because the cockpit floor was already compromiesd (A hole in it). This same source of water can migrate up into the aft cabin bulklead which was cored in many (Most) boats.

Where there is a penetration of the core, I suggest that you overdrill, and put a thickened epoxy plug in that space. I would also sound out, and get moisture readings on the cabin floor (After the boat was "dry" under storage conditions. The issue is that I believe you live in an area where freeze thaw cycles occur, if the boat is not in a heated and dry storage faciity. Where there is moist core--it is best to replace the core, especially if there is delamination. I got rid of all of the screws holding the "L" brackets into the bottom of the boat, by filling the holes (over drilling first) and then using short pieces of cloth and epoxy, us that to afix the furniture to the hull.
 
Thanks for the input "thataway"

I put 20 gallons of water into the cockpit bildge and trailered the boat to a steep slope bow down hill to force water against that bulkhead.....tiny tiny drip came thru under the step locker into the cabin. I could not tell if the water came all the way up front to the screw holes in front under the helm seat locker.

Seems crazy that bulkhead is not glassed in a bomber manner. How could that ever fail? Cutting out cockpit and reglassing is a project above my paygrade.

The freezing issue is true here... We can get cold weather for sure. Sounds like I need a boat yard repaire place to dig in with moisture reading tools.

Thanks again for the input
 
I cannot read the mind set of those who fabricated the 25 in 2003, but I suspect they did not envision the probem. It is possible that the hull was not adequately cleaned. It should have been concentric size Mat and roving two layers each. Not what was done a single layer of mat or cloth. Also since the bulkhead was added after the fiberglass in the hull laminate was cured, then it did not have as good secondary bond. I used epoxy when glassing this bulkhead back in. I had used polyester resin in the boats I have built for bulkheads--but I was sure the glass surface was clean dry and prepped.

A cheap moisture meter can show the difference between wet and dry core. To have a yard replace the core would be very expensive--depending on shop labor rates from $80 to $150 an hour.
 
Thanks for all the input.

I found the bulkhead leak from the cockpit and sealed it up. Dry as a bone now in there. there was a spot missed from the fiberglassing it seems and came right under...just a tiny tiny bit. Cleaned, sanded, cleaned again and sealed with 4200 a solid patch.

Seems I fixed the brass bow plate issue also.....resealed all screws and sealed edges with 4000. That stuff is amazing how it cures into solid rubber. Test holes in cabin floor only found water in one small spot. Will seal up with Epoxy and let it ride

So far no leaks from fresh water tank...no red died water yet anywhere. after a good cruise on the water. Tank only has ten gallons in it...so maybe a leak is higher up. But that all looks good so far.

Man I learned a lot about this boat the past week. Replaced all the bilge pumps with new and rewired a bunch of shoddy wire spices. The main bilge pump was frozen and had blown a fuse...it sits lowest in the bildge...the second backup bilge pump sat much higher up so would not kick on untill a good 2" of water was in that huge area. This should help things out a ton I think just keeping that area free of water.

New horn sounds great. I think I'm ready for Desolation Sound late August now! Thanks again for all the input. The Twin Honda 90s seems to be running smooth.

Thanks again for all the input, Ideas, help. Onward!
 
Keep your eye on the 4200 "Leak repair". I would have used epoxy resin and cloth. To do a proper repair of this area, you would have to pull the deck. As it is now, there will still be water gettng into the core of the aft cabin bulkhead. I don't know what material it is in your boat, but balsa will take up water and migrate up inside between the two fiberglass skins. If the boat is subject to freezing/thaw cycles, there will be delamination of this bulkhead. Nothing immediate, but down the line it could cause some issues....
 
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