Drip Drip Drip - the forward hatch has a drip

Ftbinc · Sep 4, 2018

Hi All:

My Manatee has three leaks:

1. A forward hatch has a drip. I removed, cleaned and re-bedded with sikflex. When sprayed with a hose at all angles, no water comes in, but after a rain, we get a drip.

I am not sure where the water is coming from, since water wants to run down hill, i don't think is is the hatch or the hatch coming. I do have a little drip at the cleats when spayed hard with a hose and I plan to re-bed both of the Cleats, the Windless switch and the windless.

2.A drip in the Galley off the port ceiling vent. Water seems to gather and stand in the port pilot house lazerett between the outter wall of the pilot house and the inter wall after a rain. I suspect it is dripping down the wires that go down at the aft end of that narrow alcove. I think the water is coming in where the window superstructure sits on the fiberglass, down the screw holes. When sprayed with the hose, we get quite a drip. We plan on cleaning out the caulk the best we can and re-beading that joint, the way we would seal a shower joint beween the tile and the shower pan.

3. The last one is on the port aft side behind the salon window. We have a crack in the interwall that bubble water when we had a driving rain.
we could not see any ingress point and could use some help with guessing on where the water is coming from.

When we purchased the boat, it was kept in a covered slip, so we did not have a way of knowing about any of these leaks.

Comments, suggestions ideas are welcome to help us stop the drip drip drip.

Thanks all
Paul KK Manatee "Oma"

wwestman · Sep 4, 2018

Get some butytl tape
https://shop.marinehowto.com/products/bed-it-tape
Follow his instructions
No more leaks

FlyWright · Sep 5, 2018

Are you sure that leak is on a Manatee?

If you own a Manatee, why do you have a sailboat ruining the view on your avatar?

ranger58sb · Sep 5, 2018

Ftbinc said:
1. A forward hatch has a drip. I removed, cleaned and re-bedded with sikflex. When sprayed with a hose at all angles, no water comes in, but after a rain, we get a drip.

Our overhead hatch has about four different ways to leak. One is the frame around the hatch that attaches to the deck. A second is the gasket surround, inside the hatch housing. A third is at the dogs. And the fourth is at the lens bedding.

Took us a while to determine which of those we needed to deal with. Replacing the gasket didn't fix it. Some Flex Shot around the lens stopped the leak... at least temporarily. I suspect the real fix for that would be to have a glazier remove and rebed the lens.

-Chris

HiDHo · Sep 5, 2018

Paul I have the same forward deck hatch drip, I agree with Chris, the lens is leaking. I have a waterproof cover on mine that stops the leak until I can repair it.
The port side leak was fixed on our manatee with Larry’s help on Bucky. The sections of stainless steel rub strake need to be removed and the old chalk. The rub strake is a lap joint that is chalked when the hull is mated to the upper portion of the manatee. I used butyl chalk and it stopped the leak, don’t forget to chalk the screw threads and under the screw heads. (see the photos) You may have to remove and chalk either side of the leak area, I went ahead and did about 75% of the port side strip. It’s hard to believe that water will run up thru the lap joint but leak testing with a hose showed it was the leak source.
Good Luck
Bill

Ftbinc · Sep 5, 2018

FlyWright - We have been racing sailboats for over 40 years and I happen to like this picture of this boat we campaigned for 5 years. Besides, my Manatee has a sail....

Ftbinc · Sep 5, 2018

Thanks -

HiDHo said:
Paul I have the same forward deck hatch drip, I agree with Chris, the lens is leaking. I have a waterproof cover on mine that stops the leak until I can repair it.
The port side leak was fixed on our manatee with Larry’s help on Bucky. The sections of stainless steel rub strake need to be removed and the old chalk. The rub strake is a lap joint that is chalked when the hull is mated to the upper portion of the manatee. I used butyl chalk and it stopped the leak, don’t forget to chalk the screw threads and under the screw heads. (see the photos) You may have to remove and chalk either side of the leak area, I went ahead and did about 75% of the port side strip. It’s hard to believe that water will run up thru the lap joint but leak testing with a hose showed it was the leak source.
Good Luck
Bill

\
The hatch seems to be leaking from somewhere else than the hatch - water testing did not produce a leak at all (Even with a pretty high pressure spray)

It seems to be higher up than the lap joint (About 4 feet higher) That joint might be responsible for other issues and we plan to re-caulk that one as well this fall once we pull her.
Thanks!
Paul

Ftbinc · Oct 24, 2018

Leak updates:
1. the Galley leak was resolved by re-bedding between the pilot house frame and the Fiberglass - it was leaking through the bolts that attach the front frame to the base of the pilot house.
2. This reduced but did not eliminate the leak a the forward hatch, which leads me to believe there was water running down from the pilot house to that point on the deck.
3. I re-bedded the cleats and Windless switch. (all were leaking) Now they seem to be water tight.

4. next place will be the windless...

healhustler · Oct 27, 2018

Sorry I’m late to this thread, which is already helpful to me as well. I tecently developed a leak in my fwd hatch. I’ll be going back to see if I’m getting water through the pilothouse storage hatches again. We’ve had more than our share of rain these last months and plenty of opportunity to find leaks.

Regarding leaks below the salon windows, the act of slamming windows shut on those vinyl frames tends to crack the corners. Take a close look at them.

C lectric · Oct 28, 2018

Water can travel uphill due to capillary action if two surfaces are close enough together. The surface tension of water will cause it to pull up quite a ways. So yes water can enter at the bottom of a window or frame of any type and get pulled up. Maybe not a lot but enough to be a problem.
I have a similar problem with one of my front window frames and am going to tackle it this winter.

HiDHo · Oct 28, 2018

Larry does that sound familiar ? “ water travels uphill “ like the hull deck joint leaks you discovered and saved me alot of work trying to find.
My forward deck hatch leaks also. I think my leak is in the hatch tinted lens. I’m going to try to remove the lens and rebed it with butyl if I can get it out in one piece. For now I’m using a water proof hatch cover.
My pilothouse ventilation hatches have never leaked they both have raised glassed in collars. Check the storage locker deck drains to make sure there not plugged.
Bill

Drip Drip Drip - the forward hatch has a drip

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