water leaking from flybridge

[masonturner]

I have had my 81 Californian 34 LRC Trawler for a few weeks now. It rained last week and it was coming in from the AC vent. This is a main Salon AC, which is housed in the Flybridge Console. I but silicon over all components up there and hoped that would take care of it....However, it just started storming again. and then water coming in. I need to find out where and how and fix. Has anyone else had this issue? If there a console flybridge cover I can locate?

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. m. Silicone causes many more problems than what it attempts to solve. The use of any silicone on a boat transforms what might have been a simple repair into an exercise in futility (FULL removal of silicone AND all traces is extremely difficult) and makes a proper long lasting repair potentially impossible IMO.

[BruceK]

masonturner, I doubt your boat is irreparable by using silicone, provided you used the "roof and gutter" variety which unlike the "bathroom" variety will accept paint. Even so, better to use a polyurethane sealant.
Water travels,the entry point is often not the obvious. Can you trace back to the ac on the FB? You might need to lift the unit on the FB to seal around/under it. Observing while it is raining may help. Try taping plastic sheet over the roof ac and see if that stops it. You need to fix it or you`ll be dealing with rot.
Pics of the roof located ac unit would help.

[Comodave]

I never use silicone caulking because it is almost impossible to completely remove. I use Sika 291 for almost all general caulking.

I would take a garden hose up there and start at the lowest area that you think is leaking. Run the hose for a while and see if you get a leak and it may take a while for the water to leak through so go slowly and be patient. If the water doesn’t leak in then move to the next area and see what happens. Give it time to work its way in. If you move too quickly to the next area you won’t be able to tell exactly where the water is coming from.

Once you identify where the water is coming from you should take the parts off and clean the area thoroughly. Then put new caulk in and reassemble the parts. Do not just try squirting some around the area and hope it fixes it. Properly rebedding things is a lot of work and takes a lot of time so do it correctly the first time because if you don’t do it correctly you will move on looking for the leak and you will have passed it up.

And get rid of the silicone caulk…

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by BruceK

masonturner, I doubt your boat is irreparable by using silicone, provided you used the "roof and gutter" variety which unlike the "bathroom" variety will accept paint. Even so, better to use a polyurethane sealant.
Water travels,the entry point is often not the obvious. Can you trace back to the ac on the FB? You might need to lift the unit on the FB to seal around/under it. Observing while it is raining may help. Try taping plastic sheet over the roof ac and see if that stops it. You need to fix it or you`ll be dealing with rot.
Pics of the roof located ac unit would help.

Thanks. I only used the silicon to isolate quickly. It will all be coming off when I prep to gel coat. It has been neglected, but I am going to bring back to new. I do not se how to remover at all. The AC unit is in the FB console.

[masonturner]

AS you can see in the photo. The Inside salon photo shows the 2 vents. one is the return and the other it the Output with cold air. Now, up in FB, the inside of the cabintet has water in it. I believe water is coming in the cabinet and working its wat through the AC duct and coming in. It is not just a drip either.

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by Comodave

I never use silicone caulking because it is almost impossible to completely remove. I use Sika 291 for almost all general caulking.

I would take a garden hose up there and start at the lowest area that you think is leaking. Run the hose for a while and see if you get a leak and it may take a while for the water to leak through so go slowly and be patient. If the water doesn’t leak in then move to the next area and see what happens. Give it time to work its way in. If you move too quickly to the next area you won’t be able to tell exactly where the water is coming from.

Once you identify where the water is coming from you should take the parts off and clean the area thoroughly. Then put new caulk in and reassemble the parts. Do not just try squirting some around the area and hope it fixes it. Properly rebedding things is a lot of work and takes a lot of time so do it correctly the first time because if you don’t do it correctly you will move on looking for the leak and you will have passed it up.

And get rid of the silicone caulk…

Thanks again the Silicon was a temp quick fix. It was in between pouring rain. It definitely is pretty instant. Rain starts then rain starts from AC 3 mins later. This tells me it takes 3 mins in heavy rain to fill up the floor of the console. I will go up today ones it dries out and investigate

[masonturner]

I think I am going to use my super bright LED floodlight and put it in the console tonight and see where i see light? The would mean water entrance?

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. m. For those "emergency fixes" I would keep some butyl tape handy. You can gob wads of the sticky tape onto, into and around suspected leak sources, even whilst wet to minimize/stop any leakage AND it can readily be removed without the residual contamination of the dreaded silicone.


That being said, I tend to agree your source IS quite probably the FB "eyebrow" (what we call the area under the upper station). It does look like it needs attention.


Edit: For the time being it might be of an advantage to drape and fasten a tarp over the whole area. That should give you some breathing room/time. A bright light MAY give you some ideas of suspect areas but I think you'll have to start by re-bedding ALL the fitments including the windscreen wooden frames. Start on the outside and work to the inside of the eyebrow.


You will have to take off ALL the "stuff", clean up. seal all unnecessary penetrations and really seal the neccessary ones (for wiring/fasteners etc.) really well.

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by RT Firefly

Greetings,
Mr. m. For those "emergency fixes" I would keep some butyl tape handy. You can gob wads of the sticky tape onto, into and around suspected leak sources, even whilst wet to minimize/stop any leakage AND it can readily be removed without the residual contamination of the dreaded silicone.


That being said, I tend to agree your source IS quite probably the FB "eyebrow" (what we call the area under the upper station). It does look like it needs attention.

Thanks. It is on the list of things to do. I WAS going to focus lower but now that it is presenting a problem, it goes right to the top of the list.

[Pete Meisinger]

If you have a teak flybridge, you probably have literally hundreds of little leaks, between the planks. Is the flybridge soft? If so you are probably looking at replacing it.

pete

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger

If you have a teak flybridge, you probably have literally hundreds of little leaks, between the planks. Is the flybridge soft? If so you are probably looking at replacing it.

pete

there is some teak, like the instrument panels. I will be changing those, but 99% is Fiberglass.

[Xlantic]

¿Is there no drain hole in the console for water to drain out? You may want to look for one and clear it out if clogged.

If not, you may consider drilling a well-placed hole to drain until you solve the ultimate problem of the rain-water coming in.

[Bmarler]

I think I’d start by doing a thorough cleaning of that whole area. Then look to see where the water is pooling, and where it’s running down. If it only takes a few minutes it should be easy to spot after the area is tidied up.
Have to agree though, it’s most likely a combination of small or medium sized leaks resulting in a large one.

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by Bmarler

I think I’d start by doing a thorough cleaning of that whole area. Then look to see where the water is pooling, and where it’s running down. If it only takes a few minutes it should be easy to spot after the area is tidied up.
Have to agree though, it’s most likely a combination of small or medium sized leaks resulting in a large one.

Agreed. I am doing that after work today. I have a lot to clean out of there from what was left from the Previous Owner

[masonturner]

I I cleaned it out, soaked up all the water, dirt and grime. there is no drain. It has a 1 inch lip all around so when water gets in from the top, it jus fills up up until it gets to the old plywood box that encompasses the squirrel cage of the fan I am going to pull everything off, use that time to repair holes, sand and paint. Then re-bed everything with the modern gauges and that should fix my problem

[masonturner]

yes, i like this plan

[Max1]

Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger

If you have a teak flybridge, you probably have literally hundreds of little leaks, between the planks. Is the flybridge soft? If so you are probably looking at replacing it.

pete

YEs!

Originally Posted by masonturner

I I cleaned it out, soaked up all the water, dirt and grime. there is no drain. It has a 1 inch lip all around so when water gets in from the top, it jus fills up up until it gets to the old plywood box that encompasses the squirrel cage of the fan I am going to pull everything off, use that time to repair holes, sand and paint. Then re-bed everything with the modern gauges and that should fix my problem

For sure!

Fix it ASAP! and do it right. You don't want to get to a situation where you have to rebuild the flybridge!

Since we bought our project boat in 2021, there was always these annoying leaks into the cabin from above. We had it in the water in 2022 but every time it rained, we had bucket, pots and tarps stretched out in the main cabin to catch the drips (and there were others we didn’t see but saw the results in the form of puddles here and there.)
This spring I had the idea of removing the brow and giving the entire flybidge a fresh coat of FG cloth and gelcoat. "Should be easy"....

Till I took the brow off and discovered some rot holes. Took out the captain’s chairs and found more holes (and rot!!). Let me cut out the rot.... Then I find more rot.....Next thing I knew I had the entire flybridge off and rebuilt the whole thing. Took me two months. Tapered beams, 2 layers of 10mm ply, each layer offset by 2' so that there were NO overlapping seams between first and second layer. first layer glued and screwed to the beams, second layer glued and screwed to the first. skim coat, 2 layers of FG cloth, 2 layers of skim coat and then gelcoat (only one coat this year- ran out of time because I wanted to LAUNCH!!
Since rebuilding, I have not put a SINGLE hole in the new flybridge deck. Everything is bonded to the deck. No holes, no screws. Main cabin has been bone-dry ever since. Worth it but I would have preferred not to have gone through all that hassle "if only" the previous owners had done some "PROPER" preventative maintenance on it! A stitch in time saves nine!

[masonturner]

Originally Posted by Max1

YEs!



For sure!

Fix it ASAP! and do it right. You don't want to get to a situation where you have to rebuild the flybridge!

Since we bought our project boat in 2021, there was always these annoying leaks into the cabin from above. We had it in the water in 2022 but every time it rained, we had bucket, pots and tarps stretched out in the main cabin to catch the drips (and there were others we didn’t see but saw the results in the form of puddles here and there.)
This spring I had the idea of removing the brow and giving the entire flybidge a fresh coat of FG cloth and gelcoat. "Should be easy"....

Till I took the brow off and discovered some rot holes. Took out the captain’s chairs and found more holes (and rot!!). Let me cut out the rot.... Then I find more rot.....Next thing I knew I had the entire flybridge off and rebuilt the whole thing. Took me two months. Tapered beams, 2 layers of 10mm ply, each layer offset by 2' so that there were NO overlapping seams between first and second layer. first layer glued and screwed to the beams, second layer glued and screwed to the first. skim coat, 2 layers of FG cloth, 2 layers of skim coat and then gelcoat (only one coat this year- ran out of time because I wanted to LAUNCH!!
Since rebuilding, I have not put a SINGLE hole in the new flybridge deck. Everything is bonded to the deck. No holes, no screws. Main cabin has been bone-dry ever since. Worth it but I would have preferred not to have gone through all that hassle "if only" the previous owners had done some "PROPER" preventative maintenance on it! A stitch in time saves nine!

WOW what a project!! Thank you for sharing