LEAKS!

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 8:32 pm

Well,
here in sunny Southern California, we have had heavy rain (for us anyway) for three days straight, I went to the boat today the check the boat and make sure she is snug in her slip and I found I have a few leaks, it seems like I have read a few posts on the typical places for an F32 to leak, but here is what I think I may have...
1. Leaking from the bridge where the wiring harness passes through the overhead on the starboard side, it runs down the wires then spreads where it passes through to the side compartment. Its not a bad leak but I spent a lot of time refinishing the teak and don't want to do that again!

2. Center wiper motor, dripping off of the wiring... this could be fun to find

3. the vertical mechanical steering rod that comes from the upper helm gearbox to the lower helm gear box,

4. forward cabin, it appears that I have rail mounts leaking, I didnt have time to pull the hull liners and follow the water trail, but it is wet on the port side about mid berth below the bed boards, the old hull liner material was rusted from galvanized staples when I bought the boat, now I know why.
How hard is it to remove the raile bases and rebed them?

captainmaniac · Post by **captainmaniac** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:42 pm

I will take the first 2 :

#1 : water is running off the forward bridge seat and into the wiring box on the right (or possibly getting through to the wiring harness in the console through the hole for the bungee cord that holds the cushion in place). Try to create a 'drip loop' in the wiring, or wrap a plastic bag over it all to sheet any drips off. Make sure the 'vent tube' that sticks up a couple inches from the bridge floor (that the wires go down through) is not ripped and that the caulking around its base is sound.

#2 : flybridge light base... rain is likely coming in around the base and following the wiring for the bridge light through the bridge floor (right up forward under the fairing). Once the water gets inside the bulkhead in the front salon ceiling, it can decide to come out anywhere it can find a path... Seal the bejeezus out of where the wires go through the bridge floor, and rebed the mast light and its bolts.

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:49 pm

captain maniac,

Ah wise one, the masthead light! makes total sense, as the leak is directly below the area
the wiring harness also makes sense aand I kind of figured that is where it is coming from. i am not sure I understood the bungee thing, I have removed all of the cushions (the bench in front of the helm is a re upolstery project) and I remove the helm seats and stow them below each time I leave the boat.

thanks for the great advice, I figured that there are " common leaks" for the model.

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 10:52 pm

I have done all of these fixes. You need to seal everything on the flybridge, everything. The balsa coring in the salon ceiling (flybridge floor) gets full of water, like a sponge, from the small unseen leaks but these can be found and stopped by rebedding the flybridge surround screws, outside drip rail, seat mounts, upper helm mounts, wire runs, and any other place that has a screw in it where water might get through. This could be why there is water coming out of your windshield wiper. I drilled small holes in the salon ceiling in the extreme four corners to let water out, don't forget the buckets to catch the water......"where the wiring harness passes through the overhead on the starboard side, it runs down the wires then spreads where it passes through to the side compartment. Its not a bad leak but I spent a lot of time refinishing the teak and don't want to do that again!" As water follows these wires it will fall and lay on the stbd saddle fuel tank. Over years it will cause problems for your galvinized tank, if you have them. I sealed what I could and added full canvas to the flybridge and eliminated these water problems...........Some of the railing mounts are easy and some are hard to get to but patience pays off here. plan on disassembling just about everything along the interior sides to get to them. Like I say the front ones are easy to get to........ I've been watching the news and it seems you guys down there are getting hammered with rain and flooding. Good luck with the leaks and better luck with your weather.

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:08 pm

wowzer, thanks for the advice and helpful hints, we are bone dry for 9 to 10 months a year, (9" of rain on average) so a leak never really ever shows up. but we are getting hammered this week and by the hair on my border collie it will be a wet one this year (farmers almanac)

The weathe ris supposed to clear off by tomorrow night so maybe i can get to some of the leaks this weekend,

thanks again

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:55 am

Re the leak in V berth... the source of the wet spot can be far away as it will run to the low point of that ledge under edge of V berth cushion.
I had a leak like that and the source was from a bolt that held the top deck to hull under steel rub rail, it ran down hull inside anchor locker hit ledge and ran back. On a rainy day stick your head inside the locker door with a light to check it.
I never got it 100% sealed so I ran a bead of 4200 vertically on hull inside locker to direct it to bilge and away from the start of that ledge. Now the edges of my bedding stay dry.

To get to the nuts on the stanchion hold down bolts you will need to remove the Teak at top of cabin, the teak shelf and then the ply finishing panels that run fore-aft. Good time to recover, I used curtain material held on with a spray glue.

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:14 am

Micheal,

your forward cabin looks great, when i bought the boat the hull panel covers were let just say ugly, so it was the first thing I reupolstered, so obvioucly I dont want them getting wet. I looked in the chain locker yesterday but didnt have flash light with me, the stringer tat the bed boards rest on is where I am seeing water and the side of the cushion and cover was wet, much like you describe. the the hull panels remove easily so if I have time today I am going to pull them.
thanks for the help!

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:22 am

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 4:15 pm

I've taken every bit of advice on this forum to seal myF32 bridge and it still leaks when it rains.

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:15 pm

Not sure if the was covered in the advice, since I'm foggy from too much figgy pupping (what the hell is Figgy Pudding anyway???), BUT some of those cabin leaks that are running under the headliner or down the sides can very well be from the total lack of bedding compound that Trojan used when they put those hand rails into the cabin top. I fixed a really annoying leak 10 years ago (with no failure since, and we get LOTS of rain here in upstate NY). CAREFULLY back off the machine screw countersunk on the top rail mount (too much and you lose the backup nut and then you have to take off the headliner to find it). Just enough to get a squeeze tube (3 oz size) with extention nozzle of silicone under that space. Wait about an hour to let the silicone to skin over then tighten down to squeeze some of the silicone out but not too tight to squeeze it all out. Next day tighten down and your leaks are solved - at least those coming from those hand rails. Any original hardware mounted to the deck or cabin top will most likely not have any bedding compound under the mounts, so take your time and use that silicone. It works great and since I spent close to 30 years making and selling the stuff it helps my retirement!

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:40 pm

I prefer 5200 for bedding - stick,s seals and lasts longer.

Randy - I prefer siicone in implants, and it looks like there are plenty of women getting these now, so your retirement is safe!

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Thu Dec 23, 2010 7:09 pm

Ross, now those were some very good years......the field work, fitting, inspections, etc. Somebody had to do it....

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:43 am

Merry Christmas to all of me fellow Trojan owners,
Santa brought me a day off and bright clear dry weather for Christmas, so I am off to the boat to rebed some rail stantions!

Cheers!

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 8:18 pm

randyp wrote:Ross, now those were some very good years......the field work, fitting, inspections, etc. Somebody had to do it....

Must have seen tough - verify all those silicone implant cup sizes versus real model's "units".

Glad you were able to throw yourself on the (your?) sword and perform this work diligently so the rest of us could enjoy the fruits of your labor!

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:45 pm

Yes, over years and years of practice and experience I became very "handy" at my work......Getting to a statistically valid sample size was very very tough.