Water Leaks Into Cabin of 2003 25' Cruiser

[Ben Davis]

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

[ssobol]

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.

[JamesTXSD]

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.