TomCat 24 water in bilge!

G

GxK

New member
I've developed a leak in the port hull of my TomCat 24. About a third-bucket of water collects in the forward section in about an hour after being drained.

I don't recall hitting anything. The leak started two seasons ago with less than a cup of water in the bilge. It doesn't smell like it's related to the holding tank. It's not related to the water tank which I have pumped dry. It smells and looks like harbour water.

Anyone have similar issues with their TomCat 24 or 255? Any thoughts on the cause?

I have taken the boat to a nearby yard for winter haulout. I plan to have the hull soda-blasted to see if we can spot anything untoward. Plan is to apply an InterProtect barrier and then several coats of antifouling.

--Georgs
 
Hi Georgs,
Good to hear that you are using the boat! Sorry to hear there is a water intrusion issue!

Places to look would include potential intrusion from anchor locker drain (not sure where that is on the TC 24), and hull to deck joint, I don't believe than any of the TC 24's had a brass strip in the centerline of the hulls, but that has been an issue in some of the 22's especially.

Are all the hose clamps and other fittings waterlines from the fresh water system tight, and secure? A raw water wash down system, with thru hull--if so properly installed (with epoxy or solid glass around the thru hull. Bait tank intake? Another possibility would be the drain plugs--either leaking plug, or even some core damage around the fitting itself. I would remove the drain plug fitting, check for any rot around the core, when you have it out, fill this area with epoxy after core removal. (assuming that your boat has drain plugs in the hulls). Same with any other transom core fittings, including any engine mount bolts which are below the waterline.

The hulls were molded in one piece, so there should not be any delamination as there might be with a 2 part hull. To have an actual crack or gouge deep enough to allow water intrusion would be unusual, especially if you had not known of a hit to the hull. However, we were on a racing sail boat which had hit a container, and did not know that there was damage or that we hat hit any object because we had been slamming into 8 foot seas for 24 hours going to weather. I also know of several instances where thru hulls had been removed, and in-adequate relamination of the hull had been done, leading to failure--I doubt that would have happened to your boat. Sometimes we can hit something, and not realize it even in our little boats....

Good luck on the inspection, and great idea for the epoxy.
 
Is the boat in the water? Any in hull items like transducer, water pickup ? When does it occur? Any rain or after a cruise? May help to be a little more specific... just saying
 
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