We have a leak in our 25

B

Bess-C

New member
We have had our boat for 5 years, and have felt fortunate because we haven't had the leak problems that some of you have described. Well, we've joined the leaker's club. The last few times out in the boat, we've had enough water under the back step of the cabin to get our rubber backed carpet wet.

We just had our boat in for service and I had them check for leaks. They found a couple of minor potential leaks and corrected them, and checked the boat out thoroughly (but not in the water).

After we launched it, we started to get water on the carpet. I gave the helm to Shelley and started looking for the leak. I checked under the sink, along the window, along the chine, under the floor in the hanging locker, all of the hose connections, pumps and fittings that I could find. I didn't find a problem with any of them and the water appeared to be isolated to the back step area. I dried the area out and then started watching it. I thought that the water was coming from the limber hole under the head, so I blocked that and still got water under the step. I'm beginning to think it may be a crack at the base of the bulkhead, but without taking the hoses and wire run out of there, I couldn't be sure.

This surprises me because it is a new problem after 5 years, and most of these leaks seemed to show up pretty quickly on new boats. Does anybody want to tell me what I'm missing here?
Lyle
 
Lyle,

Our leak was from the rub rail. It was mostly in the area where the head is installed. It wouldn't leak by just putting it in the water, though - there had to be some water flowing along the rub rail. We saw it most often after a rain; even more so than getting spray over the bow. And after getting wet, it would continue to leak for quite a while.

When I pulled the rubber out of the rub rail, the problem was immediately obvious: holes that had been redrilled, but not filled.

Another potential problem area could be around the step in the cockpit. The caulk the factory uses there dries out and needs to be replaced on occasion. If you get water in there, it can run back to the area of the step in the cabin... it might just need a change of tilt/attitude for the water to run.

If you have any doubt about the integrity of the hull, pull the boat out when you are getting water in it and see if anything runs out. The clue for us was the fact that the water leak in ours was not salty.

Either of these repairs are pretty straightforward.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
We have had water under the back step several times--isolated. Mostly in rough weather--and my final diagnosis is that water is coming from the bilge under the aft cockpit--where water gets into this bilge thru the deck hatches, and sloshes up into the area under the head/shower thru the hole where the hose from the head to the holding tank exits and goes thru this aft bulkhead. It would have been fairly easy to seal this hole when the boat was built--or I could have sealed it when I rebuilt the cockpit--but I didn't. Now the only way I can see to seal this is to put "Great Stuff" sealant, thru a flexiable tube into the space around this hose.

Consider that the entire aft cabin bulkhead is cored with Balsa. Water can get in one place and migrate if there is any delamination. If you have absolutely ruled out fixtures: Water pump, water hoses, Shower sump, raw water wash down system, head hoses, thru hull fittings etc--then do look for water comming in from aft.

There have been a couple of the 25's of your vintage which have developed both breakdown of the tabbing along the port and stb side of the aft cabin bulkhead, with water intrusion into the bulkhead and eventually getting water thru the sides. At least one of these did not have full sealing on the cockpit under the gunnels. Although I know of one new 22 which had the tabbing on the floor of the aft cabin bulkhead which did not adhere well initially, I am not aware of this happening to any of the 25's. But this could also happen.

I would try and find out where the water is coming in. Putting food coloring in the bilge water aft will help to show you that this is the source of the water. Also check to see if the water is fresh or salt (assuming that you boat in salt water).

Unfortunately just sealing the inside of the aft bulkhead may just hide a problem, and if the aft bulkhead core is developing delamination or rot, this must be addressed--so you need to see where the water is coming in--and rectify the problem.
 
Jim and Bob,
Thanks for the responses. Jim, I thought it must be water coming through the area around the rub rail, so we took it to a dock and tested it. I dried out the area around the back step in the cabin and Shelley took a hose and sprayed the area all over and around the rub rail from the middle of the starboard side on back. I watched carefully for water and none appeared. So we may have ruled that one out.

Bob, your explanation about the water coming in from the bilge through the hole behind the toilet sounds plausible. It was a little rough when we really noticed it, and there was more water than usual by the bilge pump. Not enough to start the pump, but still more than we usually see. I will put some food coloring into the bilge the next time we're out to see if that's where we're getting the water from.

I'm not sure how to see any breakdown of the bulkhead tabbing without taking out the cockpit floor. Maybe I'm missing something, but I haven't noticed anything unusual about the bulkhead from outer appearances.
Lyle
 
Lyle, I had a similar problem a couple of years ago on Anna Leigh. Water would appear on the floor of the cabin in the area of the forward corner of the head on the floor. It took me about a month to find out how it was coming in. As it turned out it was through the rub rail on the starboard side. When it rained or I washed the boat the water would come in down the inside of the starboard wall and settle in the depressed chine area at the base of the side wall. You can reach back under the galley and feel the depression. Then when I got underway the water sloshed out and appeared. C-Dory resealed the rub rail and no more problem.
 
I have an odd leak on my TomCat 255. I have only noticed it when washing it whether with hose and brush or powerwash. Somehow moisture gets down under the forward bunking and just atop it in the bedclothes on the Starboard side just forward of the helm.

I cannot find the source since the inside of the hull seems dry and the bunk window does not have drips around it. Maybe it drips down the inside of the hull and dries on the hull surface after accumulating on the bunk mattress.

Do any of you all have any experience with this type of leak? It is small and only seems to be involved with washing the boat.

John
 
Thanks, Tom,

Did you take the rubber out of the rail and fix it thru that? Or would a person have to remove the entire rail? Do you think C-Dory would warranty the hull for that type of leak?

John
 
We have an 2007 CD-25 that had an unexplained water leak, that only occurred during a heavy rain. The strange part was the water would only show up at the floor and under the step at night when we were in the V-berth. Our boat has a very slight list to starboard, when there was a heavy rain water would leak into the two holes on the door lock , under the latch. Run down the inside of the door frame, and fill the bottom of the frame until it reached the glass gasket, than down the wall to the floor, (than because of the list it would accumulate under the head), than when we both moved forward the water would run out under the step onto the floor.
Solution was to caulk the two screw holes, that solved the leak. It took thirty minutes with a water hose to find the leak, also in my obsessive way I got to thinking about that water in the bottom of the door frame and I drilled two small weep holes in the bottom of the frame a week later and out ran about a cup of water.
 
OK, here's our leak story. We noticed water around the cabin bilge pump, called the factory, and they said, and I quote, "we never heard of that before." Finally we got in a situation where it filled the cabin sole, and the factory still said "we never heard of that before." Judy stuck her head in the anchor locker, saw the water coming in from the drain hole, in bumpy seas. When we anchored, I checked the anchor locker, saw a short uncaulked seam, filled it, and we didn't have any more swampings.

After the trip, we showed up at the factory, showed them the leak, and the !@#$$ said, and again I quote, "oh, that leak, we know about it." Water drains down under the v-berth, fills up that volume and then leaks out through the various holes. It gets to the back of the cockpit along the stringer rails at the outside of the hull. They did reseal the anchor locker, behind the rub rails and in the cockpit.

So check the anchor locker, whilst under way. then drill a hole at the bottom of the step, where the cabin sole goes up to the V-berth, and let that water drain out.

Ron on Meander is the expert on C-25 leaks. I believe he's had them all.

Boris
 
FOUND THE LEAK!! Yay! Turns out C-Dory had no part in this TomCat's leak.

Using a hose carefully today, I finally found the spot that was leaking. It was exactly in the center of the forward bunk window (port) - right where the locking arm is.

I can feel some harder, rougher rubber seal there, but don't know how to fix the problem. For now, I am just putting a towel there when washing the boat.

There does not seem to be any leaking of the gunnel trim.

John
 
FIXED THE TOMCAT PORTHOLE LEAK, BUT EGG ON FACE...

Well, out here on the dock, getting ready to wash the boat for the weekend cruise, I discovered that the bottom locking arm seems to increase the closing pressure on the glass, the further you swing that bottom arm up from it's horizontal, unlocked postiion.

So, pushing that locking arm at least to the vertical, and maybe a bit further, stopped the window leak.

The side locking arms don't have to go that tight, so I was just assuming that the bottom locking arm did not swing that far. So, it takes a bit of "OOMPH" but cured the problem... I guess the problem was with me, though...

John
 
Thanks, Warren, for that info!

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only guy stumbling through all these problems which seem to end up with obvious fixes.

It only took me about two years to solve this one!

John
 
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