Boat Maintenance: Leaks

Yes, that is what it looks like...

We have been chasing after leaks and think we have finally found the sources and repaired them all! What a job that was.

We noticed back in January that one of the port forward cabin lights had shorted out and water was sitting inside of it. We re-bed the seals on both starboard and port areas, as well as the jib tracks, and the traveler. We dried out the area and thought that was that.

Well, fast forward to re-launching from the boat yard and a major washing down of the boat. After we had finished cleaning, I walked into the port cabin and noticed the same light was flickering and had water inside of it again. We had just replaced it, too! Ugh! We removed it and tossed it into a bag of silica gel packets. I am hoping we can save it, as they are about $80 a piece!

Where was the water coming from? We checked the handrails and stanchions, which were all dry. The only other place we had not resealed were the steps.

Resealing the steps.

It took a couple of days, but after re-sealing the steps and drying out the area, we have not had any more leaks! We tested with the hose on full blast and it was still dry. Whew!

Watching for leaks while the water is being sprayed above on deck.

Jared even removed the hatch, so he could watch for leaks as I sprayed down the area. The only thing left to do was make sure the area was dried out. This entailed taping up our hairdryer to blow the hot air into the hole for awhile.

Drying out the moisture from the leak.

A week later, we tested the area again with full blasts from the hose and it is still dry.