Rain leak near mast

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Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

Rain leak near mast

Post by Steve B. »

I have a rain leak which shows up on the aft side of the starboard bulkhead about halfway between the door and the starboard port light.

I suspect it is coming from the fasteners for the multi block for main halyard, etc under the starboard metal cover next to the mast.

I have sealed up any suspect places in the area, but it hasn't had any effect on the leak.

I have also tried to remove those big phillips screws to rebed the block assembly, but have been unsuccessful. They seem to be epoxied in place!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Steve B.
Double Horizon
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Joined: Wed 09 May 07, 0:18
Your Country: USA

Re: Rain leak near mast

Post by Double Horizon »

Steve B. wrote:I have a rain leak which shows up on the aft side of the starboard bulkhead about halfway between the door and the starboard port light.

I suspect it is coming from the fasteners for the multi block for main halyard, etc under the starboard metal cover next to the mast.

I have sealed up any suspect places in the area, but it hasn't had any effect on the leak.

I have also tried to remove those big phillips screws to rebed the block assembly, but have been unsuccessful. They seem to be epoxied in place!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Steve B.
Steve have you checked the metal cover screw holes as a possible leak source? As I recall, the channel that runs under the metal covers is above the head compartment, and the aft screw holes for the covers run above the bulkhead to the main cabin. I could be wrong, but check how they align. You should also check the wire conduits as a possibility.

Larry
Larry - Former Owner DF-1200
tpaliwoda
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Your Country: USA, Raritan YC, Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Post by tpaliwoda »

Steve,
I second Larry's post. I would check the screws for the line covers that come off the mast, then the wire conduit.
It seems when ever I have a leak it never really comes from what I initially thought was leaking.
Someone on another post here, talked about using talcom powder to find the leak. They said to sprinkle it around where you think it is leaking and it will leave a trail right to the source.
Ted
Ted Paliwoda
D'Fly 1000 ; HN #1
Nice Tri
Raritan YC, Perth Amboy, NJ, USA
Mal
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 16:48
Your Country: Wales

Rainwater leak

Post by Mal »

I've got a 920, so my suggestion might not apply. However, I also have a rain leak that comes through the timber bulkhead, but in my case centrally adjacent to the trunk that carries the lines down to the centreboard.

If you are on your boat when it is raining hard, there is a veritable waterfall at the mast base, water cascading down off the mast, mainsail and boom. It goes down the holes in the deck that carry the centreboard lines, and on my boat, sometimes leaks out of the side of the trunk, into the bulkhead. I took off the table and top of the centrboard case, and felt up inside the trunk. It appears to be bare timber with no GRP lining to shed water. There was a horizontal join in the timber on my boat just above the top of the centrboard case, and this join had a large 'sausage' of silicon around it. Water was running back aft off this surplus of silicon into the timber of the bulkhead. I cut off the surplus silicon, and the leak has reduced, but not gone away. I'm going to investigate further this winter. I wonder about shoving a bit of plastic pipe up the trunk around the centreboard lines, and then squirting in expanding foam around it to fill the trunk.

I would welcome any other ideas from owners.

Your leak might be coming from the same deck source, but travels sideways through the sandwich?

Regards

Mal
DF920 Pelican, Swansea
marek
Posts: 2
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Post by marek »

I had a similar problem at bulkhead too. On my boat, it turned out to be a leak from underneath the mast base. The base sits on a flexible bedding compound which is supposed to keep the water from getting inside the boat. I guess due to the motion underway the base can shift a bit and move the flexible bedding compound aside resulting in a leak. Resealing just around the base solved the problem (at least temporarily).
Marek
DF 1000
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

I haven't pulled the mast yet, but...

Post by Steve B. »

I'm afraid that's next.
I've tried all the above suggestions and alas, with only a small amount of rain, the spot is again wet.

The first thing I did (years ago) was to seal the mast step area and it's still good. Now it's time to pull the mast to inspect the "sausage" area.

I need to move the radar dome to the mast and replace the wiring conduit as the original one has turned brittle and fallen out.

I'll keep the board updated, but it will probably be awhile until I save up the money to pull the mast.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Steve B.
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

It still leaks

Post by Steve B. »

Since my last post on this, we pulled the mast, moved the radar to just above the first set of spreaders, installed a new mast wiring conduit, a long distance wifi unit at masthead, sealed the heck out of the mast base, and everything even remotely possible as the leak including the starboard sail track screws.

The only thing I haven't been able to address is the starboard turning block assembly under the aluminum deck cover which sits in a small puddle (bad design or what?)

The two forward facing phillips machine screws absolutely will not budge.

I even purchased some large hex drive Phillips driver bits and still haven't been able to get them loose.

As far as I can tell, the leak is probably the lower outer screw as it is the lowest one and just below water level of the previously mentioned puddle.

I've even tried some Captain Jack's Creeping Crack Cure, but still have the leak...
Double Horizon
Posts: 440
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Post by Double Horizon »

As I recall there is a drain there somewhere. It must be clogged with grime.
Larry - Former Owner DF-1200
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

Drain

Post by Steve B. »

Larry,

The water has to go UPHILL about and inch, then aft into the tunnel for the halyards etc. then around a corner and down to exit through a hole behind the jib car turning block. Everything is clean, open etc.

I have had to remove that turning block to check, caulk etc several suspicious places in there. Access is very restricted.

I've gotten pretty good at cleaning, using compressed air, solvent etc to get the area clean so I could install 3M5200 sealant on the end of a screwdriver...

Arghh. :cry:
tpaliwoda
Posts: 215
Joined: Fri 03 Nov 06, 3:05
Your Country: USA, Raritan YC, Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Post by tpaliwoda »

Are you sure it is from the mast? I had a leak that was in the head, but it originated from the bow pulpit support. That drove we crazy for a while till I found that one.
Ted Paliwoda
D'Fly 1000 ; HN #1
Nice Tri
Raritan YC, Perth Amboy, NJ, USA
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

I already sealed around the mast pulpit bases

Post by Steve B. »

That's about the third thing I tried.
Cover screws have been sealed so many times, I finally re epoxied and re drilled them.
Drain's clear.
Mast has been removed, mast step removed, resealed under, etc.

<sigh>

Steve
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
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Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Steve B. »

GOOD NEWS !

Well, sort of. After trying many many fixes for the rain leak which showed many years ago, we have now found the source of the leak !

If you have been reading this thread, you know it showed up on the saloon's forward bulkhead aft top edge a bit to starboard of the door to the head.

We haven't actually fixed it, it but we did stop the water intrusion by making a Sunbrella cover for the companionway hatch.
We made the cover to stop the leaks which land on the galley countertop, but it also stopped the leak on the forward saloon bulkhead !
After carefully assessing the path of the leak, we realized it's all DOWNHILL from the companionway hatch to the leak's exit on the forward bulkhead.

Our cover fits snugly against the bottom edge of the instruments above the companionway slider, extends over the sides with a snap on the sides of the raised fiberglass. There are also a couple of snaps at the bottom edge which extends past the entry. Not only is the galley nice and dry, but so is the forward bulkhead !

I will remove the slider AGAIN, and look AGAIN for any sign of a crack or other possibility (for the hundredth time).

We have absolute faith that this is where the water is coming in, as we have not had any leak since the cover was installed, and we just had a miserable winter with record breaking amount of rain in the last couple of months.
Mika Harju
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 13:19
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Re: Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Mika Harju »

This is really good news. Thank you for the update. So finally the leak was not from mast base as I (and you) thought.

I have struggled with this same problem for years. I have just yesterday finished varnishing job to saloon bulkhead.

Now I'll focus to companionway hatch. It would be really nice to fix the problem after years and years.
Mika Harju
DF1000 Racing #8
TC
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri 31 Dec 10, 20:26
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Mast Base Leak

Post by TC »

I'd experienced basically the same leak, always dripping down the bulkhead to starboard of mast.

When I pulled the mast 2 winters ago, I also removed the mast base. I found there had been some fiberglass cracks under the mast base, right at the forward corner, where horizontal becomes vertical. Someone had attempted to seal it with resin or epoxy, not an actual repair.

Upon further examination, the same thing was happening aft of the mast base.

So, dug it all out, finding quite a bit of rot/mold, and rebuilt it, layer by layer. to get a good, flat surface, I used the mast base itself, weighed down with a 25 pound bag of shot. Used plastic wrap to prevent the base from adhering to the curing fiberglass.

No leaks!
TC

Formerly of:
Strider
DF 1000 #17
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Steve B. »

After successfully diverting the rain with the aforementioned Sunbrella cover over the companionway hatch, I finally had time to do some more investigating.

The rain leak starts as it drips off the instrument panel onto the starboard end of the closed companionway hatch.
It then sneaks under some foam tape (poorly fit and delaminated from the hatch) behind the instrument panel and falls down below the deck, but above the interior liner. It then goes DOWNHILL all the way to the saloon's forward bulkhead where it stains the wood.

All I had to do to stop the leak in its tracks was to replace that foam stripping.

FWIW, the vast majority of rain leaks and minor defects in the hull of our boat have been on the starboard side. Quorning ought to FIRE the assembler/sealer applier who did that side of the boat !
Mika Harju
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 13:19
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Re: Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Mika Harju »

Finally solved this problem on my DF1000R. The leak was at mast bulkhead and inner roof mold connection.

QB has done this detail badly because they have painted the hidden part of the bulkhead with a thick layer of topcoat. At this area loads are big when sailing and all connections between structural parts are bending and moving a little bit. After years the topcoat will crack and water is leaking into the mast bulkhead made of plywood. Within years it dissapears and is replaced with black wet soil.

This is quite common problem with all DF's, plywood is wrong choise for high load construction use in long run. Sooner or later it all will be wet and soft. Should be replaced with composite made of Divinycell PVC foam and fiberglass and covered with a very thin layer of plywood where seen.

The problem can be seen looking trough the draining tube between the outer and inner roof molds.

I drilled the draining tube hole a little bit bigger and digged out all the bad plywood with a steel hook and different screwdrivers and pliers. Not too much room but it is possible. After removing all the soil I filled all the surfaces with flexible Polyuretan Sikaflex 291 and tried to make a proper down way for the water to get out.

Also I had to cut off about 300x100mm piece of the mast bulkhead inside the boat because it was wet and damaged. This part of the bulkhead does not carry any big loads so it is not necessary to replace the entire bulkhead with a new one.

Please click on any of the photos to see them enlarged!

Image Image Image Image
Mika Harju
DF1000 Racing #8
Steve B.
Posts: 235
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 1:58
Your Country: USA, Whidbey Island WA

Re: Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Steve B. »

Mike,

It is interesting your leak was on the port side.
I have seen another DF 1000 with the same leak on the starboard side.

My boat has had several rain leaks, nearly all of them on the starboard side.
Most of them were due to insufficient sealing compound being used during construction. The port side had much more sealant used during construction.

Imho, the starboard factory worker ought to be fired !
Mika Harju
Posts: 218
Joined: Thu 02 Nov 06, 13:19
Your Country: Finland, Turku

Re: Rain Leak Near Mast

Post by Mika Harju »

Imho, the starboard factory worker ought to be fired ![/quote]
Same problem on both sides but this side was much worse. Maybe the QB workers switched jobs for a day? :oops:
Mika Harju
DF1000 Racing #8
sfdavenport
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Sailing Area: New England

Re: Rainwater leak

Post by sfdavenport »

Mal wrote: Sun 16 Aug 09, 20:59 I've got a 920, so my suggestion might not apply. However, I also have a rain leak that comes through the timber bulkhead, but in my case centrally adjacent to the trunk that carries the lines down to the centreboard.

If you are on your boat when it is raining hard, there is a veritable waterfall at the mast base, water cascading down off the mast, mainsail and boom. It goes down the holes in the deck that carry the centreboard lines, and on my boat, sometimes leaks out of the side of the trunk, into the bulkhead. I took off the table and top of the centrboard case, and felt up inside the trunk. It appears to be bare timber with no GRP lining to shed water. There was a horizontal join in the timber on my boat just above the top of the centrboard case, and this join had a large 'sausage' of silicon around it. Water was running back aft off this surplus of silicon into the timber of the bulkhead. I cut off the surplus silicon, and the leak has reduced, but not gone away. I'm going to investigate further this winter. I wonder about shoving a bit of plastic pipe up the trunk around the centreboard lines, and then squirting in expanding foam around it to fill the trunk.

I would welcome any other ideas from owners.

Your leak might be coming from the same deck source, but travels sideways through the sandwich?

Regards

Mal
Mal,

I'm not sure if you're still active on this forum, but I have the exact same leak you describe above in my 920--water intrusion in the bulkhead where it meets the top of the centerboard trunk, presumably from water running down the shaft for the centerboard lines. Did you ever resolve this leak?
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