Mystery water
I had quite strange dreams last night. Among other things, the dreams included finding that the bilge on our boat was overflowing with water. When I went to turn on the bilge pump I was somehow transported to another location where explosions ensued when I shorted out some switch near the pump. Like I said, they were strange.
But in my semi-dreamlike-state, I started to think of some “mystery water” (water from an unknown source) that I found in a locker near the compression post under our mast. I had read a thread on the PDQ forum of others finding water near this location. They believed that it had dripped off the wires which are fed down through the mast into a tube of some sort. The solution offered was to pull the mast and re-seal the gasket around this tube, not something that I would want to do ($$$ and time). So while lying in bed, I started to think of the configuration of our boat and realized that our wires feed in through the outside of the mast step, as opposed to under the mast. That would be a much easier fix if it were the source of the water. Because it has been raining quite hard recently, I was anxious to check if any water had resulted. And the answer, after finally getting out of bed and checking it? Nope, no water. And so, the mystery of the water in our locker remains. 🙂
a mast boot might give you some peace of mind. as for the water… could it be condensation?
Mast boot?
Yes, it “could” have been condensation, although there was a fair amount of water for that.
Yep, mast boot — google it 🙂
http://www.oceannavigator.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=12DFE7E40DB841E388F62AE3692E6259
We had a store bought one (easy to find) on our PDQ for the same reason. Above is a link to a home made one.
I can’t quite visualize how that would work with our mast step. I don’t suppose you have an old pic of your pdq’s mast lying around, do you? 🙂
back in the film and print days… I don’t think I do, but I will nose around for you. You may have better luck asking on the PDQ forum. Those nice folks seem to be able to produce just about anything you need! Bon Chance!
Thanks Cindy. Digital cameras certainly make storing things like that much easier.
Good luck – tracking down water leaks is *HARD*
bob
I can see that.
We have found the best way to begin finding mysterious leaks is to tape some paper towels on/around each potential source (note I said “begin”). What a pain!
Fair Winds,
Mike
Hi Mike
That is a good idea. My two guesses for a source are:
a) compression post, leaking from wire insertions on deck
b) water tank fill pipe (we just filled the tank last night and I think the last time I saw water was a week ago, corresponding approximately to when we would have last filled the tank).
I will check on (b) tomorrow.
Mike
I still have one mystery leak (starboard rudder compartment). The rest only took ~ 1 year to find.
But instead of working hard on the boat I went sailing an fishing last weekend. Unfortunately, I had to work at it; landing a 32″ striper while trolling singlehanded under sail can be a handful, as she tries to tack in the midst of the battle. Yes, that was on one of the yoyos. Mano a mano.
Sweet! Sounds like a blast.
Could your leak be from the transom shower?
No, I don’t think so. It continued through the winter when the tank was empty. I think it is rainwater. Yet, I’m not sure. I guess this spring I need to press and figure it out.
I was more so thinking that the (rain) water could be leaking in where the shower nozzle is. I know ours doesn’t seem all that water tight. We get a tiny bit of water in that area too and the previous owner of our boat suggested that might be the point of entry for it.
It was a crappy day out today so Rebecca and I decided to take the boat apart:)
When I checked in the starboard aft inspection port there was a LOT of water! Strangely there wasn’t a two weeks ago. I decided to take off the screw-in bulkhead(?) which gives access to the back of the transom shower. My thoughts were that because we had just washed the boat and had spayed a ton of water in that area that could account for the water in the compartment below it. I found at least an inch of water in that area by the steering quadrant! After cleaning up the area I got out the hose and sprayed the transom shower from the outside while Rebecca watched from below. She did see some leaking around the nozzle gasket. I also see stains which show that the water has leaked previously from the rivets which hold the door hinge on. The next warm day we have I’m going to take a crack at sealing that area better.