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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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We've got a leak! Question about vents...

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Landshark
Deckhand

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USA
14 Posts

Initially Posted - 04/21/2015 : 14:44:21

A quarter way into my families first overnight trip together last weekend on our 1978 Cat 25 we discovered several inches of water had collected inside the aft port lock box (under the fresh water tank) and also under the sink/drawers in the galley and under the aft-most bench seat that can access the center of the boat.

A quick taste of the water was a good stress reliever, since it was fresh water, not salt water (we were on the puget sound). We also confirm the fresh water tank was still totally full, so the only other alternative is that it was rain water coming in from somewhere. We believe it's coming in through fuel compartment vents. These are the vents on the port and starboard back (aft) corners of the boat that vent into the port side locker via flexible tubes.

Does anyone have any experience with rain water making it in through these vents? Any idea how to prevent it, cheaply (but efficiently)?

Oddly, this is the first time we've ever noticed any water collecting at the bottom of the boat. We also discovered our manual bilge pump's hose is entirely too short. :)

Luckily, the wind and weather was awesome! Our trip was amazing, from Des Moines to Blake Island, overnight on a mooring buoy and then back home the next day. Sailing tip: Get to Blake Island early, because the dock was completely fully and so were more than half the mooring buoys!

1978 Catalina 25

Edited by - Landshark on 04/21/2015 14:46:10

jduck00
Captain

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USA
313 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2015 : 14:59:18

I've never had any water come in through the vents. My bilge stays dry even after the gully washer we had yesterday. Maybe some water makes it down when its raining sideways but its never accumulates into anything. The fuel locker on mine stays dry.

You could check in the locker. and see if its pooling up there first. If your hull is shaped like mine, and the hose from the starboard side is good, the water should pool up in the fuel locker behind the galley before it spills over into the bilge. Might be worth a check before taking it out next time. After the boat starts moving the water will go where it wants to. The locker on mine would need a few gallons in it before it started to spill over into the bilge.

I do get water in the same places from my leaky windows. They are on the short list for resealing.... again. I've got the old AL windows and they leak a little and condensate like crazy. Over a few weeks, I can get a half inch of water or so on under the seats on either side.

Jeremy Duck
The Lucky Duck
1980 SKSR Hull # 1850

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2015 : 15:48:56

quote:
Oddly, this is the first time we've ever noticed any water collecting at the bottom of the boat.

Sometimes things are a mystery. Before you go crazy trying to find a leak I would first dry it all up and see if it happens again. If it does then you can go on the hunt.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 04/21/2015 : 20:23:25

From your description, I suspect you have the dinette interior (facing seats with a table between them on port). Water in the places you described is often from leaky windows (portlights). Some of the rainwater can get between the liner and the hull and migrate to the bilge and, when you do some heeling, to the port cockpit locker ("dumpster"). Some gets inside the liner and into the dinette seat compatment. But I have to warn you--it could be something else.

Go to the boat some rainy day and look for evidence. (...or do a simulation with a hose.)

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3474 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2015 : 05:43:23

My personal opinion.. ( and yes this is just me, but prove me wrong )

If a fitting has not been rebedded within the last 5 years then it leaks...

Just part of the deal.. everything on a sail boat in out in the sun, and moves around and ages so very little remains water tight..

Rebed.

Anyhoo.. my vent on the holding tank was leaking water into the holding tank and filling it.. ( on left ) I got another vent and put some rubber gaskets under it to lift it up a little and made a mess with some caulk but hey.. I do what I can, ( on right ) and it appears to have worked.. the holding tank has appropriate levels now.

My latest discovered leak is from the deck water fill.

Ray in Atlanta, Ga.
"Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25
Standard Rig / Fin Keel

Landshark
Deckhand

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USA
14 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2015 : 11:57:02

Thanks for all the replies. It's suppose to rain all week, so I'll try to get down to the boat this weekend and see if any more water shows up.

We do have a few small leaks in some windows and the forward hatch, but nothing that would result in the amount of water we found.

However, I forgot about this until after I posted, but about 2 months ago we found a bunch of standing water in the cockpit floor due to the drains being plugged (after a week of massive rain storms!).

I took a 2nd look at the picture today and noticed the water line is above the access port into the port locker. It was sealed closed, but maybe it's the seal is not tight enough. I have opened and closed that since and we still need to run a snake down the aft drains to be sure they are totally clear (they get backed up occasionally, as we found out when pumping the bilge out last weekend).

I'm wondering if we simply didn't realize there was standing water in the bilge/port locker until we took it for our overnight trip last weekend. We did sail at least once between when that above pic was taken and last weekend, but it was only a day sail.

1978 Catalina 25

Edited by - Landshark on 04/22/2015 11:59:03

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2015 : 14:01:38

Wow, No hatch for the dumpster...

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Landshark
Deckhand

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USA
14 Posts

Response Posted - 04/22/2015 : 17:07:24

quote:
Originally posted by islander

Wow, No hatch for the dumpster...

Sorry, ignorance asking here...what hatch for what dumpster? :)

1978 Catalina 25

redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3474 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2015 : 04:02:50

<< Sorry, ignorance asking here...what hatch for what dumpster? :) >>

different years had different designs .. There is a hatch forward of the fuel locker in newer models that opens up to a locker area so big and deep many have named it the dumpster, seems every time you turn around you have to climb into it... I'm on a weight reduction plan now so I can get the bilge pump plumbed

Ray in Atlanta, Ga.
"Lee Key" '84 Catalina 25
Standard Rig / Fin Keel

Edited by - redeye on 04/23/2015 04:06:49

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2015 : 06:02:28

Yup--I've been on my back down there, under the fuel locker, working on something on the transom when the wind blew the lid closed. All I could see was a faint glow of light coming through the red part of the boot stripe. Fortunately the hasp didn't catch!

It's amazing how smart Catalina became between 1977 and 1989 (the last revision)!

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

Landshark
Deckhand

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USA
14 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2015 : 11:37:19

Ahh ok. My brother-in-law took a picture of me head-first into that hatch last weekend while trying to pump out the water using a manual bilge pump with a hose that was entirely too short.

It sure would have been helpful to have that 2nd hatch! The area under there is quite large.

1978 Catalina 25

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2015 : 12:39:48

Anyway I think that access port ( not even sure if that was put there by Catalina or what its for) or possibly your floor scuppers (also changed to the transom in later models) are the culprit for your leak submerged with that much water. You must have a very early model not to have the dumpster hatch. Also you have to the right of the access port what looks like a water fill? Thats where the bilge pump usually is. You can see it in front of Ray with the green hose in his photo.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Edited by - islander on 04/23/2015 12:44:47

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3754 Posts

Response Posted - 04/23/2015 : 12:52:35

I think that hose looks like it is coming off the bilge pump and that black edge is the pump handle access.

Dave B. aboard Pearl
1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399
Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle

exf4gib
1st Mate

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USA
42 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2017 : 21:08:17

While we're on this topic of working in the "dumpster", I've just overhauled the stock bilge pump that came on the '85 C-25 I just purchased. I'd like to replace the existing black rubber hoses that have seen better days with clear reinforced plastic tubing. Mud Daubers love building their nests anywhere they can get to and these bilge pump hoses are no exception. The clear lines would make visual inspections easier. I think the plastic hose material should work, but am interested to hear other's comments.

Arnie W.
85 C-25 TR/FK #4747 "Lifted"

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2017 : 03:39:43

My bilge hoses are the clear reinforced hoses. I assume they are from when the boat was built.

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1519 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2017 : 10:41:55

Our 1978 C25 cockpits have no fuel locker, and the hatch at the transom is the dumpster hatch! My 1978 boat has a small shelf in the dumpster where my second battery is located. But no fuel locker, unlike my friend's 1980 C25 on the Narragansett Bay which has a fuel locker and a wonderful dumpster, too!

JohnP
1978 C25 SR/FK "Gypsy"
Mill Creek off the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay
Port Captain, northern Chesapeake Bay

Derek Crawford
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3312 Posts

Response Posted - 05/05/2017 : 17:47:26

Dave Bristle, that's why I always held the hatch open with a bungy 'cos I was scared of the same thing happening when I was alone on the boat (and my hatch automatically latched).

Derek Crawford
Chief Measurer C25-250 2008
Previous owner of "This Side UP"
1981 C-25 TR/FK #2262 Used to have an '89 C22 #9483, "Downsized"
San Antonio, Texas

Dave5041
Former Mainsheet Editor

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USA
3754 Posts

Response Posted - 05/08/2017 : 19:31:34

That is why the loop is on the hatch and above the tang, but I usually bungee it too.

Dave B. aboard Pearl
1982 TR/SK/Trad. #3399
Lake Erie/Florida Panhandle

HerdOfTurtles
1st Mate

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USA
68 Posts

Response Posted - 05/15/2017 : 08:50:45

I have the same cowl vents as Landshark. They definitely allow a lot of water ingress during a rainstorm.

On the port side the water coming in from the cowl vent just dumps onto the fuel tank platform, then trickles down into the dumpster and overflows into the bilge. On the starboard side the PO attached a flexible hose(like dryer duct) which runs down through the 1/4 berth 'shelf' and into the bilge.

In a bad rainstorm the two cowl vents allow several gallons of water to leak down into the bilge, and everything in the dumpster that isn't in a sealed container gets wet.

I really want to fix this but haven't come up with a great solution yet.

So far the only solutions I have thought of are:

1. Stub a piece of PVC into the deck where the cowl vent sits and leave it about an inch higher than the deck, then build a teak dorade box around it and attach the cowl vent on top of the box.

2. Create a P-trap out of PVC or ABS that glues in under the vent, then install a drain in the bottom of the P-trap that routes to a suitable location... if there is one.

1978 Standard Rig
Fin Keel
L-Dinette

JohnP
Master Marine Consultant

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1519 Posts

Response Posted - 05/17/2017 : 07:33:42

A while back someone else on this forum posted a photo of a mod to those cowls on the transom that showed addition of a small metal piece across the bottom to prevent some water splashing into the vents.

I have taped a strip of aluminum duct tape over the bottom of both cowls to reduce that splashing of rain, and hopefully to reduce the inevitable accumulation of rain water in the bilge on my boat.

All suggestions are appreciated, particularly the sensible advice about re-caulking the windows and the deck hardware!

JohnP
1978 C25 SR/FK "Gypsy"
Mill Creek off the Magothy River, Chesapeake Bay
Port Captain, northern Chesapeake Bay

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