Connie, Sounds like once again you have given me the answer I need. I have no vent on the foredeck and the cabin is and was absolutely dry. Even the vinyl bottoms of the cushions, where condensation often shows itself, are dry. Nothing above the lockers is wet at all (which is why I didn't notice the water right away: I had not gotten into the forward locker for a while and only did so to pull and charge the battery for my next outing). Seemed like a lot of water for leaking fittings or windows and the hull to deck joint looks solid and well sealed. I will do a search of the archives for your "longwinded" post and start looking at the centerboard area. Nothing else seems to explain where this water is coming from. Thanks much for your patience in rehashing stuff you've gone over before. George 1986 M15 #385 On Sunday, August 15, 2004, at 09:28 AM, chbenneck@juno.com wrote:
Hi George,
Random thoughts on your water problem:
The V berth area is not sealed off from the storage areas under the berths: i.e., water in the V berth area can get into the port storage area if you are slogging to windward on a starboard tack. So if there are leaks at the bow area, and water gets into the V berth area, it will find it's way aft - either port or starboard.
Look in there with a flashlight, and you'll see what I am talking about.
Do you have a NICRO vent on the foredeck? If you do, then if water got in via the vent, then the mattress area under the vent should be wet.
If water came in via the windows, then the edge of the mattress under the window should be wet, or damp.
Is any area up forward, or in the cabin damp or wet?
If mattresses upper surfaces and edges are dry, then water might be coming in via the centerboard slot, which is a problem I had.
What I found after sailing on Lake Champlain for several hours was water in both the port and starboard storage areas in the cabin, plus water in the V berth area.
To locate where the water came from, we careened the boat at the dock, with my wife pulling on the shroud, and I sudden saw water spurting into the port cabin locker high up on the aft end of the locker.
That explained how the water reached the port locker in the cabin, but not how it got there.
That became the next step in the process.
Somewhere in the archives is my longwinded description of what I did and what I found.
What I found was an area at the aft end of the centerboard pennant slot where the water got into the boat, and flowed inside the cabin liner (with the cabin sole / portapottie area / berths) till it found an outlet in the port storage locker, which is what I discovered.
We didn't try careening it the other way to check on the starboard side. I figured, I now knew I had a centerboard pennant slot leak: next step, find it and fix it.
Back at home I emptied out the boat, then filled the inside of the boat with water - higher than the CB slot opening - then put in some special hatch boards I built out of Styrofoam, and using my shop vac, I pressurized the inside of the hull.
Then I waited to see where the water would show up................ (Jerry's recommendation was to lie under the boat, beer in hand, and see where it dripped.
After some time (2 beers later) it started dripping at the aft end of the CB slot.
Next question was, ...... where did it come from?
To be able to examine the aft end of the CB pennant slot, I had to do a bit of cutting to gain access to the area, ........and there it was! My leak, ..... plain as day! One small area at the cockpit sole, with water merrily pouring out of it!
The rest was simple, though it required working upside down and backwards............. to reach the area.
I ground out the area to clean it up; and then when it was thoroughly dry again, I put in some epoxy with filler to seal the area.
Boat has been bone dry ever since.
I note that your hull number is #385. Mine is #400. Maybe the same problem?
Connie M15 #400
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