Leak in port side fiberglass

Cam McLeod

New Member
Mar 19, 2018
3
North Vancouver, BC
Boat Info
2007 SeaRay Sundancer 340
Engines
Twin 8.1 litre Mercruiser with V-Drive propulsion
Hello,

I purchased my 2007 Sundancer 340 last year and have been dealing with a pesky leak ever since. It was a slow leak coming from what looked like a blister in the fiberglass on the inside of the hull. I have basically sealed up any area of the boat that I thought could be causing this leak but to no avail the leak still persists. It seems to be fine when the boat is docked, but when I take it out, up on plain and get bounced around the leak comes back. Also seems to happen after I wash it or there's a big rain. So my thought is that the wat er is pooling somewhere and then leaking out this small hole in the fibreglass hull. Has anyone else had a similar problem that might be able to help me out? I've posted some pictures so you can see the leak. I had to remove the cabinets in the front port side of the cabin.

Thanks for any help in advance!

boat1.jpg
boat2.jpg
boat3.jpg
 
You provably have a crack in the hull from a dock strike. Fiberglass failure is hard to see. If you have a crack you may see a white line . I am not a fiberglass person but had similar on the last boat. They ground out the area and built it up with new glass then coated the hull in the repaired area. Took 4 hours in total over a couple of days.
 
It looks to be just below the hull/deck overlap joint. You might consider removing the rubrail in that section and checking the seal between the hull and the overlapping top deck. I had to do that on the stern of my boat. Seal was completely gone and water just got shot in through the resulting gap when on plane. There is supposed to be a bedding between the two halves of the boat that are overlapped and screwed together and hidden by the rubrail. But I have seen many SeaRays where that bedding is degraded or completely gone.

Also I see there is mold above that joint just forward of your water spot. Do you know what that is from?
 
Thanks for your suggestions. You are correct when you say the leak is just below the hull/deck overlap. I removed the rub rail and the screws that hold the hull and deck together. I used SikaFlex to seal the screw holes and along the rub rails to ensure no water was seeping in. My next step is to taste the water coming in to see if it's salt water or fresh water. If it's salt water, I'll know it's coming through the hull somewhere and if it's fresh water then it must be rain water that's getting trapped somewhere and eventually coming out in the fiberglass.

As for the mold, my guess is that it's from this leak. There wasn't much ventilation back there with the cabinets installed so the fact there was always water back there would have caused the mold to develop.
 

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