rain water leak in lower cabin

mark mason

New Member
Dec 5, 2019
5
Long Beach, CA
Boat Info
340 Sundancer 2008
Engines
8.1 Merc (2) V drive
I have a 2008, 340 Sundancer.
During a rain the carpet just to the right of the starboard side hanging closet gets soaked. I have torn apart everything detachable in the closet, looked at all the through hull fittings and cannot locate water. The front of the closet carpet gets wet also but cannot figure out how the step is put together and to access the bottom of the closet?
 
Leaks are difficult to locate especially if you have vinyl on walls. When vinyl backing get saturated, water goes to lowest point and may be far from actual entry point. I would check rubrail first. Many times that where water can enter boat. Look in area where boat hits poles in your dock. In those areas many times hull separates from deck and water sipping behind rubrail enters cabin. Another possibilty is leak around portholes also thru rope locker if drain is clogged
 
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Thank you so much for the reply and you hit on a number of great possibilities. The vinyl backing that is glued to the hull of the boat is not saturated, it stops well below the rubrail area and I can see no water. I have good access to the hull and deck and it is dry with no signs of water. You mention the rope locker which may be the problem. Because of my slip length, I had to remove the anchor and anchor perch which left 6 exposed holes in the top of the rope locker. The drains are most likely clogged. As an experiment I put tape over the exposed anchor perch holes and we'll see what happens when I run water.
Question: Do you know how I could take apart the step in front of the closet that is used to access the bed? It is all carpeted and I cannot locate any fasteners. Also wondering why such a large space was not used for a storage compartment?
 
I had a rain water leak that was coming in thru the running lights. I found it by having a friend run a water hose on the boat until the water came in.
Hope this helps.
 
Thank you so much for the reply and you hit on a number of great possibilities. The vinyl backing that is glued to the hull of the boat is not saturated, it stops well below the rubrail area and I can see no water. I have good access to the hull and deck and it is dry with no signs of water. You mention the rope locker which may be the problem. Because of my slip length, I had to remove the anchor and anchor perch which left 6 exposed holes in the top of the rope locker. The drains are most likely clogged. As an experiment I put tape over the exposed anchor perch holes and we'll see what happens when I run water.
Question: Do you know how I could take apart the step in front of the closet that is used to access the bed? It is all carpeted and I cannot locate any fasteners. Also wondering why such a large space was not used for a storage compartment?
If you can post picture, it may refresh my memory. I worked on many boats and is difficult to remember each model but once you see picture gets much better ;)
 
First thing I would check is the port lights. Clean the rubber seal and the mating surface in the window. Check that the dogs are tight against the window. If not very snug the window will leak. There are small screw in adjuster in each dog that can be tightened a bit.

Also check that the stainless screws for the dogs are not broken. I had one break below the head and it caused a leak. Any time I had a leak the make the carpet at the step wet it was from the port lights.
 
Thank you so much for the reply and you hit on a number of great possibilities. The vinyl backing that is glued to the hull of the boat is not saturated, it stops well below the rubrail area and I can see no water. I have good access to the hull and deck and it is dry with no signs of water. You mention the rope locker which may be the problem. Because of my slip length, I had to remove the anchor and anchor perch which left 6 exposed holes in the top of the rope locker. The drains are most likely clogged. As an experiment I put tape over the exposed anchor perch holes and we'll see what happens when I run water.
Question: Do you know how I could take apart the step in front of the closet that is used to access the bed? It is all carpeted and I cannot locate any fasteners. Also wondering why such a large space was not used for a storage compartment?

You did whaaaaaaat? Your deck is cored with balsa wood and if you leave exposed holes like that you risk water getting into the core and rotting it out, which will create major problems. You need to properly seal those holes. If this is a permanent thing for you, you probably should fill them with epoxy paste and then a bit of Spectrum color matched gell coat to top off so they do't show. Then they can be drilled out later if you re-install the anchor holder.

How do you anchor your boat if you don't have one installed on a 340? Seems like not a good idea to me. An anchor is as much for safety as anything.
 
You did whaaaaaaat? Your deck is cored with balsa wood and if you leave exposed holes like that you risk water getting into the core and rotting it out, which will create major problems. You need to properly seal those holes. If this is a permanent thing for you, you probably should fill them with epoxy paste and then a bit of Spectrum color matched gell coat to top off so they do't show. Then they can be drilled out later if you re-install the anchor holder.

How do you anchor your boat if you don't have one installed on a 340? Seems like not a good idea to me. An anchor is as much for safety as anything.

I would like to revise my first step recommendation. Get those holes fixed ASAP. You do NOT want exposed holes in your boat.

And ground tackle (anchors and associated hardware like the anchor chute you removed) is not just a convenience; it is essential safety gear. I'd strongly recommend getting that reinstalled, including properly sealing the bolt holes.
 
To find the screws that hold the steps together, very carefully poke around near the edge of the stairs with an awl, poking thru carpet to find recessed screw heads. Searay usually just drives them thru the carpet and plywood into "nailer" strips underneath.

Start looking for leak further up, there is probably nothing behind steps to leak, nav light, bow rail stanchion or like mentioned -the rope locker first.
 
Thank you all for your very interesting remedies for my rain water leak.
After placing tape over the anchor holder holes, the leak disappeared and everything is dry. Unfortunately this leak was self induced and embarrassing. Still puzzled how water from the rope locker finds its way to the closet step. Again thank you all for Making Boating Great Again!
 
My 340 had a leak coming through the running lights. Then into the closet. Took me forever to figure out. Others have had the same issue with the 340.
 

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