Water in cuddy cabin

[Glen Williams]

We had a big storm last night. The boat was on a work rack outside. When I went to check it, I found the cushions in the cuddy cabin to be wet on the outer edges. It appears that its coming from either the bow rail stanchions leaking or the rub rail leaking where the 2 pieces join. Has anyone had this problem?
Thanks
Glen

[No Tacks]

Yes glen your right on both counts..Add some boat life "life caulk" in whatever color you like to the top and bottom of the rub rail...Also around both potrholes the inner part and outer part of the portholes..As far as the stanchions go well maybe but id do the other 2 first..Dont skimp on the caulking,but try to be neat...As lep has stated in the past,the only way to really stop the leaking is to pull the rubrail off,5200 the gap where the deck joins the hull,and reinstall the rubrail...But thats way to hard for the average guy to do..I wont do it....So there you go glen good luck :D :D

[Hawkeye]

Glen - You could be getting some water from the hull/deck joint but with the source being rain water my money is on the bow rail attachments. To stop the leak you will need to remove the rail, dry the core in the deck (its plywood), epoxy coat the core so it does not get wet again, reattach the rails and use 3M5200 to bed the attachment bolts and bases.

For your boat's sake do not be tempted to just squirt some 5200 down the rail attachment holes. That may very well stop the leak but it will also just trap the rain water in against the core.

Or you can leave it alone and wait around a while and I'm sure someone will post up with the location of "Murphey's Magical Boat Restorer" in the new handy aerosol can. :lol:

[Luckydog]

I'd say you could both be wrong if you don't also own cuddy's. When I was looking at my soon to be bought 1998 WAC 200, I noticed alot of dirt in the cabin... really black, grimy dirt. Thought it must have been from the lot it was sitting on at the boat place where I eventually bought her, swirling dust from the drought we had been suffering through. So we did the paperwork,got her home. The soap smell of the "detailing" by the dealer had no more worn off than we had a frog strangler of a rain storm (finally got a typical Florida early afternoon downpour). After it stopped, I got in the boat, still on the trailer. Much to my shock and amazement, the cuddy cabin was filthy with dirty grime. I couldn't figure it out. Then as I was cleaning it up, I noticed the storage bin in the center of the cabin is a gravity fit, i.e. it is not screwed in so you can lift it up and have access beneath it into the forward bilge. What I think you might have (as did I at the time) is a non-functioning forward bilge float switch or dead batteries or both. What happens is the forward bilge fills up with water from the aft deck drainage into the bilge. The hull bottom slopes forward toward the bow/cuddy cabin and if your automatic bilge in inoperable for whatever reason, she fills with water and as it rises, it seeps around the tray and out into the cushion bottoms, bringing with it all the flotsam and grime of your bilge. It is actually a blessing in disguise that could help prevent the loss of your vessel for if you ever leave her unattended in the water for any length of time: you get that same rain with no bilge pump workin' and you've got a problem of serious magnitude......

My experience with the "wet Cuddy".... FWIW!

LD

[Capt Don]

Hey Glen, which cuddy do you have?

My 2002 220 cuddy (stalker) has had leaks in the cabin since new. It's been back to the factory once, they said it was fixed and replaced the cushions due to mold, they would not tell me where the leak was. It is currently still leaking, athough not as bad, and is now back at the dealer as Shamrock has moved out of the area. I'm waiting to hear the outcome as to what they find this time. I'll let you know if yours is the same model. This model has the "blind" fastened forward railing. It's a real nightmare to get to the mounting screws on the underside to remove and rebed, which is what I think the problem is. Because the railing has no mounting pads to speak of, the sealing area is very small and easily moves, breaking the seal to the deck. My cushions get wet along the outboard edges and forward, especially on the starboard.

Don

[termite]

I have the same problem with mine. 1999 wa. On mine it is the bow rail mounts. I put silicone around the base to see if it would stop it and it slowed it down dramatically. The only problem is you cant get to the bolts underneath to remove it because of the liner. Not even enough room to fit fingers much less a hand and wrench.

[AndyW]

Leaking from the Portholes
Leaking from the Bow Rail Stantions
Leaking from the .........

Is there a spray silicone car wash somehere!

Andy from Ft. Myers

[DBM]

My 1998 cuddy leaked from 2 places when we bought her. The first was under the bulkhead on the port side. Water would run right underneath it. Lifecaulk fixed that. The second place it still leaks from becuase i haven't had the time to fix it, is the front hatch. The way the hatch is desgined the weather stripping closes against carpet on the inside of the hatch. Regardless of how tight the hatch is, the carpet sucks in the water and drips into the cuddy. The fact that the water pours down the windsheil and super structure right onto the hatch does help either.

Good luck,

DBM
LIBERTY

[scoffshore]

You should have seen my cuddy after a charity event this spring. I had water coming in everywhere. Charts, magazines, everything was leaking. I went through afterwards and sealed almost everything again, but it still leaks.

I used to be a Hydrasport dealer, and we kept the cuddys under cover for a reason, the cushions were always wet if they were out in the rain. I keep my cushions up on their side when not running and sleeping to keep them dried out.

[Rejoice]

I've had the same problem on my bow rail. I fixed one side by lifting the rail about a 1/2" and rebeding it with 5200 now the other side is leaking. It's a pain to get at the nuts because they're behind the teak molding on my boat but it's doable. Next time I'm going to remove the whole thing and do the job right with the epoxy and 5200. Maybe it will last a little longer that way.

Rich

[MC]

My prior 260 Stalker had a leak, but it was from water comming in from storage area "glove box" was. No way to fix it, I just had to try and control it with caulk as well as move the cushions from that area when the boat was not being used.