Water issues

[Merrittboy]

Checking out the interior of my Trophy walk around this evening and found some dampness on the inside roof area of the cuddy, carpet is damp. This is just below passenger side of the boat. Any ideas where it might be seaping from? Checked the outside edges for cracks, rips etc but can't seem to find any. Any ideas? Boat was sitting uncovered for quite awhile before I bought it. Like I said though can't seem to find any major cracks etc.

 

[Mighty Sylvan]

Does your your boat have a t-top? The supports could be leaking into the the cuddy via the bolts. Of course the hatch or port hole windows. Use dish soap around the outside of these spots and soak. Watch for bubbles on the interior.

 

[beemer]

Does your your boat have a t-top? The supports could be leaking into the the cuddy via the bolts. Of course the hatch or port hole windows. Use dish soap around the outside of these spots and soak. Watch for bubbles on the interior.

Try puting a bead of silicone on the exterior side rubrail both top and bottom. This is where the topside is joined to the hull and trophys always leak there. Water on the floor is a result of a design flaw. The forward bilge area has no top (It is actually the carpet in your cabin) so when your forward bilge is not turned on or the float has a high activation point and you get water sloshing around giving you a wet carpet.

hope that helps,

beemer

 

[spring time]

could be the window check the black plastic in the window frame thats where mine was leaking from

 

[Merrittboy]

Seems to be a few spots that are of concern. Coming thru roof area in crawl area. Will check the stand to make sure the screw holes are filled and tight. There is some very light cracking that I am going to try to fill with Creeping Crack cure. Will check out the window seams etc. Thanks. 1995 boat so am finding a few minor things. Replacing bilges as well. No fun as they place the suckers in the hardest to reach areas.

 

[Last Chance]

Pop the rub rail off, drill out the flower petal rivets, fill the gap between the upper and lower deck with Sickaflex or 3M 5200, then bolt 'er back together.

 

[Merrittboy]

Ok Kelly, sounds easy, lol. now I will research a bit here. Rub rail,bottom and top of boat meet? flower petal rivets... I can figure out the Sickaflex and 3m 5200. I will have a good look. Thanks. Is this something fairly easy that I can accomplish?

 

[Last Chance]

It's very easy, although messy. The deck of theboat is attached to the bottom with flower petal or pop rivets, they come loose and the deck flexes against the hull, so you need to get it bolted together so you can seal it. I had to do that on a Campion 215 I had years ago. or, if you want to find the leak, do it like the RV Techs do it. Jam a leaf blower in the door, seal up the door as best you can, and squirt around the seams with soapy water, you will get bubbles wherever the leaks are.

My experience when it comes to leaks, you have to:

Secure the parts so they don't move

"Bed" the parts. That means don't just smear silicone around 'em, take the part off and get your 5200 or Sikaflex in there and bolk/screw them back together. Once the sikaflex dries, the bolts will just be for show anyway. DO NOT USE SILICONE! I made that mistake once, once you silicone something,, you will never get anything to stick to it again. And put the bolts through the 5200 or Sikaflex while it is wet, that way is eals up really good.

One more thing, when "sikaflexing", use some clothes you will never need to wear again, it's messy.

 

[Merrittboy]

Checked it out Kelly, see what you are talking about. Looks like someone has already drilled out the rivets but did not replace anything. They put some black sealent(silicone) over the holes but doesn't look like much. Will clean it up. May need to do something with the screw holes, where they mounted the T-top as well. Some tidying up all round is needed. By the way Kelly, this is the boat that you and your friend looked at up in Comox.

 

[Merrittboy]

Kelly, Duffer and others, took off the rub rail and this is what i found. Someone had drilled out a few of the rivets but not all and did not do much with filling. So what you are saying then Kelly is fill the holes after drilling and put screws in or just leave the sikaflex? Thanks, appreciate the advice.

 

[Duffer]

From what I can see on those pics Id try and clean up that black puddy stuff can you scrape it off? put sikaflex on your stainless screws and put screws in those empty holes. Looks like the last guy had silicone along the top of the rubrail also. Id try and clean that up and put a little sikaflex that also. Let me know how it goes.

 

[Merrittboy]

Duffer, how long do you think that the screw need to be??? They obviously need to hold something?

 

[beemer]

From what I can see on those pics Id try and clean up that black puddy stuff can you scrape it off? put sikaflex on your stainless screws and put screws in those empty holes. Looks like the last guy had silicone along the top of the rubrail also. Id try and clean that up and put a little sikaflex that also. Let me know how it goes.

Hey Merritt boy I just finished this job on a trophy so I know your pain. You won't see all the rivets until you remove the aluminum strip that is holding on the second rubber strip that is still attached to your boat and removing the last part of the rubrail, the screw holes and rivets you are seeing may be just for keeping the rubrail attached.
If you want to go the whole 9 yards a few warnings. The aluminum rail will probably not be usable after dissasembly , ours got wrecked trying to drill out the numerous broken screws and rivets so we needed to fab a new one. My rubrail was attached with both screws and screwhead bolts , you will need to get a wrench on some of the nuts which may require taking out some headliner on the interior cuddy walls . Most of the "rivets" were not even working because although they are stainless the centres were not , so they rusted out, it was really just the screws holding the whole show together. Two reasonably handy guys and it took us 8 hours for the full job.

If you want a quick fix , drill in 1.5 INCH # 7 or 8 stainless screws every two feet through the aluminum rail and sikaflex the square rubrail top and bottom .


hope that helps ,

beemer

 

[Merrittboy]

Beemer, when u say seal the top and bottom of the rub rail do u mean the inner portion or on the actual outside or should I do both??? Do you know what I mean, and thanks for the info.

 

[beemer]

Beemer, when u say seal the top and bottom of the rub rail do u mean the inner portion or on the actual outside or should I do both??? Do you know what I mean, and thanks for the info.

sorry for the wait Merritboy , I replied but it didn't get posted! Yup get the goopgun in both top and bottom of the rubrail . You will probably want to tape it off , when the rail seats itself you will get some overflow.

good luck beemer

 

[Last Chance]

Get the SIkaflex in the hull to deck joint as well, that's a nasty leaker when plowing through waves.

 

[Charlie]

It's very easy, although messy. The deck of theboat is attached to the bottom with flower petal or pop rivets, they come loose and the deck flexes against the hull, so you need to get it bolted together so you can seal it. I had to do that on a Campion 215 I had years ago. or, if you want to find the leak, do it like the RV Techs do it. Jam a leaf blower in the door, seal up the door as best you can, and squirt around the seams with soapy water, you will get bubbles wherever the leaks are.

My experience when it comes to leaks, you have to:

Secure the parts so they don't move

"Bed" the parts. That means don't just smear silicone around 'em, take the part off and get your 5200 or Sikaflex in there and bolk/screw them back together. Once the sikaflex dries, the bolts will just be for show anyway. DO NOT USE SILICONE! I made that mistake once, once you silicone something,, you will never get anything to stick to it again. And put the bolts through the 5200 or Sikaflex while it is wet, that way is eals up really good.

One more thing, when "sikaflexing", use some clothes you will never need to wear again, it's messy.

X2
If the boat has been setting, water really doesn't run uphill, so it doesn't sound like the rub rail based on your description? Sounds more like a hatch or one of the side portholes? I personally like 5200. Put larger rivets where the smaller ones were drilled out. Don't worry so much about the rivets, as you can then fill everthing with and cover with either "silcaflexing" or "5200"... both of those will look better than silcone.

How did the transom end up?