2009 280ec, 120 hours on entire boat, leaking into front left corner under V seating dinette. HELP

Sej1969

It has been stored in outside storage during winter in WA, with the snap on top only/ All the sudden water started accumulating into front of boat under V cushion. Could this be melted ice and snow? Bow is up. We are also thinking it could be hatch leaking or Anchor hatch. Also was some water on upper bed on wall side under mattress, wasn't like that before , that dried out, but  we go in after emptying water out completely of V seating compartment from left , an inch or two comes back? it was frozen solid all over we had to pour alot of hot water on cabin door to get open recently. HELP. 

Cableguy Greg

It’s a time consuming fix. I had the same leak on my 2008 280EC. Where the bow rail is connected to the boat, by the navigation lights, the nuts on the inside of the boat don’t have enough sealant. The water travels down the rail to the connection point and makes its way in. Also, if you replaced your navigation lights, which are right next to the rail attachment point, and didn’t replace the sealant, that is also another leak point. It’s a lengthy process, but can be done. I can give you step by step instructions if you want. When I fixed mine, the cabin has been dry ever since. 

Make sure your anchor locker drain isn’t clogged. If it is, water can pool and spill into the line storage area. 

Sej1969

The hatch has not been sealed in years and the water has never gotten in. Ok , we thought about anchor drain
the water rusted one bolt on the mirror and lights at  bow inside where anchor goes. 

Sej1969

I would love to know the steps, we sold it and it was dry in December and now there is 1" coming into front under seat he said. 

Sej1969

can you get to anchor drain from the inside front decor mirror> ?? I just felt it was the hatch. but we also had water after 1 sea trial under mattress, I assumed the water was pooling back and forth when he found wet spot, freezing temps here, we never went back inside after sea trial. so swish swish up and down hull??? 

Cableguy Greg

The aft cabin leak is usually the port window needs resealed between the white plastic and the stainless beauty ring. I sealed mine there and that leak was fixed. 

Cableguy Greg

Here is what I did to fix my leak. My leak was on the port side, but the procedure should be similar. 

First I removed the pads on the both sides of the V-berth inside of the cabin. Next, I removed the white vinyl trim pieces above the mirror, and along the cherrywood cabinet. Then I removed the mirror and the two reading lights.



Next I removed the panels on each side that are behind the lights. They are held on by a screw that is recessed in the fabric. 



I had to cut the wires to remove the panels. 



I then removed the filler piece on the underside of the shelf.



Next I removed the filler panel in the corner next to the speaker. I also removed the speaker to get to the screws inside the shelf assembly. 



I removed these three screws and the shelf came out. The shelf should come out being careful not to scratch the other woodwork. 



This is what the cabin looked like with the shelf removed and the front bulkhead disassembled. 



My leak was in the area circled in yellow, which was there the nav light and the bow rail were mounted. One of the thru bolts was crooked and the sealant bed was bad. 



I rebedded the rail, the thru bolts and the nav light. I used 3m4000uv to prevent yellowing. I placed a generous amount of sealant on the underside as well. This part requires two people, one on the inside of the boat and one on the outside. I also replaced the bent bolt. 

Cableguy Greg

Reassembly was there reverse of the process above. I am handy with tools, so I did this all myself, minus the bow rail rebed. I did sit on the boat in the rain with the cabin apart to verify where the water was coming in. I also added a second drain to the anchor locker. It had a place gelled in for a drain, but it was never installed. That has made my anchor locker drain much better. Good luck with the fix. 

rasbury

Wow,  that looked like a real mess! I had a thread going for a cabin leak on our 270- found the PO had drilled a whole in the dry storage next to the helm seating and it drained right into the sealing of the mid ship berth area...mine was an easy fix!

Cableguy Greg

rasbury said:

Wow,  that looked like a real mess! I had a thread going for a cabin leak on our 270- found the PO had drilled a whole in the dry storage next to the helm seating and it drained right into the sealing of the mid ship berth area...mine was an easy fix!

It wasn’t that bad. Probably about 4 hours worth of work. The hardest part was when I did it, it was the middle of winter and the boat was under the storage cover. I did have to relaminate the end of the shelf. Some of the marine plywood separated from the moisture. I used wood glue and clamps to laminate it. 

rasbury

Boats sure have a lot of holes in them considering we put them in the water an expect them to float!