2005 Fiesta Vee 270 - Fresh water leak in Front bunk Starboard side under mattress

Summerrental

I have been getting water leaks in my front cabin for a while now.  I can't seem to find where it is coming from.  The water seems to collect under the mattress mostly on the Starboard side,.. but it also seems to happen on the port side sometimes (less frequently).  Its always after it rains or washing down the boat, so I know its coming from above somewhere.  When we list up the mattress in the front there is a small section of vertical hull with a foam backed white pleather material.  This is usually completely soaked, so i am guessing it is running down the hull from somewhere above.  

My suspect is the rub-rail,.. is this common to occur?  I have heard the rub-rail is very difficult to re-install once removed so I have not attempted it yet.  I noticed a small leak from the port hole window in the center of the ceiling but I fixed this by re-securing the screws.  Can this be coming from the anchor compartment in the front and running back?

Just wondering if anyone else has had the same issue since interior water leaks seem to be a common flaw in Rinker boats.

Side-notes for other Rinker owners:

1. For anyone that is having leaks under the floor carpet just outside the head entry door....  I had a very small water leak coming from one of the plumbing fittings below/behind the sink inside the bathroom.  Once I removed the plastic cabinet under the sink and inspected it, I had it fixed and the carpet stopped getting wet.

2. I had a leak in the Aft cabin a few years ago that caused the entire ceiling foam padding in the aft sleeping area and to fall down!  I later confirmed that the 4 cup holders topside did not have drain tubes and when the rear canvas was not up (which I don't always have up).  The rain water drained through the cup-holders directly onto the ceiling of the aft cabin!!  Once I installed drain tubes, never had a leak again. I find it horrible that Rinker did not install this in the factory.  now I have no finished ceiling in my aft cabin,.. My guests get to look up at the fiberglass as the sleep...  Nice Rinker.

luckydog

Sounds like it might be coming in from your anchor storage area

MarkB

I wouldn't say your leak is a common flaw to Rinkers. Rub rail seals leak on all kinds of boats. They are sealed with materials that won't last forever, and after 10 years, certainly there needs to be some maintenance of those seals, given the pounding boats take on the water.

Here's what I recommend.
Take a hose and spray at the base of 1 rub rail post for 5 minutes. Be careful not to wet other posts, so you can isolate the problem. Check inside. Depending on the size of the leak, it could take longer than 5 minutes for it to appear, so give it time. Patience will be key.

My guess is it is one of the rub rails. Someone on this site recommended drilling a small hole into the bottom of the rub rail post, which would relieve any accumulated water. Let dry, and then fill the base of the post with some marine sealant.  This would be a whole lot easier to do than to remove the rub rail. So I would try this technique first.

Stevec

Got same problem,...seems to be either rub rail,..or in my case its the windscreen seal,..have a look at the black seal in the C frame,ease it out and check screws,..seal them up,..and check for holes with no screws in,..then either replace seal,..or in my case fit a new one,..leak chasing is a real pain in the ****!!,..but living in London I have no shortage of rain!

Summerrental

Well I took a chance and unscrewed the rub rail this season before launching. I filled every hole with 5200 and then silicone. I have no more water coming in. That's seems to have been it. Took a few hours,... not too bad!

MarkB

Nice.

lionelz

thanks for comment about carpet by toilet, I have the wet carpet will investigate the tap. How easy is the cabinet to get out?

Summerrental

I just unscrewed the 6 or so screws around the perimeter of the plastic enclosure. Then you just need to carefully work it out. I had some sealant around the edges that was holding it in... but it came off fairly easy.  In the end,... it was the hose that drops down into the cabinet that ca used the leak....  It was getting tangled around the cold water fitting and when the hose was pulled back out, it pulled on the fitting and caused a small spraying leak.  It was a very small, but enough to make it to the carpet.  Good luck!

bigal6030

Summerrental said:

Well I took a chance and unscrewed the rub rail this season before launching. I filled every hole with 5200 and then silicone. I have no more water coming in. That's seems to have been it. Took a few hours,... not too bad!

When you removed the screws to seal them did you remove the rub rail? Or just seal the screws?

swede

Ihave same problem on my FV 270  -02.

I wounder same thing about the rubrail.

Summerrental

bigal6030 said:

Summerrental said:

Well I took a chance and unscrewed the rub rail this season before launching. I filled every hole with 5200 and then silicone. I have no more water coming in. That's seems to have been it. Took a few hours,... not too bad!

When you removed the screws to seal them did you remove the rub rail? Or just seal the screws?

I sealed each screw. Unscrewed a while section to get the metal trim back far enough to put some 5200 in the holes, then I rescued them back in with 5200 on each screw.

Michael T

I had a significant leak in the cabin. We removed the plastic trim insert that runs all the way around the windshield. We removed all of the screws holding the windshield down. We did every other screw until all were done - wouldn't want to remove all screws at once and risk having the windshield to move off center. The screws were removed, caulked and some screws were replaced. As well, I drilled two holes through the bottom channel of the windshield frame on each side at the aft section of the windshield channel thus allowing any water that accumulated in the channel track to escape and run overboard out a spillway made in the fiberglass hull. After that there was (knock on wood) no more leaking into the cabin.