My turn for a mystery leak

Stodge

I've been getting a significant amount of water in the center storage area under the mid berth.  Used the shop vac twice and pulled at least a gallon out each time.  

From what I can tell that area is a fiberglass box with walls on 3 sides and a piece of wood in the front.  It does not appear that water could come in from anywhere except the front.

I have run the a/c and shower and head to look for leakes near by.  Nothing so far.  The mid bilge appears lower than the storage area and is not full.

We did go on a 40 mile run yesterday.  Wer're docked in Port Horon at the moment.  There was not an accumulation of water during the week.

Any ideas on where the water might be sneaking in would help me solve it mystery.

Black_Diamond

In the carpeted area?

water in there can come from the shower, bath sink or galley.  or mid bilge pump. Check your thru hulls for the shower/bilge exits. Behind the shower storage box. I had mine come loose. Had the shower sump hose leak back there too. 

Black_Diamond

Carpet wet in the cabin by there too?

Stodge

I don't have carpet in the cabin any more.  Checked the thru hulls and all seem fine. Next on the list is pulling up the floor in the mid cabin and see what is on the starboard side.  Plan to remove the carpet in the middle storage area and paint with bilge paint then put in dry deck. 

Black_Diamond

Can you tell if is clean water Vs lake water?

Liberty44140

Could it be the shower drain?

Stodge

The shower sump is working correctly.  I can't tell if the water was lake or rain.  By the time it had been in the carpet it was not clear any more. 

I followed the YouTube made by DanD2 and took the mid-berth out.  The carpet in the storage area is now gone.  I'm picking up bilge paint on the way home to paint/seal it.  

The back wall assembly was pulled out and I did have a little dampness back there but it didn't seem to be a lot. The area around both the fresh and black water tanks was dry and there was no sign of leakage.  

The board that makes up the front of the storage area was very wet on the bottom.  To the point that one of the L bracket screws was not holding any more.  I'm planing to put some weather strip on the fiberglass under it and re-position the L bracket once it's had time to dry out.

There is a small piece of wood that is the face of the compartment where the shower sump is located.  I looked but didn't spot what was holding it in place.  I need to pull it out, dry it out and seal under it as well.

Both of the board issues are from previous shower sump leaks.  But they are also the only sign of water entry.  

What I'm looking for now is something that could be coming in from under the shower.  Going to check under both sinks and run everything and watch the cavity near the front of the shower sump compartment where the shower drain and sump discharge are run.  This only limits me to the A/C, rail, cleats, rub rail, sinks, thru-hulls.....

Stodge

Looks like mystery solved.  

A while back I did a little creative plumbing and added a hand held shower wand with multiple spray settings and a shutoff.  The idea was that you'd get the temperature right, then use that switch between soap and rinse.  It was not made for the plumbing on the boat.  I had to reduce the output of the faucet to fit a flexible hose for a kitchen sink sprayer.  Then run that to the wand.  

It turns out that there is a leak at the wand itself.  We have gotten into 2 bad habits.  First is leaving the fresh water pump on more than we should.  Second is turning off the the switch on the wand instead of the faucet.  

I believe this led to the water from the leak landing on the fiberglass under the shower, then finding its way back to the gap where the shower drain and sump drain run to the area where the sump lives.  The piece of wood in front of the sump cavity does nothing to keep water contained.  So the water could then move to the storage area and get sucked up by all that carpet.

In the short term I have the entire mid-berth removed.  The carpet for the storage area is gone.  I put down 3 coats of grey bilge paint in its place.  Once the new sensors arrive for the water and waste tanks I'll install those and re-assemble the mid-berth.  I'm also taking advantage of the access to install a USB power outlet near the speaker adjacent to the map table.

I plan to try and address the leak at the shower wand but a new procedure for the shower is to turn off the faucets.  I also plan to keep the fresh water pump off more often.

zaverin1

You didn’t notice your fresh water pump kicking on and off indicating a leak

Stodge

No I didn't.  But I think it was slow enough that it took a while for the pressure to drop enough to make the pump kick on so it wasn't coming on often.

zaverin1

Makes sense 

Liberty44140

Glad you found it! Post some pics of your usb project, interested. 

Black_Diamond

The water accumulates under the shower. The carpet wicks it out. Been there. lol

Stodge

Liberty44140 said:

Glad you found it! Post some pics of your usb project, interested. 

I've installed 2 already.  I have 1 next to the cigarette lighter socket in the cabin, and one at the helm by the trim switches.  The admiral wanted to plug her phone in charge on a recent trip and was using the USB outlet at the helm which would have been fine except she wanted to check it every few minutes.

I looked at the area on the port side seat where the speaker is located and noticed the hole for the speaker wire is big enough to allow another wire pair through it.

Got the socket on amazon, waiting for it to arrive.

Once I have the socket installed I'll post pics.

Stodge

I got some pressure treated lumber to re-create the assembly that goes in front of the storage area.  I still have to figure out how to gently remove the small piece that is just in front of the shower sump.  The new assembly will go across the whole area.  And instead of carpet, this new piece will be covered in vinyl.  

If I think about it I'll get some pics taken and posted.

Stodge

I got the mid-berth re-assembled. I made a front for the mid-berth out of a piece of 2x10 and 3/4 inch pressure treated wood.  The admiral covered it with a marine vinyl we got locally.  It's not an exact match but it's close.  I put weather strip under the board so water should not be able to run from the cabin floor into the storage area.  The storage area is now painted with grey bilge paint.  Planing to put dry-deck in there as well.

I took advantage of the dis-assembly and installed external tank senors on the water and waste tanks.  I ran the wires to the storage behind the mirror in the mid.  I will get a display for it eventually.  I also ran a power wire through the hole for the port side forward speaker.  It's powering a USB outlet.  Found a nice flat spot for the outlet under the cup holders near the map storage.

  

Liberty44140

Ahh very cool, looks good!