Had a little progress today with 2 pesky, long-term leaks.
The first was under the headliner, port side, abeam the mast. Thought it was the 3-sheave deck organizer leaking because only one of the three stainless screws was rusty--I even saw water droplets hanging from the end of that screw. Pulled the organizer and covered all the holes with polysulfide (until I can re-bed it properly this spring). Still had the leak. Thought the mast boot or mast partner area was likely, but it was always dry under there. Then, one day I was looking at the roof-mounted terminal block for the mast wiring (it was rusty, too). I removed the wires and noticed water coming out from the inside of the protective outer jacket of the 3-wire line for the steaming/deck-light combo. A little experiment confirmed the source...water running down the inside of the wire jacket. The little rolls taped on to the outside of the wire above the cups are rolled up paper towels...they were dry.
The other one was simpler to figure out but harder to know how to catch the water. It was always wet under the starboard cockpit seat locker after a rain. I narrowed it down to the sidewall stowage compartment and the thick, loose globs of silicone barely adhering to its inside seams. Another one I can't really tackle till things dry out in the spring. In the mean time, I drilled a small hole in the lip of the locker top to hang a cup from a wire. Here's what I got after about 12 days (and some heavy snows).....
The first was under the headliner, port side, abeam the mast. Thought it was the 3-sheave deck organizer leaking because only one of the three stainless screws was rusty--I even saw water droplets hanging from the end of that screw. Pulled the organizer and covered all the holes with polysulfide (until I can re-bed it properly this spring). Still had the leak. Thought the mast boot or mast partner area was likely, but it was always dry under there. Then, one day I was looking at the roof-mounted terminal block for the mast wiring (it was rusty, too). I removed the wires and noticed water coming out from the inside of the protective outer jacket of the 3-wire line for the steaming/deck-light combo. A little experiment confirmed the source...water running down the inside of the wire jacket. The little rolls taped on to the outside of the wire above the cups are rolled up paper towels...they were dry.
The other one was simpler to figure out but harder to know how to catch the water. It was always wet under the starboard cockpit seat locker after a rain. I narrowed it down to the sidewall stowage compartment and the thick, loose globs of silicone barely adhering to its inside seams. Another one I can't really tackle till things dry out in the spring. In the mean time, I drilled a small hole in the lip of the locker top to hang a cup from a wire. Here's what I got after about 12 days (and some heavy snows).....
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