E34 V-Berth Leak

This is my first winter with my 1989 E34. Rainwater leaks into the V-birth on the starboard side. The leak manifests itself where the vinyl liner meets the birth horizontal surface about 2/3 of the way back from the front of the birth.

I have found several posts in the archives about similar leaks and am still working on isolating the source (ruled out cable passthrough in pulpet and first stanchion, looking into anchor locker and rub rail next).

However, I was concerned about the extent of damage so I pulled the staples from the bottom edge of the liner to see behind. Of course the wood strip was soaked and much of the foam backing was wet. Upon removal of the foam near the wettest area I found delaminated fiberglass. I see water moving behind the loose fiberglass when I press on it. My surveyor went over the hull and deck thoroughly last summer, but her focus was mainly on the deck and the hull below the water line.

Has anyone else seen similar damage from these leaks near the bow? Once the leak is solved and the hull has had time to dry, what is the best way to assess if the fiberglass needs repair? Is a moisture meter and hammer (and a good ear) sufficient, or does this type of damage mean repairing the fiberglass is a must?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Probably talking thru my hat again, but I did find and cure one pesky/mystery leak way up forward on starboard, above the foot of the V berth. I used to find some loose water on the front of the shelf on that side and could not figure out the source. Then I found that the slide rod for securing the anchor well top, on that side, went into the coring layer in the deck... and also that they had drilled the hole slightly low enough that water could leak out inside the boat there.
(I also had the headliner off on that side for some other work on the bottom of the anchor well molding, and looked up at the area and saw a tiny sliver of daylight there!)

The good news was that the core was unharmed because water never was trapped in it.
I overbored that hole, and then partly filled it with a mixture of thickened epoxy -- and then closed the hatch and pushed the rod in as far as it would go. I wrapped the end of the rod with several layers of Saran Wrap.

Once the rod was withdrawn a day later and unwrapped, it went back in to a newly-watertight hole with no more leaks.

Probably not your problem... but worth a close look perhaps.

Loren

Leak a long time ago

When I bought Dangriga 12 years ago the previous owner had a leaking anchor well. The lip wasn't properly bedded (and hadn't been for a while). Long story. We pulled the anchor pan out (sharp knife under the lip w/ heat gun from above), rebedded the pulpit and put the pan back in w/ plenty of goop. No issue since then.

I would not suspect the rubrail as the culprit. The pulpit wire feed is possible but also not very likely (amount of water). I would suspect the pulpit bases (anything visible?) or the anchor well...

Good luck! A nasty place to get into and look around...

I agree with Chris, as I had a similar experience this winter. The water had actually soaked the wood pieces behind the V-berth headliner on both sides of the V-berth and was beginning to run into the holding tank locker (just aft of the V-berth) on our 1984 E30+ (your boat may be built a bit differently).

In our case I noticed a small but persistent leak when it rained or when I had waves over the bow, entering the deck anchor locker. As Chris mentioned, I had to remove the 20 or so screws in the lip of the anchor locker and pry it up, then re-bed it. I then dried out the wood pieces in the V-berth between the headliner and the hull (ie. the pieces that the bottom of the headliner is stapled to, and then fibreglassed those pieces of wood with fibreglass cloth and resin, and caulked the joint between that and the V-berth. My purpose in doing that was to ensure that if it ever leaks again (which it shouldn't but...), water cannot soak the wood and will simply run under the V-berth cushions, where I can find it and deal with it.

The fibreglass hull looked intact without any problem, so I didn't have the problem of delamination which you described.

While I had the anchor locker removed, I took the opportunity to re-bed the stanchions and cleats in that area.

It was a time-consuming job, but well within the skill level for an amateur.

Let us know if you need further information.

Source of v-birth leak is rub rail/hull-deck joint

Thanks for all the advice.

I taped up the anchor locker joint and latch slide rod hole as well as the section of rub rail from the bow back to where the interior leak showed up. This stopped the leak. Today I pulled off tape from the rub rail directly above the leak. This section has a gap between the caulk and the plastic part of the rub rail. I ran water over this area and after about 45min it made its way into the interior of the hull in the v-birth below the hull-deck joint. Now, how best to fix?

Is the caulk between the deck and rub rail really the only line of defence to keep water from entering through the hull-deck joint? If so would easy fix just be to clean and add more caulk to this area?

Or, should there be a water tight seal at the hull-deck joint under the rub rail? If so, this seal is compromised and I am looking at removing the rub rail to repair this seal.

Any advice or experience with this? What are the best caulk or sealing compounds to use for this?

Thanks
-Max

Hazarding a "S.W.A.G."

Based on observation of an earlier but similar Ericson hull from the 80's,
My guess is the heavy roving that was laid up on the inside to join the hull and deck had some pin holes here n there where the resin did not completely seal the weave.
I doubt that there is any strength issue, but from observation can reasonably say that if one removes the little screws and then (carefully...) the aluminum rub rail cover one will find that this can be re-calked from the outside. Then reinstall the rail/cover.
Probably best done from a scaffold while on the hard.

Others may have more direct and pertinent experience...
:nerd:

(Our model has a completely different hull-to-deck joint.)

Loren