stemhead leak

[Akavishon]

In my never-ending quest to plug all rain leaks on my boat, I have recently re-bedded the anchor locker pan with butyl tape, and epoxied/caulked the drain hose. I'm fairly certain it's water tight now ... alas, rain is still finding its way into the bow, so my next step will be to undo all my good work and check the bow stemhead fitting.

Has anyone unmounted this thing on an E32? There are a dozen large bolts holding it down ... are there any gotchas I should look out for?

TIA, Zoran

 

[treilley]

Zoran, a very common area for leaks on these boats is the nav light wiring that runs down through the pulpit with no sealing compound whatsoever. I just fixed this on my 35-3. You should have seen this wiring near the aft port side of the anchor locker.

I would also rebed all the bow HW before doing the stemhead unless you are possitively sure that is the source of your leaks. And I would get up there in a prolonged heavy downpour to verify. Luckily our present(and past) NE weather pattern is perfect for this.

 

[u079721]

I second Tim's suggestion about the wiring leak - I had that too.

Assuming this is one of those Ericsons where you can sort of access the front area through that hatch in the V-berth, might I suggest that you go in there and dust the sides way up high with baby powder and then attack the deck with a garden hose. With someone down below you should get some hints about where the water is coming from by looking at the water tracks in the powder.

 

[Akavishon]

Hey guys, thanks ... I should have mentioned that - while the anchor locker pan was out - I've a) cleaned and re-bedded the bow pulpit stanchion bases; b) checked the bow cleats (solid backing plates, all dry); c) fixed up the wiring inside the pulpit and gooped it up with fresh caulk where it enters through the deck (it used to leak before).

Steve, indeed, there is an opening in the v-berth, and by feeling around it I can see (or feel) that a) water is running down the center line; b) the bottom of the anchor locker pan is wet.

Since I've duct-taped all around the anchor locker hatch (hopefully water-tight), it appears most likely that rain water enters through the stemhead, and from there runs down the centerline and also down to the bottom of the pan.

cheers, Zoran

 

[Loren Beach]

Is the glassed-in drain tube for the anchor well hose still solid or, maybe, loose?
I like the pressure water hose idea while you loaf around inside with your shoulders and arms stuffed into the forepeak with a flashlight.....


Loren

 

[treilley]

I hate to say this but you will probably need to remove the anchor locker to rebed the stemhead properly so you might as well do it now.

 

[Akavishon]

Tim - there seems to be no way around, eh? Good thing I used butyl tape when I put it in couple of weeks ago, it should come out fairly easily.

The drain tube was a major annoyance for quite a while, always leaking a bit. When I took the anchor locker out a couple of weeks ago, I cleaned the hole and epoxied in a stainless, barbed hose coupling, to which the drain hose now connects with a hose clamp. It's leak-proof, and easy to disassemble in the rare case (ahem) when the anchor locker pan needs to be removed

cheers, Zoran