anchor locker leak

Hi Everyone,

I am currently about to buy a 1983 35III. We had the survey yesturday and found the front bulkhead (just below the anchor locker) is completely rotten and needs to be replaced. It looks like the anchor locker/deck joint failed and has allowed water to drip onto the bulkhead for some time. The deck core in this area also shows high moisture levels protruding back about 1 foot from the joint.

Is this a common leak? I tried to search for this topic but did not find anything.

My plan of attack is:

1) remove the anchor locker
2) remove related trim and headliner in the v berth
3) remove and replace bulkhead (from inside the open hole in the deck)
4) check core in the deck
A) allow wet but solid core to dry out, remove enough core to seal the edge with thickend epoxy, reinstall locker
or
B) remove rotten/soft/damaged core (may have to attack the bottom skin, remove core, reglass the bottom, reinstall locker
5) replace trim in v berth

Any thought? How would you rebed the locker to keep this from happening again?

At this time the locker has a flange around the edges that sits onto a small "shelf" slightly below deck level. This flange is screwed down every 6-8 inches. I assume some kind of sealant was used between the two parts when it was installed and has now failed.

Problem 2 is that the forward hatch seems to be leaking around the joint and allowing rain water to get inside and follow the headliner to the forward corners causing dampness in the trim pieces, but no high moisture in the deck in this area. Have people had good luck removing and redding the hatch?

These are guesses as to where the leaks are coming from but seem to be the most obvious explainations.

I am realistic about the amount of work this will be. The boat is in good shape otherwise.

Thanks in advance,

Jon Roberts
New (maybe) owner of 1983 35III Spirit

Hi John. There are 3 very common leks possible in the 35-3 of this vintage.

First one is a hole that the factroy drilled through the deck under the port aft most base of the pulpit. This was to run the bow light wires.

Second one is the hole for the anchor locker latch. This was simply drilled into the core and some of the boats did not get any sealing in there.

Third is a possible stress crack that can develop on the starboard aft edge of the anchor locker going across to the hull/deck joint

It is possible that the anchor locker is also leaking. Removing the anchor locker is a tough job. Mine was sealed with 5200 and the lip makes it near impossible to get any leverage for prying the two surfaces apart. I actually cut 4" hole in the side of the locker to get better hold of the pan but still took me days to get it out. I later glassed over the hole and painted the interior of the locker. Maybe yours is leaking because they skimped on the sealent which will make it easier to get apart.

I would be glad to take a look at this with you and tell you what I think. I can also use my moiture meter to better pinpoint the source.

Other than that you are on the right track with your proposed solution. I would let the boat sit all winter to dry out after you have drilled and removed all the bad core. Seal the anchor locker with butyl tape and add more screws.

Thanks Tim,

I may take you up on your offer.

I looked at that latch pin hole with suspicion but thought there was no way it would have been designed to be open to the core. That may be where the leak is. I think I'm going to need to take out the locker anyway to access the bulkhead. Has anyone replaced this bulkhead before?

Getting to the Core of the matter

Jlroberts280 said:

Thanks Tim,
I may take you up on your offer.

I looked at that latch pin hole with suspicion but thought there was no way it would have been designed to be open to the core. That may be where the leak is. I think I'm going to need to take out the locker anyway to access the bulkhead. Has anyone replaced this bulkhead before?

Click to expand...

FWIW, someone @ Ericson drilled the latch pin hole right into the balsa core on our boat. Lucky for me the hole also opened the bottom skin a little bit so that water that ran in immediately ran out... onto a shelf at the front of the fore peak.
I wondered about the "leak" way up forward on one side for several years. When I took the anchor hatch lid home to epoxy in the hinge holes I finally noticed the source of the seepage.
No harm to surrounding balsa because no water was ever trapped against the coring.

Dumb luck.


Loren

I have Tim's old boat and the locker leaked even after Tim's hard work. What I found was that the port , aft corner of the anchor pan, which seems to sit lowest, was where the leak came from. Tim used the butyl tape and plenty of screws to fasten the pan down, then added some caulk on top of the lip as extra insurance. The aft corners still leaked. I
recently added more caulking in the corners, allowed that to dry several days before closing the locker door. The door itself has a lip on it that will sink down into the caulking and ruin the seal.
After I did this simple fix, no more leak,even during the last weeks 8" rain.. Not sure how permanant a solution it is, but it's something I will need to keep an eye on..

Stanchion Hole

Hi, Jon-
I have a 1985 E35-3 that had the same problem with the rotten peak bulkhead. In our case, the leak was the hole routing in the bow running light wires. I ended up removing the anchor pan, in our case it was not too hard to remove. We then fixed the wiring leak, replaced the bulkhead with one made from marine plywood which I completely encased in fiber glass on the anchor peak side and tabbed into the hull. I painted it white on the v-berth side. I also took the opportunity to reinforce the anchor pan and re-bedded it. The lip on the anchor pan is really undersized and I expect this will be a future point of failure. I did all this was about 3 years ago and so far no leaks.

Laura,

Do you have any pictures? Ill look closely at the wire runs also. I planned to remove and rebed the bow rail but now Ill make it a priority. Thank you.

Options

I ditched the shallow anchor pan almost entirely. We now have a plywood shelf in the forepeak, and were able to use the existing drain hole. There is a divider aft to make sure the water doesn't get to the forward bulkhead. The aft 1/4 or so of the pan was reused to overlap the top of the forward bulkhead.

I did this to get sufficient drop for the windlass we installed, and as a bonus I can now get to the underside of cleats, the pulpit, and everything else making maintenance easier.

Good idea Cory. I thought about doing this but could not engineer it in a way that would prevent water from running into the bilges. Did you glass in a new floor above the bottom of the forpeak to ensure that water drains through the drain hole? How do you keep water from coming in the drain hole when in rough seas?

Strictly "IMHO"... but how 'bout getting someone to post up pix and measurements from that monster-deep anchor well in the E-32-200? Might be an interesting starting point for designing a different well for your boat. Perhaps the factory well was deep enough, but still.....

Project Pix

Hi, Jon-
I do have some photos of the project which I can post. Will try to do this weekend. I'd also be happy to send them to your email.

Thank you. My email is jlroberts280(at)yahoodotcom.

Project underway

So far:

I removed the anchor pan. Much easier than I thought. It appears this had never been done before making the removal fairly straight forward. I removed the screws and pushed up from below with steady force until it popped up and out.

Several issues became very clear. The bulkhead was completely rotten and crumbled into pieces as I was trying to remove the tabbing holding it in place. So I cant use it as a template for the new one.

Several pieces of deck hardware in this area have water stains/streaks running down the hull. I will rebed all while its open.

The wiring for the bow light looks bad so I will replace it.

The drain hose and fittings are tired and will be replaced.

I removed all the tabbing on the forward side of the bulkhead. Most of the bulkhead is now gone. I had to remove the trim pieces that cover where the ceiling (sides of v berth) and liner meet the bulkhead on the vberth side but I have so far left the ceiling pieces and shelves in place. I have pulled back some of the liner to gain some access to the area. Now I am trying to figure out how to install a new bulkhead without completely disassembeling the vberth ceiling, liner, and shelves. Can I use thickened epoxy to attatch the new bulkhead to the old remaining tabbing on the vberth side and then secure the forward side with new tabbing? This would be a lot easier than taking the whole vberth apart. Any thoughts?

hilco woudstra on sketcher 35'

Five years ago I noticed my forward deck getting spongy. Opened the forward head liner, the core was black and soggy.

Had to work from below and got all the old core out and let dry. The leak come form the latch in the ancor locker (going into the core)....such a small area created havoc.

Took a while to dry and then replaced with built up sheets of 1/4" plywood
(to form with the deck)

Hilco

In addition to everything else going on, I also have the same core issue in the area of the hole for the anchor locker lid handle. I still cant believe anyone thought this was a good idea.

Anchor Locker Drain in E39

Hi all.
I've a 1970 E 39
I do not see any drain hole? I get some water standing under the forward access panel in the v-berth just aft of the anchor locker door.
Do I from PO creativity?

Thanks,

Mort

Believe it or not...look to condensation for the cause. This was discussed once before and many agreed that you can get an amazing (read couple of quarts) of water up there in the colder wx. Weird I know...but warm dry boat inside, cold wet hull outside may be your answer...IMHO.