Deck / hull joint leak

[Bernie Branfield]

My Macwester Rowan has a leak which appears to be located at the deck / hull joint amidships. At some point in the past damage occurred in this area judging by the state of the gel coat.

Has anyone removed the rubbing band that covers the joint? If so how did you go about it. Ideally I would like to re-use the rubbing band.

[Chris Nixon]

Hi Bernie,
The way the boats are constructed, the top of the boat (deck and superstructure)goes over the bottom of the boat (hull) and the rubbing strip covers the joint.
The hull and deck are bonded together from the inside, not the outside, so unless there are any gel coat cracks on the outside (which can be repaired quite easily), you need to tackle this from the inside, if indeed that is the actual problem.

You need to remove all the interior linings and investigate where this water is actually coming from. It is more than likely to be a deck fitting, chain plate, stanchion or window. In my experience, water travels a long distance from the actual source before it appears in a drip.

Once you have stripped back the linings, get someone to hold a hose in possible leak areas and see where it is spurting in.

A lot of the fittings were originally bolted on with galvanised bolts which go rusty over time and eventually disintegrate, and this causes leaks in many cases. It may be that this has happened to the bolts on the rubbing strip thus letting in water. Never be tempted to replace bolts with galvanised once again as it will be a false economy.

Good luck with your investigations. I would be interested to know what you uncover.

Chris Nixon

[Bernie Branfield]

Hi Chris,

Many thanks. The water is only coming in to the locker between the heads compartment and the sink compartment so removing the internal lining is in effect the internal molding and this is probably too big a job for me. I like the idea of having someone hose down the area while I check from the inside.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Cheers, Bernie

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