Chrysler Sailors Forum

Hi folks,
My C-26 has been on the hard for while, yet I accumulate water in the bilge. Where in the past have you folks found it coming in? Where's the first place you look at? Thanks in advance..

eric in SD

windows

I had a small leak where the rudder shaft passes through the deck. There is a hose that connects the top deck to the hull and the water was going right down into the bilge. Since the leak on mine was on the back side of the hose you couldn't just see it. Get down inside with a flashlight and have someone pour a bucket of water over the back end of the tiller. If that's where the leak is there, you'll find it.

ditto with dave - also seems like my rudder tube/deck joint leaks if water flows thru the cockpit drains but doesn't make it all the way out the stern.

Chrysler did a great job of squeezing that 4" hose in the 5" hole they cut in mine


Also I used to get a bit of water under the lower companionway board if she was sitting a bit nose down.

Of course originally I could almost take a shower in the cabin on a rainy day she leaked so bad !

Triple check all those deck fittings as a leak there can lead to even more problems with the balsa core deck. Wait until there is going to be some heavy rains and then crawl inside with a flashlight after it has been raining for a while to see where it is coming in. A buddy with a hose could probably accomplish the same thing.

I had ALOT of leaks in mine, The screws holding everything on the topside where beaded with silicone, the mast step had a lot of cracks with huge chunks missing that was the biggest leakpoint. The windows where leaking badly. I drilled alot of test holes in my C-26 and was lucky to find the the core in most places was dry.

Now that I have all those holes fixed the bilge remains dry.

Ditto with Dave.....

my bilge filled more on teh hard than in the water!

on teh hard...make sure you pump out that bilge often..it iwll fill and soften/rot teh sole floor!

I had to do just as dave says , crawl BEHIND teh ruddre post hose to find a drip betweent eh hose and teh underside of teh cabin deck.

also there wasa vent in the head that took in water on a heavy rain and even the sliding hatch to hatch boards there is about a 1/2 inch gap!


I am worried as I see some bedding fromteh toe rail and the deck coming out...do I have to remove teh toe rails completely and rebead or jsut jam some 5200 in that very small gap?

while onthe subject of bilge water....what bilge pump are you all using... I use a manual on but there is a small non-working electric pump somewhwere down there..

I've just ordered $300 worth of fittings. I intend on mounting a hand pump, with a "Y" diverter, one will pump from under the v berth, and the other will pump from under the sole. (Quick question, are the two separate areas or is it open under the sole)?
I will pump it out through the transom scupppers. I'm replacing the sink thru hull. It's cracked, got no sea cock valve and bedding is dry.

Bit by bit...

Eric.

On EE there is a bulkhead at the rear of the vberth. That separates that area from the rest of the boat bilgewise.

If I were to drill a hole in the fiberglass sole in front of the head door (or just behind the ice chest area), and run water in there, it would mostly run around the banquettes, but some would get between the sole and the ballast pour as there is about an inch between those two. That bit then would drain into the rear bilge area since the little bulkhead in front of that area does not go all the way up to the sole but stops at the top of the ballast pour.

I think that is the source of a lot of soft sole problems. Water fills the rear bilge, gets over that little bulkhead (which is probably only there to form the ballast pour up), and then sits there soaking the underside of the sole.

Sorry for the long post, just thinking out loud to some degree.

Toerail. The hull and the deck on Windwalker on the port side has about a 3/4 inch gap and water gets between the toerail and the hull. I had to strip the inside padding off the hull to believe it. On my list to fix. Since I'm on the hard for the next 6 months I may even have time to do it!

funny, that is exactly the same situation on mine...the forward port side but it is only a 1/8th crack and I don't think she leaks...

pulling the toerail is not that hard. I did it myself during my refitting. It wouldbe easier and less messy if you had one more person but you could easly rebed both sides in half a day. It soulds alot more complicated then it actually is.

WIll attempt this fal lon haul out....so I just unscrew and reed and screw back - in...I guess I have to be careful not to bend them or dmage the gelcoat/glass when I pry them up....

what sealer product do you use to rebed them....

Once the toerail is off I filled the holes and cracks with 5200. The toerail itself I used polysulfide since I might want to remove it in the future. If you want it on forever 5200 would work well.