Good morning: We have a small leak into the boat inside a cabinet that seems to be coming from the edge of the molded fiberglass headliner. What is between the headliner and the underside of the deck in the area of the Paloma heater? Is this area cored with balsa or just filled with some sort of adhesive/sealant? I can see some sealant at the join but I am unsure as to how far it extends.
To solve this leak should I just rebed anything close by (Paloma heater exhaust stack, one opening port, dorade box etc) and hope for the best or is there a better solution?
I’d use a hose with just a dribble of water coming out and start lower down on the suspect area and try to determine which of the deck items you suspect are leaking.
The cabin top liner and the cabin top are separate pieces that are assembled together when the deck is placed on the hull. From what I can tell they put a filler / glue / guck between the two down the centre but as you get away from the centre there is a gap that is a good half inch by the time it gets to the handrail area. The guck was known in the industry as bear sh*t and was composed of polyester resin and asbestos shorts.
Hi Blake,
Soave has some access ports in her head liner that were original and others that were added to gain access to the underside of thru bolts that previous owner probably added during rebedding.
I’ve had leaks on Soave that I’ve traced back to her deck organizers which were not always directly of the interior leak… water is sneaky. I also had a leaks near her aft water fill that dripped in a galley cabinet. The fill fixtures are screwed in place not thru bolted and the water also damaged some surrounding core..
I like to use butyl tape for bolted fixtures and marine sealant ( like 4000/4200 or equivalent ) for screwed fixtures. I don’t normally use 5200 too hard to remove if necessary.
So far previous owners have already provided access to the underside of fitting I’ve needed access to. The new access ports look like they were ( carefully ) created with a hole saw with plastic plugs that fit nicely to cover the hole. I suspect they were purchased and tested to work with a specific size hole saw.
Good luck,
Rob
s/v SOAVE
NS33 #009
Cedar Point YC
Westport, CT
Blake,
Are you coming to the Nonsuch Rendezvous at Telegraph Hbr on Thetis island July 11th? If so, should be a few knowledgeable Nonsuchers there to help solve your leak. They’ve probably fixed similar leaks on their boats.
Cheers,
Don
On my boat there is a stainless bracket which extends down through the deck and bolts onto the bulkhead between the head and the main cabin. It has a horizontal flat flange on the top for screwing it down to the deck. There’s also one on the port side for the bulkhead between the forward cabin and the main cabin. On my boat the port side one had leaked and formed streaks on the bulkhead in the forward cabin. I lifted it up and re-sealed it and the leak stopped. (I have yet to re-finish the streaks. )
It is possible that this is your problem as well. If your interior is finished out like mine, there will be rectangular block on one side of the bulkhead (head side, on my boat) and a set of round plugs on the other side of the bulkhead. You need to pop off those plugs and the block and remove the bolts. You can then unscrew the stainless fitting up on the deck and pull it upwards. It was originally sealed, so expect it to be difficult. Clean it up good, re-seal (I used white Sikaflex 291), and re-assemble. Then agonize for years over which kind of varnish will match the original…
– You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups “INA Nonsuch Discussion Group” group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to . To view this discussion visit .
There is balsa core in the cabin top between layers of fiberglass. The liner is a separate piece with its molded side facing in whose purpose is to hide the raw fiberglass underside of the deck. The liner is a trim, not a structural member, and has no core nor is there core between it and the cabin top.
If it is near a small opening deck hatch you might have the problem I had on both of mine. This album details the issue and the fix.
Read the captions.
)