Chasing Leaks

We have spent a good bit of time over the last few weeks trying to make our boat as leak-proof as possible. The leaks have only been a minor annoyance so far, but we will soon be 24x7 at sea, in unpredictable conditions. It's bad enough having a little fresh water (rain) leaking in, but sea water would be unpleasant.

As everyone who owns a sailboat knows, some of those leaks are pretty hard to track down and fix. But ours are not too bad--known spots easy to get at.

First, we (finally) sealed up the mast where it goes through the top of the cabin. Dave taped up the bottom of the hole around the mast (there's an opening about an inch all around the mast), and mixed up some Walmart brand rubber goo (the same stuff that's in brand name product 'Spar Tite'). He poured that into the area and let it set up. Then we finished off the top inch or so of this plug with silicone seal. Once everything had harded up, we tested it by pouring water over it. Not a drop. Then I made a new sunbrella cover for it--keeps out the big water and also keeps the silicone out of the sun.



The other leaky spot has been our big windows. Dave re-did these completely in the past, and cured most of the leaks. But we still have a couple of drips when it rains really hard. So we have taken them all off, cleaned things up, and used silicone (to try) to make a better seal around the bolts and around the whole window. We have poured water over the windows, and so far they are leak free.