So I had a leak. Not recently, but for years. When I first purchased the boat there were nt signs of it. But every once in a while I would notice the cushions or items in the quarter berth would get wet. Wasn’t a big issue and since what was getting wet was near the through hull for the keel cable, I ASSUMED, that water was “splashing in”. Dumb.
It took years, but one day I noticed that the bilge was full of water. I pulled the boat, but no cracks in the hull or issues with through hulls. After I plunked it again and the area drought ended, I began to observe a pattern. The pattern was rain=water in bilge. Now I needed to track it down. I tried the hardest approach first. I resealed almost all deck fittings. I skipped the stern pulpit. Guess where it was? The stern pulpit.
I finally tracked it down with the help of food dye, water bottles and a bucket. I put a different color food dye at each fitting that I thought might be leaking. Then I washed them all in with a simulated deluge from the bucket. Checked the bilge and found blue water, indicating the starboard post of the pulpit. I poured additional water on it and watched in horror as the water slid unimpeded into my deck. The fiberglass was cracked under the post and had no backing plates under it; simply small washers and nuts.
The fix wasn’t hard. I ground out the crack and all de-laminated glass. I then layered in additional woven glass and some mat. I decided to skip spraying gelcoat on the repair and instead used some topsides paint I had on hand. Before painting I had the epiphany to raise the mounting holes above the deck. I figured that if there was no standing water, then the chance of water working its way down to the headliner and then where ever would be greatly reduced. I created a mold over the fiberglass patch and poured in epoxy with fiberglass filler. Its stands 1/8th inch above the deck.
To spread the loads out better I fashioned backing plates from aluminum. I still need to wet sand the first coat and apply another. But so far no more water in the boat, even though the post is not sealed with caulk of any type. I guess modern sailboats have this “step” in the deck mold to keep stanchions out of way of running/standing water. If they don’t they should.
If not for the evil of the molded headliner I would have found this leak a long time ago. Additionally, I feel uncomfortable with deck fittings that I cannot easily inspect from both sides. However, the deck liner provides structural integrity as well as hiding the unsightly backing plates and wires for lights. I may install my own inspection ports as another project. Of course having all those ports on the headliner might look bad, so I will have to fashion teak covers or other means to hide them.