Forum - Maintenance - Help - lockers are full of water.

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Help - lockers are full of water. 6Mon 06 Jun 2011 22:52:01
MarkD MarkD Sat 21 May 2011 23:22:58 Hi, We got our Manta last December, finally managed to launch her last Wed (11 May) and left her on her mooring on Coniston. When I returned today (10 days later) I could see she was heeling over I rowed up to her. Both the port cockpit locker and the locker under the port berth were full of water.
Both the starboard lockers were dry, as was under the cabin floorboards.
Being new to Mantas, has anyone any thoughts on where my leak may be?
After I'd bailed the port berth locker dry, there was still some water coming in from a plug hole in the upper rear corner of the locker - I've no idea where the hole leads to!
Thanks for any thoughts or advice.
Cheers,
Mark

Replies

Mekicevica Mekicevica Sun 22 May 2011 23:25:51 Hi, Mark.
First advice: Don't panic!
Is your Manta a triple keeler? My first guess is you are leaking from the bolts that fix the side keels/fins. Easy to fix with a bit of epoxy (and plenty of elbow grease.)
That hole connects the locker under the berth with the one i the cockpit. In my case it useful to pass the cable of the depth sounder.
I'l be glad to offer any advice my limited knowledge allows. You can e-mail me on mekicevica@gmail.com.
Luis
Mark Mark Sun 22 May 2011 23:38:46 The only place that I can think of is the port external locker. There is a gas bottle storage bin (a built in bucket) which has a small vent pipe which goes through to the cockpit floor - a little hole about 2 inches up from the cockpit floor. If the vent pipe isn't attached then it is possible that water in the cockpit may leak into the port locker but this would only happen if the drains at the back of the cockpit become blocked and the water gets to be 2 or 3 inches deep. The port external locker covers (seat) should have a lip on it that fits into a moulded in trough(gutter) when the lid is closed. It could be that there is a hole/crack in the gutter so that rain water is getting into the outside locker. I guess that once enough water has got in, the back of the boat would be weighed down and water would come in through the cockpit drains and if deep enough, it would enter through the gas vent hole.

I think the hole you mention is for a gas feed pipe.

One final thought is that you could have a leaking port window seal but it would have to pretty bad and would need a lot of rain to fill up the port berth locker
MarkD MarkD Mon 23 May 2011 12:16:28 Hello Luis, Mark,
Many thanks for the reassurance. The weather is dreadful at the moment with wind and rain, and I was worried what state she may be in again.

From your notes, I think what has happened could be:-
When I left "Woody" on the mooring, I forgot to take the drain bungs out, so there was 2-3 inches of water in the cockpit. The water could have then leaked into the locker as you suggest, and from there passed through the pipe into the cabin locker.

I've left the bungs out now, so if that is the problem then hopefully she should be OK.
Thanks again for your advice, I'll let you know how I get on when I next get to the lake.
Cheers,
Mark.
Mekicevica Mekicevica Mon 23 May 2011 23:21:06 Good to know that the problem with Woody it is not serious after all.
Since I seem to have learned the trade in a different school, and just out of curiosity: why do you plug the drain holes in the first place?
Luis
MarkD MarkD Mon 06 Jun 2011 19:53:14 Hello Mark, Luis,
I finally managed to get to Coniston today and found Woody to be floating well, with no water in the lockers.
On inspection, I found the vent hole in the port cockpit locker and the tube leading from that locker to the cabin locker. There was even a faint tide mark on the cockpit side at the same height as the vent hole, showing how high the rain water had got before leaking into the locker!.
So many thanks for your advice - it was spot on.
Cheers,
Mark
Mekicevica Mekicevica Mon 06 Jun 2011 22:52:01 Hi, Mark.
That is good news, but the problem you had got me thinking that the tube between the inside and outside lockers should be sealed. If the cockpit gets swamped, I don't want water entering the inside locker where I have the battery.
Out comes the Sikkaflex.
Luis
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