Leaky F32 Bridge/Ceiling

[rossjo]

I have leaks from the bridge that I cannot seem to find. I have 5200'd as much as I can find around the console, steering linkage cover, and the opening (dammed up) for the wires to come down on the stbd side, etc.. I stll have water getting into the floor of the bridge and dripping from holes (apparently drilled to allow this water to drain) along the windows into my saloon (starboard side primarily, but that may be due to my slight stbd list).

Has anyone had similar issues and found a solution?

Thank you in advance !

[willietrojan]

I have the same issue. The only good fix that I think of is to remove the bridge then re-caulk then replace the bridge.

[Danny Bailey]

I had the same problem on my F-36. Every time it rained, water would drip out the holes for the flourescent light wires. I temp fixed it by drilling two 1/4 inch holes in each lower corner of the roof on the back edge in the cockpit. These holes are lower than the ones inside and allow the water to drain in the cockpit before it gets high enough to run out inside and wet the floor. There are dozens of places on the flybridge that can leak and cause this, but hopefully I'll live long enough to fix them and stop the leaks properly.

[rossjo]

I spent last Sat (65degF) working on my leak. I removed the aluminum drip rail (4 pieces) all the way around the bridge (where it meets the salon ceiling). There was a 1/2" gap approx 2.5' long on the front, and smaller gaps on the Stbd side (1/8" x 1') and Port side of the aft section (1/8" x 1.5'). I used a large tube of 5200 (caulk gun siz) and sealed it all the way around. I cleaned up all of my rails yesterday and will re-install them soon.

We had thuderstoms yesterday, and it looks like I got the leak!

[yukondiver]

Rossjo, Thank you for the excellent tip about there being a gap under the railing, whereby water can seep in.

[rossjo]

I've still got a leak - I believe its from the rotted out frame/screws for the flybridge inner panels - will replace soon with aluminum rails and new screws with 5200. The leak is geting old (and cold in winter). Any other ideas? I may drill holes near the rear as someone suggested.

[yukondiver]

I've still got a leak - I believe its from the rotted out frame/screws for the flybridge inner panels - will replace soon with aluminum rails and new screws with 5200. The leak is geting old (and cold in winter). Any other ideas? I may drill holes near the rear as someone suggested.

I thought it was from the inner panel rails too, the ones that are made of 1"x2" and screwed to the floor of the flybridge at that the bottom of the panels screw to. So I caulked all around the rail and it still leaked. Recently I caulked around the screw that holds the corner of the flybridge side to the floor, where the flybridge side tapes down near the back rail. I caulked around where the side meets the floor and made a dam of caulking around the screen (after removing the panel to gain access). So far so good. I figured this area might have been a culprit because the core was a little soft in this area from previous leaks (which I since cleaned out and filled). Maybe the leak is caused by wated seaping in through a number of place, like the drip rail you mentioned.

[obeejr]

I took all the screws out of the flybridge apron (sides) and lifted it up about an inch. I realized that it is formed so that there is a void under the edge of the apron where the screws go through into the flybridge floor. All the caulking in the world on the outside of the flybridge won't keep leaks from happening where the screws go through.
I also found that, over the years, vibration and outward pressure had enlarged and elongated the screw holes on the back edge of the apron, as yukondiver described. Water on the flybridge floor tends to run to those corners, and seep into the holes. I filled them with epoxy and put some caulking all the way around on every hole in the floor before reinstalling the apron.

[yukondiver]

Obeejr, thanks for confirming this source of the leak and I bet it's been worthwhile for you to have raised the apron, epoxied filled and caulked around the holes before refitting the apron. Putting screws into a (soft) cored deck is always bad unless the hole is first epoxy filled; too bad all manufacturers don't/didn't do this from the start.

[rossjo]

I had removed the rotted wooden (1x2?) inner rails and replaced with 1"OD x 1" tall center-drilled delrin posts for the FLybridge side to push against. I cleaned and sealed these w/ 5200 and it helped, but I've got my leaks back.

I'll try pulling ALL of the screws out of the side of the flybridge going into the bridge floor and epoxy or 5200 (depends on condition) them back with larger (#12?), SS screws.

Sounds like some of you have solved your leaks with this method ?

[Nancy]

Hello, all.

We're in the process of tackling the leaky flybridge problem on our 1978 F-32. We've had a crack for years on the underside of the port aft corner of the flybridge (where the ladder goes up). It's been getting worse, and over the past couple of years, there are more and more cracks along that aft overhang. We've also been getting increasingly worse leaks in the salon where the drapery racks are fastened. The cream-colored drapes are stained with brown from the water leaks. This past spring when we launched, it was most disconcerting to have water pour out of the lower helm overhead switch panel.

We've lifted the flybridge apron with wood blocking, and have filled all the screw holes with epoxy. We're thinking of filling the void under the edge of the apron with either a continuous strip or small pieces of pressure-treated wood. Obeejr, did you do anything like this? That original design with the void is a recipe for failure.

Next project is the wire chase. The 3" hole in the sole was covered with a block of hardwood (with a 3" hole). The wood was completely rotted. We are thinking of installing a PVC flange over the hole and fastening it with epoxy. Attached to that will be a PVC elbow to encase the wires, and then maybe connect to the elbow and with a length of pipe to continue into the console so that the wires are fully encased. We may leave the console end of the pipe unsecured--the idea being that if PVC is fastened on the sole and at the console, there will be no give to it and it will break.

Part of the trick is to install the PVC components without disconnecting those thousand wires, so we'll cut the PVC vertically and then reglue in place.

We also plan to lift the console and epoxy those holes, too. We'd previously rebedded the rail stanchions and the seat bases, so those should be OK.

After all that is complete, we can think about how to repair all the cracks where the rain gutter is fastened as well as the cracks at the overhang.

Obeejr, did the work you did stop the leaks?

Nancy

[JuiceClark]

Ah the memories! Painful memories. Water on my F-36 had leaked from old screws into the bridge deck as well as from around the drip cap. When I went to seal these problems I realized the core was already 1/3 wet. That's when I tore the whole bridge deck out and built a new one out of two layers of foam and three of glass.

Moral of the story: While you're doing small repairs and sealing leaky areas with 5200, if you see and wet or dark-colored balsa...cut it out!! Otherwise it will spread until your flybridge is as soft as your bedroom mattress.

Tony

[Nancy]

Tony,

We're not seeing any wet wood. Dark-colored? Hard to say. But we haven't found any punkiness.

Tell me more about the drip rail area--where the upper and lower "pot lids" are joined. Do you think water is getting *in* there? Or is that where it's coming out???

What do you think about drilling drain holes somewhere? Where? We know there's water up there that needs to come out. We're sealing from the top at the moment, and don't want to trap the water.

Nancy

[rossjo]

I'm not completely visualizing everything you are talking about. Can you make a quick sketch and scan it (I can post it if you can't get that to work)?

Or a photo edited with a few arrows?

Mine still leaks a bit and I really can't find the source.

[Nancy]

Rossjo,

I'll try to get some photos in the next few days. In the meantime, here's one where I've marked the rain gutter.



We've removed all four sections of this gutter, which reveals the joint between the flybridge sole and the salon ceiling. According to John at Marine Tech, the flybridge was constructed in two pieces and then fitted together like two saucepan lids.

Much of this joint on our boat is cracked. We're not sure if it's cracked because water was getting in the gutter screw holes from the outside or whether water between the pot lids was trying to get out the screw holes. The cracks run between screw holes for what it's worth.

Where is your flybridge still leaking? Not that that tells us a darn thing, because the water could come from anywhere. Have you looked at the wire chase in the flybridge sole? We're pretty sure this is the cause of most of our problems.

Nancy