Soaked Salon

Capt. Jim · Post by **Capt. Jim** » Sun Mar 14, 2004 1:23 am

Good morning, everyone. We took HOT ROD BLUE (1989 33' Sportfisherman) out yesterday to look for some early season yellowfin. NOAA was totally wrong with their forcast (again), and we ended up in stacked up four to six foot seas. Coming back to the docks we had a beam sea on the starboard bow which produced a constant spray over the entire boat. The starboard gunnel was continually flowing water, the couch area forward of the helm was two inches deep the whole time and the cockpit was, as you can imagine, pouring water out the scuppers. The aft bilge pump came on every ten minutes or so. The boat has never been that wet, but she handled it really well and there were no problems, except for water in the salon. The area forward of the salon door was soaked. I don't just mean the carpet got wet. Water was flowing into the salon, apparently from under the couch (starboard side) at the salon bulkhead. Water WAS NOT coming in under the salon door. We've looked everywhere we can think but can't find the source. The engine compartments are both dry. There's no sign of water in the starboard side hull below the gunwales. (We pulled the couch out to look.) We checked the air intakes but could find no leaks. There was so much water flowing into the salon that the storage area in the midship blige was soaked from water running in through the salon floor hatch. Can anyone offer an explanation as to how the water got into the salon? Does anyone know of any passages, say from the bridge to the salon, through which water can flow? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Capt. Jim Bost

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:58 pm

Jim, There is evidence of that much water having been in my boats salon also. During the winter when I replaced the refrigerator, I noticed alot of the aluminum wire clamps had rotted away along the floor behind the fridge, just like they had in the other areas of the boat that get wet (like the bilges). Also when I started looking , I could see a water line on the carpet.By the rotten clamps I`d have to guess it was salt water, not rain water getting in there. Like you I scratched my head about it and the only conclusion I came to, was that the hull to deck joint must be leaking. I figured I`d do the rub-rails next winter and address that issue also, at that time. Are you saying that you are sure that no water was leaking down the sides from the hull/deck joint? If it did leak there, it would run right down to the salon floor and across.There would be nowhere else for the water to go. Frank Price `87 SF

franklyprice · Post by **franklyprice** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 2:12 am

Capt. Jim, I was working on my boat on Saturday and found what I think could be an answer to , at least some of a water entry problem. The side panels that cover the joint for the top of the house (these also are where the BERTRAM 33 is) were looking tired on my boat , so I removed them for painting , which, by the way isn`t as easy or fun as one may think, well, I noticed that on the port side the sealer that they used was not completely applied to the front edge of the aluminum panel , effectively making that panel into sort of a scoop to direct water behind it. I also noticed that they had evidently forgotten to seal up the joint in front of that panel, right at the rearward edge of the window sill, which would also let in alot of water if the conditions were right. This joint lies horizontally at the very back of the windows at the end of the 2" wide sill. I`m not positive, but pretty sure that this water would only go into the salon, not out some other drain. The starboard side was sealed up better but not necesarily perfectly. All this looks like it`s never been disturbed and I was surprised to see this , considering how good the workmanship is on the rest of the boat. It may be worth a look at your boat to see if it`s sealed here. This is certainly the most likely spot for water to have gotten into my boat. Hope this helps. Frank

Post by **Admin** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:00 am

This could be a common problem. While I don't hit the heavy swells that often, I do notice that after a day of intense cleaning that the salon area just inside the door is always pretty wet, and I too am sure that it isn't coming from the door. I'll take a look at what your saying, could be a lead. David Sumich Bertram33.com Forum Administrator

sbeer · Post by **sbeer** » Tue May 25, 2004 6:04 am

I have the 81 bert with the head at the back next to the door. While puttin speakers in my panels underneath the overhang I found that when I was hoseing down the inside of the bulk head behind the panels, water was going into the salon underneath the head and counter. The whole where the wiring gos into the bulk head was allowing water to get into the salon. Right above that is the bilge blower and intake vent. If you were in rough enough seas You could have been getting water in that way. Just my input. See you on the water. Mike

BECCA ROSE · Post by **BECCA ROSE** » Sun May 22, 2005 2:11 pm

Just spent the day taking care of a leak in the same exact spot that Frank had spoke about. I pulled the sofa out of the way yesterday and noticed the port and aft bulkheads were wet, and delaminated at the very bottom, and about 12 inches up. The carpet was also wet in the aft-port corner of the salon, and all along the back bulkhead. I removed the port metal side panels and noticed the caulk was just about gone, the seam measured over a quarter of an inch. The biggest culprit for the leak though is the little cubby hole at the very aft end of the salon window. It was unsealed and acts like a chute for the water to run into it and leak inside who knows where. I had enough water coming in that it actually was making it's way all the way to the outboard side of the port engine. It is very difficult to get the nozzle of the caulking tube into that little cubby, it is too short. You will have to come up with an extension on the caulk tip, I used a disassembled pen and taped it to the tip. Luckily the damaged bulkheads are out of sight, I will live with it for now. Poor design on Bertrams part, hope you all check this area out in the near future before some damage occurs to your boat. Bill Dunlop "Rebecca Rose" 33 Bertram FBC 1988

Gonzalo · Post by **Gonzalo** » Tue May 19, 2009 10:39 am

Hi, Just found this thread that would have been very useful as I had the same problem and a big part of it was what is described here, but not all. If you don't have the upper deck completely enclosed (as I didn't used to) I found that water comes from the upper deck through the sides dripping on the wires and cables that come from the cabin to the engines. As soon as one of those cables does a bend the water stops travelling on the cable and drips.In my case on the port side on top of the engine cover under the sink (fad dip) from there to the carpet just behind the door. If you can cover the top deck, if that is not an option make sure that the sides where the cables go down from the upper deck are clean that the border that it has to prevent water going in are properly sealed. I managed to completely eliminate this problem. Good Luck Gonzalo

bsmart · Post by **bsmart** » Sat May 30, 2009 3:21 pm

Let me start off by saying i have no idea if what i have found helps and everytime i think i have some resolution to this issue eventually it gets wet--to the point that i just keep a fan on the boat for the purpose of drying the carpet out..... There seems to be a lot of varying opinions and as soon as i think i have addressed the issue I have a few perfect weather runs with no "flooding" forward of the door and assume its dealt with. Over the past 3 years ---I have verified the fridge is not leaking, I have had my boat yard recaulk the seam under the sign boards, I have redone the door gasket..I have repetedly licked the water everytime it happens in hopes of IDing fresh or salty....Of course on the chesapeake (especially the north side) its not very salty.... On my southbound Florida trip in November I was bone dry till I got outside off hilton head in some good seas--when I got to JAX I was soaked---It was Salty. It was so wet i was able to identify that it was even wet behind the head cabinet/mirror. I noticed a slight seam on the underside of the rubrail that covers the hull deck joint about 1/4 aft of the bow. In 3ish ft seas thats where the waves seem to rise up the hull and slap the rail. On my last run to Bimini, i used some white rigging tape and covered the seam pretty well and the carpet was bone dry. So my next step is to have my yard remove the rubrail and recaulk the hull deck seam. LULU is in Boca rt now--Ive got a bimini trip coming up in a week then She heads back to Annapolis... going to keep trying the tape.