[Anonymous]

For some time now I have had a very occasional leak which I thought came from the starboard hull window in the forepeak. Under the bedding it would get just a little wet so I could not decide if it was just condensation or what.

Last week I had a trip back from Cherbourg to my base in Portsmouth and the wind got up to a westerly 6 for most of the way back so the starboard side was well heeled and the hull windows were going under the water from time to time. When we moored up I found that the bedding on the starboard side of the forepeak was very wet and there was a couple of inches of water in the adjacent locked. Also in the saloon books underneath the starboard central window were wet and there was an inch of water in the locker underneath there.

So I thought I had better have a closer look at the windows. There is a bezel inside the cabins and I found this could be easily prized off – it is just a push fit -revealing the windows and their fixings. The black part which is outside of the hull could be seen. There is also a stainless oblong plate inside the hull with a number of bolts which connect to the the black part. I found that the bolts in the centre of the horizontal part of these plates were tight but the ones at the end were not. Some just required a half turn but some needed a couple of turns to be made tight. In the saloon the 2 front bolts were not engaged with the black plate at all. It is hard for me to know just how long these bolts had been loose.

Tightening all of these bolts would effectively squeeze the foam tape seals between the black part and the hull and hopefully keep the water out. I sprayed the windows with a hose and no water could be seen coming in.

I think my next task will be to check all of the hull windows to see if they also have problems. IT might also prove necessary to replace the sealing foam tape with Sikaflex if this doesn’t work.

Has anyone else seen these problems?

[BobC]

Hi Paul

Also be aware that the foam gasket goes hard and starts to crumble. If you still find that you have a leak, you’ll need to remove the window and re-bed it using Abromast Butyl sealant (I had to do it with all of mine).

Bob

[Anonymous]

Hi Paul,
We had this problem on our 2001 bav34 .
It turned out the foam gasket was twisted.
I removed the window completely.
Made a new gasket fron slightly better foam strip.
And then the fiddly bit.
My hull by the window is in three parts ( outer skin,inner block and cabin lining ) which separate when the window bolts are undone.
The bolts then don’t reach so I used G clamps to pull the sections together a bit and then used longer bolts to pull it all together enough to then get the window bolts in.
I did that three years ago and the window has been dry ever since, even when heeling hard on the wind ( over canvassed slightly ! )
Hope this helps
Clive
Wish
Port Solent

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