Solved water under V-Berth Leak

[Roc]

For those that have noticed water collecting in the bilge area under the V-Berth (in my case with no limber hole), I found out where my leak is coming from.  In this area, I have the knot meter and depth sounder mounted through the hull.  

I've been noticing a few cups of water in that area.  It looked like 'fresh' water, so I figured either the water tank was leaking or rain water was finding its way in.  After checking that the water tank was intact, I sprayed the anchor roller with a hose to see if the bolts may be leaking.  I opened up the inspection port mounted inside the anchor locker, just below the roller.  The bolts were dry, but I did notice water running down some wiring in that area.  Well, I saw that the wires were stabilized by a wire tie that was screwed to the underside of the deck, right near the backing plate for the anchor roller.  There was water coming from this screw in the wire tie.  Apparently, the factory tied the bow light wires together and attached the tie to the fiberlass with a screw, which was too long.  The screw is below the anchor roller, so you can't see it protruding out.  The screw hits the anchor roller from the underside.

So if you see water in your forward bilge area, check to see if the wires below the anchor roller are tied and attached to the fiberlass with a screw.  That screw my be where the water is entering.

[salsailor]

sounds like a clue. I have been puzzled by the water under my v-berth too and filled the anchor locker with water and saw no leak from the drain hose. I'll check this screw, btw the water in my v-berth is salt water, so it must comes from something like this.

[John Langford]

Has anyone taken the initiative to cut a limber hole and then another one to ensure that the water passes all the way through the mysterious bilge area just aft of the forward berth and into the bilge area under the mast post? I always wonder what would happen if my forward water tank developed a serious leak and the water couldn't get to the bilge pumps except by travelling over the floor boards. Yuk!

[Ted Pounds]

All it takes is one limber hole just under the aft end of the V-berth.  Very easy to do with a drill.

[jmnpe]

From the Obscure Thoughts Department: I pondered the lack of a V berth compartment limber hole in our previous C34, but finally decided that it may have been that way by design. In the original factory configuration with no cutout in the V berth's aft bulkhead lower than the drawer, the aft V berth bulkhead serves as a crash bulkhead that will limit the amount of water that can enter the hull by limiting the amount of water that can accumulate in that compartment if the hull at the bow is breached below the waterline to that level equal to the height of the waterline at the bow. The breach could be something as simple as having the speed transducer out pop out while you are underway, or hitting a submerged object. If a new cutout has been made more than about 8 or 10 inches below the original drawer cutout, the water level in that compartment can get high enough to come over the top of the bulkhead and into the rest of the boat.

Our current C34 has a 12K btu evaporator/fan module with a large return air grill below the drawer, so we obviously have no crash bulkhead function anymore. I'm not going to loose any sleep over it...

John