leaking 342 v-berth portholes

lawsuitwon

I'll give you my "fun" experience with leaking. Your situation may or may not be like what I had!

During the first year of ownership we noticed water leaking. Not all of the time, but mainly when it rained a lot. After one long week of almost contiunous rain, we check out the cabin and found a lot of water.

The front berth was wet along both sides. At first I thought it was the portholes as you are thinking. But I also had a leak in the aft berth, only on the port side, but behind the shelving on the 270.

After inspecting the portholes I concluded that they were not the problem. I thought the culprit to be the rub rail...or more precisely, how it was installed.

I removed the rub rail all around the boat. I found there were two sets of holes.....I marked it up on the hull before I removed it....bot the ss insert adn the while plastic rub rail. I marked each screw hole, and the start positions of each piece. So when it was completely off, I noticed a nother set of holes.

My conclusion is that Rinker must have removed and replace the rub rail at some point. The bad part about that was that they did not seal the old holes...and really did a poor job of installing the new one. So as water wicked along the rub rail it entered the holes all along both sides. Water wickes back toward the stern and settles there in the rail. That is why you can see mildew or discoloration at the stern where there is a seem.

Solution: (I learned the hard way that this is no job for one person)

Using 3M's 5200, I filled each hole all around the boat. Then installed the white section, putting a heavy bead of sealant on first. Plus I put sealant on each screw. Once that was completed, I then installed the SS insert, also sealing each screw. I also re-did the portholes just in case, and under the overhand of the upper shell onto the lower hull (the clam shell fitting of the two parts)

I had a lot of excess to remove. Doing this alone created a mess. I had 5200 all over me.....argh! I used acetone to clean it all up....fun stuff!

I told my wife during the process that if that did not solve the problem we were selling the boat! But it worked. All has been dry for the past few years. We yanked all of the gear and cushions off the boat and let it dry in the sun for a few days. I also removed the aft shelving from the rear berth....now that was fun too!

BTW....I called Rinker to get some guidance on how to do this. While they appologized for the problem...obviously they were not going to step up to the plate. But the guy I talked to did give me good advice on what, and how to do everything.

Conclusion: If after inspecting the portholes, you don't think they are to blame, you may have to re-do the rub rail as I did.