Repairing hardtop leaks

[Bill Root]

I'm beginning to get a couple of brown stains down the aft deck windows, nothing bad and no soft spots in the hardtop deck that I can find, yet. I want to fix the problem now before (hopefully) it creates a major coring problem.

I've followed most of the threads regarding rebedding all the screws and other fasteners on the hardtop, but I haven't found any reference to using clear penetrating epoxy sealer (CPES) as a wetting agent once te fastener holes are cleaned out. I've used CPES extensively for antique wood boat restoration, so it seems to me that it should work well for this application, particulalrly since it displaces water. Here's how I plan to do it. I would appreciate any feedback, pro or con, from those who have tackled this job successfully.

First, remove all the fasteners and drill out the holes. Fortunately the forward half of the flybridge on the 54 is molded to the hardtop. It's only the aft seating section that's screwed down. Next fill the holes with CPES and let it soak into the coring, then fill the holes with thickened epoxy. After the epoxy hardens, drill for the new screws, seal with 3M 5200 and install the new screws. Final step would be to clean out the old seam caulking and re-caulk with 3M 4000.

What say the experts?

 

[bobk]

Bill, My first suggestion would be to locate the source of the leaks. I was able to do this on my 48MY by stuffing a shop vac nozzle into the hole for an overhead light fixture and turning on the vacuum. Then go all over the top with your ear, assisted with a stethoscope. I found only a couple of screws that held the drip track were leaking, BUT the joint between the hard top and the radar arch had serious leaks. This area is a p**s poor engineering job by Hatteras (like their pulpit installation) and there is no simple proper fix. I solved my issues by caulking the joint with UV resistant caulk and have it on my maintenance list for every two year replacement.

Regarding CPES, as I understand it, the product contains a lot of solvent, so if you use it, you will need to be sure the solvent has evaporated before you proceed with the repair. Would 'Git Rot' be better? I think it is 100% reactive... ie no solvent. After that, fill and re-drill is pretty standard.

Cheers,
Bobk
Chateau de Mer
1981 48MY

 

[boatwright]

a leak from the flybridge thats showing at the aft deck means water has found a path that far. cpes is great but because of the high proportion of thinner you need a lot to be sure to seal/encapsulate any rot that may have started. find where the leak is coming in (never easy,you may need a bucket load of patiance and at least a dozen boatbuilder terms#!@!!) drill out the hole then set up a small funnel reservoir. i use a small syringe body with the tip trimed to size and lightly caulked in place. fill and check often until it stops going in. the cpes will follow the path the water found and treat the entire path.you may be surprised how much and how long it will take.if done to maximum effect the epoxy may come out were the staining shows so tape off and protect that area. i have done this when it took as long as three days. shade the deck to keep internal core temps down.also the summer fomula will give the longest working time. git rot is good but has too short a working time for deep penatration. mix the cpes in small batches, it will harden in the pot much faster then in the core. why so much effert? rot is like cancer in two ways.if you don't get it all , you didn't get it, and by the time its obvous its too late

 

[TopHattandTails]

Bill,
Not sure I quite understand where the leak / drips are coming from, but checck out a search on the forum for "wing walls". Might be a similar issue with you. on the 53'3, the point where the aft salon "wing walls" attach to the flybridge is a kown failure point. Water runs off of the hard top, across the drip rail and into the w]top side of the wing wall. I searched for 3 years for water intrusion poiints - scew holes anywhere in the flybridge, I've pulled the aluminum strip off in that area and didn't find anything other than a poorly expoxied / treated wood edge for the "wing wall". I have dryed it out over the winter haul out (indoor heated storage), epoxied the hec out of the top wing wall edge, refinished then ground down the fwd leading edge and repainted. If that doesn'ttake care of it - a full wing wall replacement is next.

 

[SportFishCruising]

Bill, My first suggestion would be to locate the source of the leaks. I was able to do this on my 48MY by stuffing a shop vac nozzle into the hole for an overhead light fixture and turning on the vacuum. Then go all over the top with your ear, assisted with a stethoscope.

This is an excellent suggestion! It's like a poor man's acoustic ultrasound system, should work well.

 

[Bill Root]

This is an excellent suggestion! It's like a poor man's acoustic ultrasound system, should work well.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I hadn't thought about the radar arch joint. I'll have to recaulk that. On my boat though, since the forward section of the fly bridge is actually moulded to the hardtop, there would seem to be only a few places where water could get into the hardtop core: the screws that hold down the fly bridge seating, the screws that mount the dinghy and life raft, and the bolts that munt the dinghy crane. I have one small leak down the outside of the aft deck side window. The other leak drips from under the starboard aft corner of the hardtop onto the corner of the aft deck, but it only does it when the boat is under way. Really wierd. Apparently water must be collecting in the core somewhere, then running back to a hole, maybe one of the drip rail screw holes, when the bow begins to lift.

I know how hard chasing leaks can be. I did have one that came into the pilot house above the door. Turned out that the caulk around the air handler compressor drip pan that's under the fly bridge above the pilot house had failed. Water was running out of the pan, over to the starboard side where it seeped through a screw hole for one of the electrical cable fasteners. The hole wasn't caulked, of course, because it's under the fly bridge. I fixed the drip pan leak, then caulked every screw hole under that fly bridge.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Bill,
We had this same problem on a 60MY that has the same molded in seating that you have. The problem point ended up being where the drain holes are under those seats. The screws where not the problem.

 

[Bill Root]

Bill,
We had this same problem on a 60MY that has the same molded in seating that you have. The problem point ended up being where the drain holes are under those seats. The screws where not the problem.

Thanks, Sky. I'll check that, but I don't recall seeing any drain holes under the seats on mine when I've been in there servicing the A/C unit. Mine has channels molded into the deck on each side under the seats that takes water from holes located in each corner of the seat base and runs it out the outside back corner, over the deck to scuppers at the aft corners of the hardtop. It's hard to see how water could get into the core from those channels. I suppose there could be uncaulked screws or wiring traces under there. Thanks again for the tip.