The dreaded 53 MY leak above the port side by lower helm.

[Capt.Z]

So im in the middle of bringing my long neglected (from the PO) 1979 53 MY back to life. Had some water intrusion as noted in the title. Headliner needed replacing anyway so I removed it and here are the pics. Im sure some of you have had experience with this. Typical causes and best ways to remedy would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for all of your help with this. I hope I'm not the only young guy bringing a boat older than I am back to her glory!

 

[MikeP]

A common cause of water intrusion is the flybridge screws not being properly bedded. As I recall there are around 220 of them though don't hold me to that exact number! Any one of them can cause water to enter the headliner area. The only way to address this is to unscrew each one and rebed it. I suggest doing the rebedding with 5200 but I suspect others here will disagree with the 5200 recommendation. But that's what I did ours with in 2004 and there has been no water intrusion from the flybridge area since then.

There are, of course, other possibilities, including badly sealed holes added by a previous owner for wiring or whatever. But the flybridge screws are a very common issue which should be no surprise given the number of them, only one of which needs to be poorly sealed. How "dedicated" was the Hatteras guy/gal that put in all those screws that day?

This added a few minutes later...

Another possibility is the wiring chases that run vertically on the aft side of the side doors. If the chases are not sealed properly at the top ("inside" the flybridge), water that drains from the FB will enter the chase(s) and end up who knows where. I had one with that problem.

 

[Pascal]

Could be the screws but it could also be other things like antenna bases drilled in the deck just outside the FB housing. There were 3 on my boat poorly sealed.

My radar was also letting water in the core, or what was left of it, but in your case it looks like it's coming fairly far aft.

As to the screws I took a different approach, in part because on my boat the core was really bad.i pulled the screws, then drilled a 1" hole thru the flange followed by a 3/4" hole thru the top skin and into the core where I had any left. Then I filled that with west epoxy thickened with their high density filler basically creating a big epoxy bolt, flush with th flange. And of course, I did not reinstall any screw.

So far so good, bone dry for the last 6 months and it's been pouring here in so fl thanks to mr elnino

Problem I see with sealant is that it is very hard to clean the holes and I thought epoxy is less sensitive to dirt.

Btw, I can't help noticing how much cleaner the glass work is on yours compared to my 1970. Doesn't matter since it's all hidden by the headliner but hatteras really cleaned up their act between 70 and 73

 

[SEVEN]

Well CaptZ welcome to your 1979 Hat. I have the same year and maybe the same model. I love it. One of the first things I did was pull every screw on the fly bridge and re-bed all new screws and beauty rings. I used a siliconized latex caulk. I was warned not to use 5200 because it's an adhesive that is impossible to remove. Either way mine worked as well. Another suggestion would be to re-bed your helm seat screws and bolts sense you have the head liner out. To be on the safe side re-bed anything that has put a hole in the roof even if it looks solid. It's not that big of a job.

 

[SEVEN]

I should have asked you on the first post. Can you put some exterior photos on your profile.

 

[MikeP]

As noted, ANYTHING that bolts/screws into/through the flybridge deck is subject to leaking if not properly bedded.

 

[ian w]

I have cured this problem by taking the advice of another1979 hat 53 owner- boat called Analisa.
With bilge hose we have runs taking the water away from the inside of the fly bridge to the outside bypassing water going into the locker area..We both put in extras drains where water collects.No more water in the saloon.p
I would add that I have discovered water gets into the fly bridge deck balsa core through hairline cracks.Best not to walk around outside of fly bridge too often and look closely for hairline cracks. Creeping crack filler seems to work

 

[Pascal]

I really have to wonder about that, hairline cracks are usually jsut the gelcoat not the glass laminate as teh gelcoat can't flex but the glass does. Water should not be able to get thru from a hairline crack

 

[SEVEN]

Ian, I like the extra drain idea. Can you post some photos on where and give a little more detail on how you accomplished this. This is why I love this site. Noting but pro's and great ideas.

 

[MikeP]

I have seen a couple boats where the owners installed hose between the inboard and outboard flybridge drain holes and it does seem to be a good idea as long as you ensure that water can still get out of the internal areas of the flybridge. The FB assembly is not thoroughly sealed to the deck so water can still move from the FB deck under the FB assembly and pool there if it can't get out.

Re flybridge leaks...remember that these 53s were originally designed without FBs. So the later "addition" and the method used to install it resulted in many of the leak issues. Hey, I'm a big Hatt-quality fan but really, who thought that installing 200+ screws in a "roof" every one of which is directly exposed to the weather (and boat washing) was a good idea?

Heck, for that matter they could have just 5200ed the FB down and used NO screws. It would have been stronger AND there would have been 200+ less places for possible leaks. Yeah, it might have been difficult to ever REMOVE a FB...

 

[johnjen50]

I like Pascal's idea, but wonder if any flexing will create separation and allow for leaks around the "epoxy bolt". It seems as though it would be strong, but perhaps stronger than the flybridge top. Wondering if a rough sea would shake them apart.

 

[Pascal]

I considered that but don't think so. There are many things on boats that are bonded with thickened epoxy, that stuff is strong!

Drains are a good idea to keep the inside of the Fb dry and reduce the amount of water dripping by t pilothouse doors. One issue I see is that the chases are already pretty full an I doubt there is room in there.

 

[Capt.Z]

Thanks to everybody who posted on here. In process of pulling and rebedding the screws all around the flybridge. Doing the same for everything up top. Ill get some pics up here soon. Trying to keep a good photo library of the renovations. Have lots of befores. Looking forward to the afters!

 

[Red Hatt]

I know a 53 hatt owner that fiberglassed over the screws to the deck before a repaint job and it turned out great. Never anymore leaks and it looked like it was factory done.