Tayana 48 water leak under track

[Lamb Chops]

Hi,

My apologies if this is the wrong forum for this - I'm a newbie

I'm on a friends Tayana 48 and it rained really hard down here in Brunswick today and we ended up with a pretty serious leak at the nav station. We believe the culprit is the starboard track for the foresail.

We went to unscrew one of the VERY large stainless screws. When we pulled out the screw we unfortunately found out that the track is bolted but that the bolts are not secured and just dropped away inside the superstructure. Even removing the interior wood laminate covers we can't get to where the track is bolted to the deck. This is a real head scratcher as it is VERY hard to image that the manufacturer would not have anticipated someone removing/replacing the tracks!

I would very much appreciate any thoughts or knowledge about this situation as now we have an even bigger hole (where the bolt went thru) that we can't secure and are afraid to remove any further bolts!!

Peter

[Ericson38]

Not too many T47/488 owners on this forum, but we looked at a couple of them. Is this a deck salon model with the large coach side windows ?

The staysail track is right above the pair, on each side. I would have thought those window frames/gaskets would leak, before the staysail track attachments. Not too many on this forum would have a need to remove these, I doubt.

You say unfortunately it was bolted but the bolt dropped away in side the deck. Was it a machine screw or wood screw ? The bolts are not secured, meaning you can turn them past tight, like the threads are stripped ? More than just the one you mention ?

If a machine screw (most likely), every 3-4 inches along the track, then possibly there is a cast in (into the laminate) flat bar that was matched drilled to the track with its hole spacing, so that the screws just thread into the bar (one long insert).

This area of the cabin roof most likely has a plywood core. Is the hole wet inside, or too much rain to tell ?

If a flat bar was built into the laminate and is drilled and tapped for bolt threads that are now stripped, then you can tap the bad one to the next size (SAE) since boat is METRIC most likely in this area.

I haven't pulled the ceiling panels down on the Taswell to see all this stuff, so don't know if ours are through the coach roof panel with washers and nuts, a flat bar on the inside, or like I was suggestiing above, since you can't find the entry holes for the hardware on the inside.

Keep this area very dry until you figure it all out, the best you can. Have a blow dryer on board ?

All the best to your endeavors.


There is a subforum on deck hardware you should post on.
Charlie

[barnakiel]

Peter,

Leak from a track/rail bolt does not imply water gets in thru this bolt. There are many other options. Do not pull out bolts before you have a sound guess of which scenario is the most probable one.

E.g. if the deck is cored, water may be traveling inside the sandwich and getting out at the bolt.

E.g. if the deck is not cored water may be getting in at any other point higher than the bolt, then travel below the deck and drip from the bolt.

Etc.

If you believe it is the bolt, you can simply plug the bolt hole (if it is open at the top) with a sika plug then run a test (or wait for another rain).

I say this as it did happen to me to remove and reseal the whole b(...)dy track (some 30+ bolts) only to find afterwards none of the bolts were leaking ...

Happy hunting!

Cheers,
b.

[leftbrainstuff]

A little challenging to help without pics.

Water is a damn clever solvent. It's a small molecule. This means it can get in anywhere and travel far and wide.

We're finalizing the installation of numerous deck penetrations after replacing our teak deck with ameriteak.

I'm chasing a couple of leaks on the only penetrations I didnt build my own epoxy dams.

I'm using nitrile gaskets with butyl to seal the fillers to the deck and to seal the countersunk screws to filler interface.

I too am battling rains in norcal.

You might like to use butyl tape to seal your holes until you can rectify the lost nuts problem. A truly stupid design IMHO. Butyl is easy to remove.

We originally had a leaking prism over our nav table on our Liberty 458. I've fixed those now. I have four seals. The first is penetrating epoxy inside the deck. The second is 3M 4000 white to seal the deck penetration. The third is butyl tape which seals the prism to deck penetration. It is flexible to allow for relative movement between the glass and deck. The fourth seal is 3M 4000 black to seal the prism and screw plate which retains the prism. No leaks now.

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[Cheechako]

Some boats have flat bar threaded and laminated on the under deck... as mentioned... This will usually show with the headliner down as a lump in the layup.
The bolt "dropped away inside" .. I don't understand that statement. You mean the nut?
It's also possible that the machine screw for the track was tapped/threaded into the fiberglass with no nut.
As mentioned, water can migrate along different things, might not be the track, but tracks do leak like that a lot, so very well could be it also.

[Tayana42]

Contact Mr. Wilson Chang at Tayana. He has been very helpful. tayangco@ms15.hinet.net


S/V B'Shert

[sailnow2011]

I have the Tayana 48 surprise. Its a bit different, but the bolts for the track come thru the hull and get nuts and washers inside. There is a Tayana facebook group you should check out.

[Lamb Chops]

Great info everyone!! Thanks! We have definitely confirmed that there lock washers and nuts under the track but completely inaccessible

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[hsi88]

I had leaks around the genoa tracks on both sides of the boat. Removing all the screws was not going to be possible and I did not relish the idea of drilling out all the screws. So a few applications of this sealer did the trick without having to remove any hardware at all. GREAT for old boats and a HUGE timesaver!

Capt. Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by hsi88

I had leaks around the genoa tracks on both sides of the boat. Removing all the screws was not going to be possible and I did not relish the idea of drilling out all the screws. So a few applications of this sealer did the trick without having to remove any hardware at all. GREAT for old boats and a HUGE timesaver!

Capt. Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure

I used that once for a difficult to find leak.. it actually worked. IIRC it's just latex. Not sure how long it will work though.