Offshoreonly.com - cabin leaks

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Anyone having cabin leak issues?

I had leaks in my 31. It was coming from the hatches and under the rubrail where the deck met the hull.

Anyone that has fresh water getting into their cabin and has the pull up style cleats that is the source of the leak, NO QUESTION.... It's not leaking from around the cleat so don't bother re-caulking, don't pull off your rub rail or pull out your hatches. The cleats themselves leak. In most Prowlers you have to remove 4 of the cleats. In the bigger boats the only ones accessible are in the front behind the mirror and luckily usually the only ones that cause a problem.

In a nutshell, there are 4 holes in the casting of the bottom of the cleat where the detent ball locks. Acon places 2 silver stickers over those holes. So as soon as the sticker fails 100% of the water that enters the cleat comes into the boat. Mostly rain water. So if your boat sits all week and your carpet is wet or you hear water splashing around behind the mirror and it's been driving you crazy now you know.

The factory has been using these cleats for years and there have been leak issues for the same amount of time. It took my shop 20 mins to find the problem and let the factory know as well as Acon. This was over a year ago and we have fixed several boats since then. I'm not sure what they are using now.

It can be fixed but what a pain in the a** depending on which boat you have.

Mine was not leaking through the rub rail but behind it where the deck overlapped the hull.

I'm pretty sure there is a boot/gasket available for pop up cleats that catches the water that drains through and has a hose coming out the bottom so you can direct the water where you want it. I believe the holes in the bottom of the cleat are by design to drain water. Sounds like an assembly omission to me.

Nope, this one was NOT a Sonic ommision although I think they should have figuredit out. No cups were available for the PULL up style they were using AND Acon marketed these as waterproof. I am pretty sure they do not anymore but you can check their website.

The holes ARE there by design !! They are where the balls drop in to hold the cleat in the up and down position. But why cover them with a sticker that is couriously the same color as the casting if they were there for drainage.

Also, the last time I was in contact with Acon they would make repairs if you boxed the old cleats and paid for shipping both ways and left big holes in the boat for who knows how long till they fixed them and sent them back. We fixed them in house.

My Sonic leaked around the navigation light into the compartment behind the mirror. This created quite a mess. Also, the permanent PVC in the bottom of the boat, allowing the forward under V-berth storage area to drain into the bilge, will quickly transfer water from the bilge to this compartment in the reverse when the boat is pointed down whether this happens on the trailer, or while boating. The water will stay in the bow comparment depending on the drain tube's position.

ALWAYS store a Sonic with the nose WAY up, and the bilge plugs out.

Brian do you have the pull up style cleats?

Nope, mine was a 1999 Sonic Prowler with fixed cleats screwed into the walk rail. The nav-light was a while plastic piece that looked sound, but was actually cracked at the base, as well as poorly caulked, allowing water to drip into the compartment behind the mirror; and foul. It also had only 4 cleats on the boat total. Two on the bow, and two nearest the transom; no mid-ship cleats.

I sold the boat in 2004.

Also, 43Thunder knows Sonics inside and out. Bill & Patti have had 3 41/42 Sonics, and he was a Sonic dealer tech. Another well known leak issue is around the windscreen. Its not caulked, just has a weather strip behind it.

With pop up cleats; unless you have a boot with a fixed drain tube to the bilge--you are pretty much screwed either way. My 37 Active Thunder has sealed pull up cleats from the cockpit forward. Only problem now is they hold water, and allow rusting to take place. This rust colored water then makes a mess out of your hull when you move the boat.