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Old 30 July 2008, 06:14   #1
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How to find a leak

My Valiant 490 seems to take on water between the floor and the hull.

The water collects in the anchor locker in the front

The leak could be anywhere at all but I just cannot find it

The boat is out of the water but not under cover

It does not take much on board so not much of a problem but clealry it should not take any.

I have checked the anchor locker hatch and it seems water tight.

But for example if it rains the locker will collect about 2 litres of water.

There is absolutley not hole in the hull or any visible hole

The boat is stored with the front much higher than the back so the water must somehow be coming in over the first 2 foot of the craft


Does anyone out there have any clever way of finding the leak? I am even thinking of using a smoke bomb inside and seeing where the smoke comes out......... but that may be too much of a risk !
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Old 30 July 2008, 06:38   #2
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There seem to be a number of posts on here about Valiants taking on water, leaking etc.

Where is Graham Somers when you need him....
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Old 30 July 2008, 06:45   #3
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Valiants are rigged at the dealers rather than the factory - The first place I would consider is where the console etc is screwed down, it may be a question of removing and refitting and sealing the holes properly.
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Old 30 July 2008, 08:48   #4
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On a dry day, when the boat is completely dry, try filling the locker right up with water (using a hose pipe), add some dye to the water and have a look around to see if you can find where it's coming out.
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Old 30 July 2008, 12:07   #5
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My anchor locker used to do exactly the same on my 6.5 Ocean.

The boat did not have a full cover, which left the anchor locker hatch cover exposed to the rain when on its trailer, and it was surprising how much water would collect in the locker during a short period of rain.

I tried to seal it several times and gave up in the end as I believed the water was pooling in the catch indents and running down past the seals into the locker.

Since I put a full cover over the boat I even leave the hatch cover off to air the warp and locker, and don't get a drop of rain water in there.

I really can't reccomend a full cover enough, as between use the boat gets fully dry.

Nasher
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Old 30 July 2008, 13:55   #6
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If you have a drain plug at the stern you can fill the boat up with water and then blow compressed air through the drain plug. Any hole, however small, should show up as bubbles will start coming through

Good luck!
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Old 30 July 2008, 20:47   #7
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I seem to remember the anchor locker is open to the inner hull right at the rear of the top edge .
I never had a problem with it filling up , maybe a bit of rain would get in but a sponge in the base of the locker was enough to soak it out .

Depends what year as I noticed the anchor locker was changed on later boats .
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Old 30 July 2008, 22:47   #8
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Graham Somers

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
There seem to be a number of posts on here about Valiants taking on water, leaking etc.

Where is Graham Somers when you need him....

Who is he ?
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