Coachroof drain holes

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Here is one simple maintenance tip that I think might be valuable to share on the forum. HR 29 has small drain holes located in the both sides of the coachroof. They are there for draining the closed space under the sprayhood's mount. Water can get there via the cabin hatch garage.

A few years ago, after it had been raining a lot (and we were moored stern facing the wind), I noticed some water dripping from the ceiling above the galley/oven. The rain had stopped already many hours ago but it still kept dripping. So clearly there was some water trapped somewhere. Only then I discovered those small drain holes, which were blocked by dirt etc. I punched a screwdriver through the hole and several cups of water drained out. So clearly the area under the sprayhood mount is not entirely waterproof, so it is good to check from time to time that those holes are not blocked.

IMG_2108.jpg (48.02 KiB) Viewed 2446 times

IMG_2107.jpg (49.54 KiB) Viewed 2446 times

[Martijn Profile]

Good tip. First I thought I did not have them due to the fact my ship is older but they are there. I will watch out for the first rain shower to see if they actually work.... otherwise I will use the indispensable screwdriver

[Martijn Profile]

Antti, you said that with a heavy rainshower there was water dripping from your galley ceiling. Did the water come through the galley lights or somewhere else? I have installed new galley lights and observed the ceiling vinyl and the base of the armature was affected by water.

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Hi Martijn, the water was not coming through the galley light, but dripping from one of the screws of those wooden slats at the ceiling.

[Chris Profile]

Thank goodness HR used closed-cell foam instead of balsa which is common in many other boats of this era (and later).

I had a similar experience with a leak in the fore cabin. I discovered it when I was removing the headling panels to get to the vent which was leaking. Water was dripping from one of the panel screws where the coach roof comes down (the area where you can bang your head) I couldn't figure it out for a while. At first I thought it was coming in from around the hatch some how but ruled that out. Eventually I lifted a suspicious-looking deck plank and sure enough one of the screws had pulled through the plank and through the deck and was loose in the hole with a poor attempt with some mastic splodged in the hole.

After cleaning and grinding out the loose material, drying it out thoroughly and repairing the grp with epoxy I refitted the plank.

Obviously what happens is water finds its way in and travels via any voids to any convenient exit. This is where things get mystical and we all end up scratching our heads and wonder "Where the …… is that coming from?!!!!"

[rassykka Profile]

Hi all,

we noticed some time ago that we have this same issue that Antti describes and haven't been able to come up with a good solution. Luckily, we have an aluminium windshield together with sprayhood in our HR29 which prevents (most of the time) water getting to the cabin hatch garage. However, we noticed that when we removed some of the screws above the oven and also above the chart table, water started dripping through the holes. We've been scratching our heads how to fix this issue and thought to ask for help.

Last weekend we rented an inspection camera to get a better understanding of the problem. I inserted the inspection camera from the side of the cabin hatch to get inside the space under the sprayhood. I could clearly see that at the end of this space (where also the holes Antti shows in the picture are located), the back end is clearly made out of the foam core material. The problem is that the foam has become detached from the fiberglass and created crevice for the water to pass to the coach roof rather than exit through the water drainage holes as should. I believe here again pictures are worth thousand words...
So here's an overview of the space. The bright light on the left side of the image is where the water drainage hole is (we placed a flashlight to the end of that hole to see where it is):

IMG_2969.JPG (995.03 KiB) Viewed 137 times

And here you can see a closer image of the right side of the above picture. The crevice is very visible here:

IMG_2970.JPG (946.17 KiB) Viewed 137 times

And this is the exact location of the problem where the water leaks to the coach roof (this is the inspection camera light that is visible through the fiberglass):

IMG_2981.JPG (911.76 KiB) Viewed 137 times

The problem is exactly the same on both sides. I suspect this to be a generic "feature" in HR29s...

Any suggestions on how this could be fixed would be very much appreciated...