Mystery leak/wet patch

[AnnieRose]

Hello, I’ve just bought my first narrowboat and have discovered this wet patch under the dining seating area, near to the water pump at the bow. I can’t see any obviously leaky pipes, and it appeared to get worse after it rained recently. Really not sure where it could be coming from, if anyone has any ideas of what it could be please let me know! Thanks

[Mike Hurley]

Close to a window/hatch?

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Most places it is dryer weather this week. If it drys out there is a leak coming in from outside. If it makes no difference, it is a plumbing leak. 

[Tony Brooks]

2 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

Close to a window/hatch?

 

looks very close to the back door, so possibly a leak between the door frame and rear bulkhead. I would like to see a wider shot so we can see what else is in that area. The damp patches of the bulkhead lining looks odd and the bulkhead seems set a long way back from the panelling. Not what I would expect to find.

[Tacet]

10 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

looks very close to the back door, so possibly a leak between the door frame and rear bulkhead. I would like to see a wider shot so we can see what else is in that area. The damp patches of the bulkhead lining looks odd and the bulkhead seems set a long way back from the panelling. Not what I would expect to find.

The poster says the wet patch is near the bow

[MtB]

9 minutes ago, Tacet said:

The poster says the wet patch is near the bow

 

Fat lot of help that is! 

 

As Tony often requests, photos from much further back are generally far more help in coming up with meaningful advice. 

 

So one can see and assess the context.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

Looking at the photo there is what looks like the front door almost directly above it, slightly to the left above the pump

[Tony Brooks]

28 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

looks very close to the back door, so possibly a leak between the door frame and rear bulkhead. I would like to se  a wider shot so we can see what else is in that area. The damp patches of the bulkhead lining looks odd and the bulkhead seems set a long way back from the panelling. Not what I would expect to find.

 

That makes sense, the void is under the well deck but there are one or two oddities I can't recognise in that void. If there is no cratch cover, it could still be rain leaking between the front door frame and bulkhead. 

 

My boat suffered a lot of condensation on the cabin lining in that area until I put heavy-duty polythene behind it, but it never seeped across the floor like that.  It would probably have been better to have used bubble wrap type insulation, though.

[David Mack]

If there is an unheated void below the well deck and an uninsulated plywood bulkhead separating the void from the heated cabin this could just be condensation.

[Tacet]

13 hours ago, Tacet said:

The poster says the wet patch is near the bow

 

12 hours ago, MtB said:

 

Fat lot of help that is! 

 

As Tony often requests, photos from much further back are generally far more help in coming up with meaningful advice. 

 

So one can see and assess the context.

 

 

It helps rule out the the meeting of the back door and rear bulkhead, which was being suggested as a culprit.

[alan_fincher]

To me it is not at the back of the cabin, but at the very front, with part of one of the front entrance doots just above.

 

On a previous boat we had wet flooring similar to that depicted, and it was down to rainwater getting in around the front doors.

 

Generally it wasn't much, but if the wind was blowing hard towards the doors, then the wetness was considerable.

[ditchcrawler]

42 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

To me it is not at the back of the cabin, but at the very front, with part of one of the front entrance doots just above.

 

Exactly what I said, but no one else apart from you seemed to have picked up on it

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

29 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Exactly what I said, but no one else apart from you seemed to have picked up on it

OP stated in opening post:

 

19 hours ago, AnnieRose said:

near to the water pump at the bow.

 

[ditchcrawler]

6 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

OP stated in opening post:

 

 

And a door almost above the wet bit

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

And a door almost above the wet bit

👍

[AnnieRose]

Thanks all for your replies so far, that’s all good to know. It seems to be drying out now so I wonder if it is water getting in from outside rather than plumbing leaking. As requested here is a wider image for context.

 

Some of the other windows on the boat have been leaking in the rain but I didn’t notice this one doing so. I can’t notice any obvious place where rain could be entering through the door either… 
 

The cavity behind appears to be quite rusty, although I don’t know if this is normal? 
 

thanks again

[David Mack]

It is tempting to blame the door leaking. But the damp appears over quite a width and directly below the window. It could be that the window is leaking, with water travelling down unseen behind the cabin lining until it is interrupted by something like a framing member at the level of that shelf.

[Jon57]

3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

It is tempting to blame the door leaking. But the damp appears over quite a width and directly below the window. It could be that the window is leaking, with water travelling down unseen behind the cabin lining until it is interrupted by something like a framing member at the level of that shelf.

I blame the dog 🐶👍

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Clutching at straws here but is that door ledge low enough to let water in ?

I would imagine with the rain we had the other day water would easily get to that level if the scuppers in the bow were just half blocked with leaves and muck. 
Yeah I know there’ll be an inch or two of raised steel on the inside. 
All the same I’d open the door give it a good clean around the ledge/lip and just make sure there’s no way water can get in and that there’s no rusty gap/hole/slpit in a corner weld, 🤷‍♀️

 

like I say clutching at straws,

 

…..it’s more likely the window,

maybe next time at water tap use the hose on the window and find out 😃

 

 

 

[alan_fincher]

Out of curiosity is this a former Alvechurch hire boat?

[AnnieRose]

1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

Out of curiosity is this a former Alvechurch hire boat?

Yes it is!

[Tony Brooks]

Agree, window frame to bulkhead leak most likely - now we can see the window.

[AnnieRose]

1 hour ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Clutching at straws here but is that door ledge low enough to let water in ?

I would imagine with the rain we had the other day water would easily get to that level if the scuppers in the bow were just half blocked with leaves and muck. 
Yeah I know there’ll be an inch or two of raised steel on the inside. 
All the same I’d open the door give it a good clean around the ledge/lip and just make sure there’s no way water can get in and that there’s no rusty gap/hole/slpit in a corner weld, 🤷‍♀️

 

like I say clutching at straws,

 

…..it’s more likely the window,

maybe next time at water tap use the hose on the window and find out 😃

 

 

 

This could be it, there was some astroturf on the deck and also on the roof placed there by the previous owner (now removed). It was trapping a lot of water and the drainage was fairly blocked with leaves etc. 

 

I will certainly try the window with a hose next time. I’ll also see what happens with the incoming rain later on in the week with the turf removed. 

thanks so much all

[Tony Brooks]

7 minutes ago, AnnieRose said:

This could be it, there was some astroturf on the deck and also on the roof placed there by the previous owner (now removed). It was trapping a lot of water and the drainage was fairly blocked with leaves etc. 

 

I will certainly try the window with a hose next time. I’ll also see what happens with the incoming rain later on in the week with the turf removed. 

thanks so much all

 

I doubt that you will see anything unless it is a bad leak. Water tends to build up on horizontal battening behind the panel and them over time trickle down. 

 

Unless there are rust holes through the bulkhead at well deck level any build up of water under the astroturf is unlikely to be the cause unless the well deck was filling up and spilling over the door threshold, but then the majority of damp would not be where it is

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

12 minutes ago, AnnieRose said:

This could be it, there was some astroturf on the deck and also on the roof placed there by the previous owner (now removed). It was trapping a lot of water and the drainage was fairly blocked with leaves etc. 

 

I will certainly try the window with a hose next time. I’ll also see what happens with the incoming rain later on in the week with the turf removed. 

thanks so much all

everything is worth a look at,

even if it’s to only to cancel it out,

if it’s the window (which seems most likely ) then there are sealants you can run around the frame to get you through the winter,

come summer you can remove and do a proper repair,