Leakage in the roof. Vindo 40

My "Vindrosa" is a 1971-model Vindö 40. I have a leakage in the wall behind the navigation seat. Because of the mahogany list covering the bottom of the wall over the "dogbed", the water is sprayed over the whole wall bottom, and therefore difficult to locate where it comes down. I have recaulked the nearby places on the deck, cockpit seat and cockpit wall. This has helped a little, but the bed's mattress is always wet after rain, and the mahogany in the wall is feeling wet and is turning black. has anyone experienced the same problem, and solved it? If so, I would be glad to know. The boat has its original teak deck, and it is so worn that about 160 screws have lost their teak plugs. The caulks seem to be tight. Is it possible that these "open" screws take in water and that this water can be leaded between the teak and GRP-sandwich to my problem  wall?

Olav Skipnes

Hi,
I have a VINDÖ40-1974 and have found that thee can come water via the windows and find it´s way on the inside rim backwards and run over. This was the case on our port-side (kitchen) until we fixed the window leakage. Maybe a hint that can help you.

Torbjörn Grahm

Thank you!
I suppose this may be the case. The former owner has changed the windows, and he told me that he had serious problems to get all the windows tight. Perhaps he didn't succeed 100%! I will check it out next time I am in the boat on a rainy day.
Olav Skipnes

Hi, Olav
From my own experience I would say that the most likely cause to this is a leakage in the caulks in the cockpit.  Even though the caulk right above where the mahogany is distorted seems ok, the leak might be further back in the cockpit.  Water finds it ways from the strangest places. My simple advise is to recaulk the entire cockpit.
I don't think that the missing teak plugs has anything to do with this. Normally the screws don't go all the way through the GRP and missing plugs
shouldn't either let any water underneath the teak.  If you have a problem with leakage in the deck, it's much more likely that it comes from damaged caulks.
Hope this can help a bit.

Trond Vassgård

Hello Trond,
You are thinking as I was forced to think when seeing no other ways. I have been suspicious to the screws holding the "løygang", but not examined it further. I have thought it was a small possibility that water could penetrate the teak there, and migrate between the teak and plywood
underneath. I have recaulked all the loose caulks on the cockpit seat. I think it now is tight, as there are no extra slowly drying places after
rain. (Is this a reliable sign?). I hope it is the windows, as this is easier to fix. As you know, I have 250 km to my boat, so I can't watch her all the time. But this weekend I hope to observe a little. Thank you for you help, and good luck with your own
boat!

Olav Skipnes

Hello Olav,
I've had the same problem with my V40 (Yard nr 858). I've just put in  a new cockpit deck. From the traces I found when taking off the old  cockpit
seating, I assumed that the leak was at the bottom right hand of  the seating where the coaming and the deckshouse joints.
But as you said, water comes the strangest ways.
Good Luck
Best regards
Thomas

Hello Joe,
I see that Tucana has been in a similar condition as Vindrosa. leakages everywhere, especially intricate in the cockpit. I now believe that I have
fixed them all except the one in the cabine wall. The cockpit seats obviously has been constructed faulty; the water draining from the teak top
lining has been absorbed by the underlying plywood. After 30 wet years every other disk in the plywood has turned to mud near borders. This has both weakened the seat /coamings, and made opening for water to penetrate into the "dogbed" and the luggage closets. This rotten plywood has also led harmful water to the mahogany wall around the cockpit. I have now removed the rotten plywood and replaced it with an emulsion of epoxy and fine teak sawdust. At least this has stopped further water intake. I think it is a good idea to collect all our collective experience around this problem. Together we perhaps once shall manage to sail around in boats that are wet only where they shall be wet.
Olav Skipnes

I owned my Vindo 40 for 5 years, sold it and then after being unable to find a boat that I liked as much to replace it, bought it back when it came on the market. The boat is a 1979. I've had a number of leaks that I've repaired over the years. My son once asked me why there was always something to fix on the boat and when will I ever be finished. I told him it would never end.
I don't think any of us will ever stop all the leaks. The trick is to get to them before the rot sets in. I would agree with Joe, you have to enjoy these boats given the great amount of maintenance that goes into keeping them up. I store my boat at a yard that does repair work on wooden boats. This constant fixing, leaks and rot is the way of wood.
Recently I read a monogram on owning an older boat that proposed a preventive maintenance program for older boats such as ours that was quite extensive. One of the recommendations was to replace teak over glass decks at 25 years or so. Has anyone tackled this one?
Mike Palumbo

When I bought my Vindo 40 (1977 model) 5 years ago, the deck was pretty much shot. The wood was very rough and the bungs were coming out. There was not enough wood left to sand back to flat. It was replaced with a teak deck system where they take a pattern of the parts need and fabricate a new deck in large sections and then glue it to the fibreglass. While doing this it was also possible to fix some soft spots in the fibreglass as well as repairing all the old screw holes. So far all is going well with this system. 
I too have a few leaks in the cockpit and in the aft  corners of the main cabin. I don't know where they come from and the fixes so far don't completely eliminate them.

Jim Grimes