Hi All,

I recently bought a westsail 32’ style, designed by William Atkins. I have some leaks from my deck that seeps into my cabin. Please see images. The it appears that some of the water is entering through the plate that holds the rail. The bolts for the rail all feel hand tightened. 

In the image with the chain plate, I did dig out some of the bb sealant and put a bit of water in the crevice and it seems to drain in within 10min or so but can’t find the leak in the cabin  

On the pictures showing the deck, it appears that two pieces of wood were joined with glue? That’s separating and I’m wondering if that’s also w point or entry for water. Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

Manny: Cont

 In your first image, I see that around the chain plate (which looks like it goes thru the caprail) the crack will leak for sure into the boat. Looking at the teak deck - every screw holding the teak in place is a potential area for leaks -- and worse yet - letting water into the structure of the deck... ie on Westsails the deck is a sandwich of fiberglass/plywood/fiberglass.  If water gets into the plywood core -- then it will over time begin to rot and the deck will develop soft spots.

In the last image, I see the crack between the laminated caprails - for sure the water can get into this area and begin rotting but also I'm NOT seeing the chain plate on the outside -- so it may extend into the interior of the vessel.  All your stainless steel chain plates will need to be checked for cracks caused by oxygen starvation and moisture. If I saw the cracks and pockets of missing filler on a Westsail - I would suspect that bondo was used to fair the bulwarks and now the bondo is beginning to fail. 

Link to images of chain plate repair. 

Last here is a link to an album with pictures that show "Items that fail"  there are quite a few images of chain plates that have failed. 

Fair Winds

Jay Bietz