Reply To: Dufour 365 keel problem, advice needed! (sale pending)

#457155
Doug Ellis

    I have a D40P and for several years I thought the keel bolts were leaking. Salt deposits and slight corrosion around the some of the nuts and pressure spreading plates. These were however at a low point where water collects before it can overflow into the sump.
    We eventually established that water did not leak in when we were upright and stationary but only when we were heeled underway.
    I now think that the leak is at the hull deck join and water finds its way to the bilge between the hull and inner lining. We have put up with the leak for a number of years and after a rough passage we sponge the bilge dry over several days as water keeps coming out of the rib sections where it has been trapped until the boat heels a bit. After a while the bilge stays completely dry until the next rough passage.