3250 leak

[faverod]

Guys:
I'm a new owner of a 1998 3250 LXC and I have a leak. I've got water puddling in the port corner of the aft cabin. The revious owner had the problem and had the marina look at it. The determined it was the windows and resealed them, supposedly the problem was fixed. I haven't got the boat in the water yet but it has it's full canvas up and it rained last night. I went and checked the boat this morning and foudn the puddled water. I'm looking for someone who has tackled this one before and point me in the right direction since there's so many possibilities. I'm planning on sealing all the rail stanchions as well as the base of the windshield this week but maybe there's something else I need to do. I plan on heading down during the next big rain to try and track it down. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Formula Jr]

You don't have to wait for it to rain. That might even be counter productive.

Use a hose running over specific areas at low flow, mask off others, and then you will find it.

My money is on the stanchions.

[Last Tango]

The stanchions are attached to the outer edge of the hull. The interior of your boat is an entire inner tub layed into the hull with a space between. You need to look at what things are breaching the inner hull in that area. Is your cockpit sink on the port side? Is your water heater and water pressure pump turned off? The hoses are BETWEEN the hulls and chaffe until they leak.
My 2000 Z3250 Daytona filled with water under the forward V-birth and ran out the A/C vent and aft to the drain after soaking the carpet. It was caused not by a stanchions or a faulty hull item, but simply the hose between the refill on the bow and the fresh water holding tank under the V-birth. The hose entered through a cut (but not FINISHED edged) hole. After years of chaffing on that edge while underway, the hose cut. Water being filled into the holding tank leaked, and water being KEPT in the holding tank splashed back up to the cut when underway.
The refridgerator leaked water from the freezer section onto the floor as well. Floor drain is about a foot too far forward to catch it all.
Look ABOVE the cockpit deck to see what else may need resealing.
Cockpit covers are sewn woven fabric. They are not water PROOF, but treated to be water REPELLANT. If your cockpit cover is original or has not been treated recently, rain will still get into your cockpit area because the water repellant chemical coating needs to be redone. You can do it yourself with fabric protectors from Walmart. Everywhere your cover touches something (such as the windshield top molding) allows water to weep through the cover and run down the INSIDE of the cover to a low point where it then drips down to the floor or into the sink, or onto your instruments. Redoing the fabric sealer will stop this, but it needs to be done every now and then.