When buying my boat, everyone told me that B.O.A.T. stands for Break Out Another Thousand. I laughed and brushed it off though, because I assumed most people who said this were buying frivolous things for their boat. I wouldn't do that, I thought. I'll just make-do with what I have. I assumed that because most of the people giving me advice were way older than me, that I had some time to save up first before I needed to buy pricey accessories for my boat. How naive I was... I am seven months in now and I have realized the acronym has nothing to do with buying extra things. I have learned rather, that very few weeks something BREAKS, so you HAVE to fork over heaps of money to just keep the boat functioning properly.
When one agrees to purchase a boat, a marine survey by a professional surveyor is usually recommended or required. Since I was a first time buyer, I wanted to have the survey done to see what I was getting myself into. However, certain things are not necessarily revealed during a marine survey. A leak on the starboard side of the aft cabin was one of those...
The excitement of being so close to actually buying my own boat allowed me to overlook the dark, softened wood below the windows and doors. However, a heavy rain over that first winter disclosed the existence of an ongoing issue. Some time later, a more serious leak appeared to present itself on the port side of the same cabin, and also on the starboard side below the decks. The leaking was becoming serious. At one point, we noticed water seeping out of the walls in the main salon, only to discover a large drip in one of the compartments below the deck. The same issue was happening behind the refrigerator and we were collecting mini oceans under each window as well.
The first few rainstorms, we had bowls below each window to collect pools of water, which we would have to empty out every few hours. The walls of the boat are tilted in at a 45* angle so the rain is really good at pooling at the bottom window corner, then seeping into the cracks.
We began researching how to solve the window issue and discovered port visors, which claim to solve our window leaking issues. They were a little pricey for us at about $40 each, so we had to fork over a few hundred for all 10 of the windows. But in the end, they were well worth the price to keep the my sanity and the rain from pooling under the windows.
The decks are still leaking and the issue is unresolved, so more on that later...
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