knotflying":2qwja14h said:
I seem to remember that when the hatch is open the fluid in the reservoir gets low and the tabs tend to malfunction.
This would be correct. The hatch cylinder will retain a considerable amount of the reservoirs oil capacity. When the engine hatch is open the reservoirs fluid level is low and the trim tab cylinders may not be able to extend to full travel. This also works opposite. If you have your Tabs fully extended and open your engine hatch you may experience erratic operation has it tries to open fully. The design thought is when cruising with trim tabs down you are not running with your engine hatch open. Also when checking the engine or working on it there isn't a need to have the trim tabs extended. There are exceptions.
Has far as the water and moisture in the aft section of the boat.
The first year I owned my C26 I had water sitting in the bilge on port and starboard side of the prop tunnel in the area you are questioning. The water would be 2" to 3" deep if we had a heavy rain. I would see a small amount of water draining in the engine compartment from the Limber holes ( drain tubes that drain water to the engine compartment where bilge pumps are). I have a full enclosure so there isn't that much rain water getting in the cockpit but water was still getting in and settling in the stern area. Problems I found. 1) limber holes were partially plugged with a mixture of foam ,fiberglass and dirt from the building of the boat. 2) The deck drains were not flowing properly because of improper drain fall to the transom thru hulls. 3) The hose on the starboard side transom thru hull was split right at the thru hull barb fitting. When water would make its way to the fitting it would leak into the bilge instead of over board.4) The boat had a list to the port. When water would drain off the deck into the trough of the starboard aft deck hatch it would over flow the trough and drain into the compartment. The trough drain is located outside aft corner and water would flow to opposite side because of the list.5) Aft seat, hinged board along with the fiberglass storage insert were not sealed. water would leak in around it and drain into the aft area of the boat. By the looks of your trim pump you may have one or more of these issues with your boat.
The changes I made to help reduce these issues were.
1) cleaned limber holes and yearly check them.
2) I rerouted the deck drain hoses to maintain a continual fall from fwd to aft.
3) repaired drain hose and installed a 90 degree fitting instead of the tight bend that caused the hose to split and properly installed the hose clamps on the barb fitting that also caused the hose to split.
4) Moved three batteries to starboard side storage compartment. The boat now floats level while at rest at the dock.
5) Resealed all the deck hatches with a thicker rubber weather stripping. The factory deck seals were to thin.
6) sealed the starboard hinged board and fiberglass storage insert with weather stripping. It stays sealed when assembled but the components can be removed for inspection in the aft area without the need for resealing each time.
These items helped. It is a boat so there is going to be water intrusion. Keeping it a minimum will help with longevity of the boat and its components.
