Hi I am looking for some help please. I have water in the saloon. It appears to be entering from the interface between the fibreglass and the wooden shelving units. I cannot see where it can be coming in other than the window? any other thoughts?
Catalina 36 Mk 1.5 1996 model.
I think I may have a solution. Is it on the port side? I had a mysterious saltwater leak for years. Coming from under the teak trim under the port cabinets. It turns out, it was a faulty duck vent on my vented loop from the engines raw water exhaust system.
On my 1996 MKii, the vented loop comes up from the heat exchanger, into the port lazarette, and back down into the aqua lift muffler. If the duck vent is old or installed incorrectly, it will spew hot saltwater into the port lazarette. If you're on a port tack, about half will end up trickling forward to the shelves in the main saloon, and the other half along the hull and through holes onto the fuel tank. I had to purchase a new tank when I bought my boat due to corrosion, so I'm guessing this problem had been going on for a while.
I finally noticed it a few months ago while sailing into an anchorage in Monterey. What tipped me off was the water was warm as it leaked onto the saloon cushions. I opened the lazarette and sure enough I had installed the duck vent upside down and it was spewing saltwater. We live at anchor, and rarely use our engine (only had 10 hours on it last year), so it was easy for the leak to go undiagnosed for a couple years! I was so excited when I figured it out.
Hopefully this is your source, otherwise hopefully my account will help someone else out as they comb these forums for an answer.
Best of luck finding the source.