'97 405 Water in bilge.

i also have a 97 405
my salon unit condensate drains directly from the pan down a hose to a thru hull installed below the unit in the engine room in front of the gas tank on that port side.i cant remember if i see it in the engine room or have to remove the outward long access panel in the dinette but one of the areas you can see it where it goes outside the boat. the unit is high enough that a gravity drain on this one so no pump needed to get rid of the condensate. have you checked the drain pan and fittings that may be allowing the water to escape the pan before exiting the hose? my ac unit is built up on a small box that raises it up from the salon floor in that area behind the couch its just screwed down so you might have to unscrew it gain some access if needed. yours shouldnt be that much different but you never know i guess.

the fwd ac unit drains into the same sump box the galley sink and fwd head sink drains into. i have had to watch that one on occasion

sorry forgot to add i access this salon ac area with the panel that unscrews behind the couch and also through the air return cut out both provide plenty of area to work, thats all the access there is on mine no other panels etc to move or unscrew

my ac unit is directly mounted behind the couch on the outside wall there is a wooden access panel that has one screw that i can remove to get at it.this would also be where you would install or remove the ac unit itself . my air return grill 14x16 or so is cut into the side of the bar/island thats by the couch. thats got 4 screws and then you can take that out you then have a big hole to work through there if needed. how much water are we talking about? i wondered are you speaking of an active leak such as in the water hoses that carry water in out of the coil or just condensate? it might be easiest if you can't tell is to disconnect the air supply hose from the top of the unit and pull it out some so you can run it and see around it better. my unit had 4 brackets screwed down that looped over the side of the drain pan take those out and you can slide the ac around. make sense?

theres really no other access other than what i've mentioned earlier to the area so you can try removing the return grill and see if that will help you to see the unit but if it doesnt theres nothing really left but to unscrew the unit and swivel it some so you can see all sides. do you know if the hose and fitting on the drain pan is tight and not leaking? and have you found the other end? thru hull etc? once you gain access it should be an easy thing to fix dont be afraid to move the unit around so you can see just be mindful of the water tubing,ac duct, electric wires etc. also while your at it check the foam filter that is covering the coil i bet its really dirty if its never been cleaned you'll really be suprised . good luck
glad thers another 405 owner here

If your boat has only 1 air conditioning pump. Seawater would be running through the salon unit anytime any of the other units are calling for seawater . So the salon unit would leak, even if it was off, if the other air conditioners were running if it was a leak in the seawater lines.

I tend to think that your drain pan has a hole in it, or your drain line, or it's going into a sump where the sump pump is bad or not pumping out and the water you're seeing is condensate water. I had the drain line clog on an a/c unit and it overflowed quite a bit of water from/over the drain pan.....probably at least 5 gallons per day if not 10........I would run the unit for half a day and stick your finger in or look in the drain pan and see if water is accumulating there and not draining.

sounds like you've gained some room to work. pouring the water in the pan should help find the problem. has to be with that one ac unit if its not leaking any other time
i want to change those white vinyl covered cables also just havent checked in to it yet.
my boat has the darker cherry interior, i am 2nd owner and i had 189 hrs on my boat when i purchased it sounds alot like yours which wasnt out much either. i guess it was used as a lake condo on the summer weekends . concerned me some but it passed all my survey and all prepurchase checks etc. we then readied it for a 486 mile trip home it performed perfectly no issues at all which was awesome. great vacation i also have the crusader engines.
as far as blinds we just changed them we considered other options and theres lots out there but we liked the look so went back with them, however i installed the old school blinds with the pull cord instead of the cordless design of the originals. found a few online blind sellers and had them ship me samples and picked the closest which ended up being ivory 1". the different online shops will then end up placing your order from the manufacturer anyway so shop the best price.
we looked at several of this model boat before buying this particular one. where i live we are on the tennessee river, which water levels change (really sometimes with apparently no reason) and the bridge we have to go under can be a problem i was so lucky that the original owner had ordered this boat from carver with a hinged arch i have not seen any other 405/406's with one, i had thought i would need to do this anyway but found this boat, kind of like it was meant to be my wife said. we dont have to do it very often only 1 time so far this year but its nice when needed. i've been through my boat throughly with projects here and there so if i can help answer anything let me know