Water in Bilge

[Alohman]

We purchased on '86 C34 in June of '01.  Haven't had much rain in this area this year,so we haven't noticed this issue previously.  The boat is on the hard now.  As part of our winterization process, we pumped all the water out of the bilge and removed the batteries.  After we had a moderate rainfall, we noticed about 3 inches of water in the bilge.  We have a deck stepped mast, we have rebedded most of the portlights and all of the portlight that were visably leaking have been rebedded. A couple chain plates on the port side are leaking slightly and none on the starbard side seem to be leaking. We have not found any visable signs of water on the insides of the hull sides(at least where we can access).

Is it normal for that amount of rain to enter the bilge from the mast?  Or, have I got a leak somewhere that I haven't found yet?

P.S.  This board has been very helpful for us in learning and working on our boat.  Well worth the membership fee!!!!!

[Ted Pounds]

Alan,

If you have a deck stepped mast it should not let any water into the boat.  Only with a keel stepped mast (like mine) will you get water running all the way to the bilge.  So your leak must be elswhere.  One technique to find it is to have someone spray the boat with a garden hose while you check all the many spaces around the inside for signs of a leak. Good luck.

Ted Pounds

[mvazmina]

It will be good to see what Ron finds, I have the same problem on our '86. A few months ago I drilled a small hole near the bottom of the mast to install a block and the water squirted out for almost 20 minutes. I expect that it had to be at least 3 feet up the mast. Since then I have put a small hole as close to the bottom as possble to give this water an exit. But my bilge is still wet.

[jentine]

DECK STEPPED elimates half the problem.  You either have a leak in the deck or the hull  Start at the stern and slowly advance forward (the bow is higher than the stern) and look for leaks.  A few friends won't get in the way too much and the more eyes the better.
It is aparent that it is not coming down the mast.  Even Santa couldn't get down that chimney.

[Gary Wilson]

We found an unusual leak in our '86.  It was coming through the rudder head fitting.  Any rain water that hit the lazarette seat would go down the drain channels and end up at the rudder head.  Instead of spilling out into the cockpit, it went down the rudder shaft.  We observed it from below.  I would like to find a way to seal the fitting, but the temporary fix was to place some silicone "dams" where they would divert most of the water to the cockpit floor before it reached the rudder head. :rolleyes:

[malgase]

Not sure if it would make it to the bilge without filling up the forepeak storage area first, but I had a leak in the hose between the anchor locker drain at the bottm of the well, and the fitting that fed the drainage out of the hull just above the boot top.  The older reinforced rubber hose had taken a set, and simply re-tightening the hose clamps seaams to ahve abated the problem.  Sooner or later I need to get around to replacing it.

The moisture would show up in the forward dinette storage locker, and in the forward starboard hanging locker as well.  The path of the water to move aft is along the hose from the forward water tank back to the galley.

Just a thought.

Michael

[Alohman]

Checked the bilge again and there was more water, about 5 inches.  Wherever it is coming from, there is alot.  Only had time to make a short inspection of the boat, but could find no immediately visable leak that could account for that amount of water
1.  Water is Not coming from the port lights, dry and just rebedded.
2.  Only the port chain plates are leaking slightly into the cabin.  
3. checked the inside of all lockers, cabinets, etc.No visable water.
4. Examined the compression post in the bilge, little water coming down the mast.
5.  Eliminated the tanks as possible source.  Tanks have "pink" antifreeze in them and the water in the bilge was clean and clear.

we will have to wait until warmer weather to do the garden hose test topside. My guess is that one or more lifeline stanctions is leaking badly.  Any other suggestions appreciated.

[Roc]

Alan,
Get a water soluable marker and draw a line around the perimeter of the bilge.  The area where water enters will smear the mark.  Maybe this can help you narrow down what area the water is coming from.
Roc-

[kenkillian]

Alan,

I haven't seen this suggested, but whenever I find water inside, the first thing I do is taste it; Yes, I know it is dirty, but one can immediately discern if it is fresh or salt water.  Once I know that, I can begin the process of elimination.  If it is salt, I would be concerned about the keel bolts and leakage around them.

Ken

[tassber2]

I recently had a leak from my macerator pump into the bildge.   The brass bolts that hold the two halves together corroded and I could feel the water dripping around the bottom of the pump.

[c34member]

I had a mystery leak that took me a year to find and produced the kind of volume you have.  One bolt was missing from the track that holds the vinyl rub-rail.  It was on the port side at the lowest point in the shear.  The rub rail would channel the water from fore and aft to this low spot (also below one of the scuppers) and it would come in between the hull and the liner.  Ours would also show itself in the head and appeared to be coming from under the Corean counter top!  It appears that the hole driller at the factory put it right into the bulkhead between the head and the cabin.  The nut fitter couldn't reach the bolt, so it was removed.  THEY NEVER BOTHERED TO FILL THE HOLE.  It took me so long to find it because the water wouldn't appear inside for half an hour after I tried using a hose to cause the leak to run.  Another C-34 owner tipped me off to check the rub-rail after he found the identical problem.  I fixed it with a 5/16" x 3/4" pan head screw after squirting in half a tube of Boat-Life caulk.  I had to use a hair drier and a wood mallet to get the rubrail back into shape and into the channel.

[andrewrbell]

We purchased Abbatis in the fall of 1999. At the time it was already in the cradle. There was water in the bilge which I pumped out. The next time I went to check the boat (still in the cradle) the bilge was overflowing. To cut a long story short the top end of the cockpit drain hoses were cracked from being stretched and the hose was full of leaves. So, every time it rained the cockpit collected a lot of water and most of it ended up in the bilge.

[Aaron Gregg]

Check out what Charlie said about the missing bolt in the port rub rail. I had the same problem; seems to be a common problem. I have an 89' and Im positive the previous owners never found it..

[Alohman]

Tried the water soluable marker trick.  Great idea.  We have isolated the leak to somewhere on the starboard side approximately midships or slightly forward. We have yet to actually see water anywhere except in the bilge.  We have rebedded the portlights on that side.  The lifelines seem rock solid with no visable leaks.  Our guess is that the chainplates are leaking but we are also going to check out the rub rail theory.  Thanks for all the suggestions. Is there ever such a thing as a dry bilge?  Vicky Lohman

[Stu Jackson]

Alan & Vicky

Yes, there is such a thing as a dry bilge, but I'll be danged if I can get there myself! (yet)

Couple of other places to look: (if not for you, then others)

1.  Exhaust hose outlet at transom - we found the end of the hose to be worn at the thru hull.  Since we'd planned to replace the entire hose length from the muffler to the transom someday soon anyway, I just cut a few inches off the end and reconnected it to the thru hull with new hose clamps.

2.  Connections to muffler from exhaust hose to transom and from engine to muffler:  I just purchased a new hump hose from Catalina ($38.88 + shipping).  There is a definite leak from the engine exhaust connection at the muffler, simply  because the old hose is so darn stiff.  Even new hose is stiff.  That's why they cam up with the hump hose.  We may have to rebuild the muffler entry connection with Marine Tex, but I know there's water coming in from that connection.

3.  Head outlet thru hull:  We had to replace the 1 1/2 inch marelon valve last June, it was leaking.

4.   Stuffing box:  installed dripless packing a few years ago.  Much cheaper than PSS or other mechanical seals, and, per Ron Hill, I sleep a lot more soundly knowing there's one less mechanical gnome to grow glitches.  Had to redo the packing after the last haulout (which took a few weeks on the hard) since the packing dried out.  Don't forget to check the stuffing box after every haulout.


5.  Stanchion bases & Chainplates:  The stanchions may feel good but especially the ones with the vent hoses (starboard - water tank, and port - head vent,  amidships) are always suspect, also with aboat of your "vintage."  The midships ones are the ones that visitors tend to grab when they come aboard.  A recent Mainsheet had an idea for tying a piece of line on the after lower shroud to use to pull the boat over to the dock in lieu of hauling on the stanchions.  If you don't like the look of a line hanging there, just step on the dockline to pull the boat over to the dock.  We've been rebedding the stanchions one at a time during recent visits.  Chainplates were all done last year.  Seems to me that even if they ALL were leaking, it wouldn't account for the quantity of water you've described.

This post has become the TOP 10 (or 20) BEST BILGEWATER LIST.  Great ideas.  Keep 'em coming. :cool:

Stu