Water in the bilge

[mregan]

Went down to the boat today and found 3-4" of water in the bilge.  I had sucked it dry about 2 weeks ago, it had water from the water heater in it when I disconnected the plumbing to the water heater.  Boat is on the hard.
Mast is out.  Mast hole is covered.  There is a tarp covering from the front hatch to the cabin opening and covers about half of the opening ports & windows on each side.  The tarp is 10'x20'.  Lays flat on the deck no frame.  Water heater is empty, water tanks are completely empty.  The new water in the bilge is clean/clear so I'm assuming it's rainwater.  Ports/windows don't appear to have leaked.  No noticeable water in the cabin anywhere.
Are there any known areas I could check for intrusion?  

[Ron Hill]

mre : Can't think of any areas that you have not covered that might have leaked.

My only suggestion is to add another 15 x 30 cover over the top, or better yet use a 20 x 40 cover. 
A thought

[Indian Falls]

Any sign of water in the cockpit?  Could be a scupper leaking, or maybe where the wires pass through the floor for the compass light, and instruments.  If you're getting water on the deck the vented stantions for the water tank and holding tank could be your source. 

Is there water in the low spot between the engine and the stuffing box?

It takes about a gallon for mine to fill up enough that it goes over the lip on the port side and directly into the bilge.  So anything in the deck aft of your winches could be letting water in.

[Stu Jackson]

Potentials:

1.  Cockpit hatches (port locker and lazarette):  Through the Weather stripping on the hatches.

2.  Loose or broken hose clamps or rotten hoses on your scupper drains.

3.  Top of the rudderstock.

4.  Any signs of portlight or stanchion leakage?

Good luck, would be interested in the results.

[stevewitt1]

Is it just my keen eye (note the sarcasm) or can the transom and lazarette often be culprits?  I've anguished with this myself because sitting steady the hatch covers seem to have a, more than adequate, lip to channel all drainage out to the cockpit floor BUT BUT BUT why is it hatch cover hinges seem to loosen up faster than the shoelaces on a kindergarten kids sneakers?  Maybe its just my imagination.

Just another 2¢ worth from the peanut gallery

Steve
www.ocontoyachtclub.com

[mregan]

Vent stanchions have been pulled and glassed over.  I re-routed the water tank vent to the v-berth.  Installed a new vent below the rub rail almost directly underneath the deck fill for the forward water tank.  Haven't gotten to the holding tank vent but it will be going out the hull below the rub rail also.
All hatches & ports are tight and leak free.
Cockpit was dry or at least no standing water, it was raining when I was onsite yesterday.  The main cabin was totally dry.  Was only down for a couple of minutes so I didn't have a chance to poke around too much.  Next time I'm down I'll get into the aft cabin and root around there.

Anyone have issues with the pedestal leaking.  On my C-30, the pedestal leaked.  Once I figured out it was leaking, I drilled some holes in the floor from the aft bunk.  Got almost a gallon of water out of voids in the floor.

[Roland Gendreau]

One way to narrow down what direction the water is coming from is to scribe a line of blue chalk around the top edge of the bilge, all the way around the circumference. Then after it rains, check to see where the chalk line has been washed away.

At least that will narrow down the search by pointing you in the right direction to look for the source.

[Ed Shankle]

Did the most aft bilge compartment have water in it? If not, that would eliminate anything aft as the source.
Also check the anchor locker drain hose. It sounds like the tarp doesn't cover the anchor locker.

Ed

[Clay Greene]

I like the blue chalk idea.  I was going to suggest putting paper towels around the bilge area and then you could check where the towels were wet.  We've done that before.  You can look down into the area around the bilge with a flashlight and often see where the water has trickled into the bilge.  We found a leak at a connection to our water heater this past Fall from that method. 

I have a hard time seeing that much water getting into the bilge from the outside.  If it was coming down the pedestal, you'd most likely see staining on the teak plywood in the aft cabin.  You'd also have pooled water in the bilge area under the aft cabin - not all of it will drain to the forward bilge.  Have you absolutely ruled out the water tanks and the water heater?  The hot water heater will rust out from the bottom and the water will drain out over time right into the bilge.  I can speak from personal experience on that score. 

[Ron Hill]

mre : Beside the blue chalk idea is to sprinkle some red Koolaide in one place and green in another to get a similiar effect.

[mregan]

Claygr
I disconnected the hw line to the water heater and watched all the water/antifreeze mixture drain out into the bilge.  Also, both water tanks were drained and pulled out of the boat for a good cleaning so it has to be coming in from outside somewhere.
I used to have the same issue on my C-30.  It would sit uncovered in the summer through downpours without any water in the bilge.  In the winter, I'd put the cover on which tied off at the stanchions bases so 95% of the deck/cockpit was covered.  Would come down after a month to check on it and there would be 2-3" of water in the bilge.  Could never figure out where it came from.
This boat went through Hurricane Sandy, no water in the bilge.  Finally through a tarp over most of the deck and 2 weeks later, water in the bilge.  I can't figure it out.  I'll try the chalk idea.

[Bob K]

My mystery leak from several years ago came from the cockpit cubby on the port side. There is a seam along the bottom just below the teak trim ring. Mine leaked occasionally (actually rarely - only with an east wind which blew plenty of rain into the cubby).  Would flow down into aft cabin, soak the cushion, and then work its way down.  Cleaned and sealed the leak it with plenty of Lifecaulk, and it held for 5 years.  Had to redo this past year.

Another consideration - Boats on the hard are often set with the bow higher than the transom to ensure the cockpit drains properly.  So rain water might be be running in a different direction than when hull is sittting proper in the water. 

[tonywright]

Just "watching" the water drain doesn't get all the water out of the HW heater. You need to blow the rest out - I use the dinghy pump - by forcing air into the intake line, until the rest of the water comes out of the tank.

Tony

[Albreen]

Not sure it's been mentioned already but when I first bought our C34, the drain line for the anchor well was loose and split at the connection to the fitting. Every rain deposited a fair amount of water into the bilge when on the hard. I was surprised by the amount sometimes and couldn't initially find the "leak" anywhere until I saw a reference somewhere on this forum. It was an easy fix.

[Ralph Masters]

Our through hull was split and when we sailed water would come in i the crack.  One of the first things I fixed on Ciao Bella

Ralph