I was up at the boat yesterday doing a very thorough clean out under the vberth and had planned on just washing the debris off and using the bilge pump to get it out of the boat. I quickly discovered there are no limber holes to the main sump. Is this by design? Has anyone drilled limber holes or installed a fwd bilge pump in this spot? It seems the condensation alone could cause problems in this area with water build up.
Alex : The factory did not install a limber hole from the Vberth in most of the early MK 1 1986 thru 1994 C34s. No too sure of their reasoning, as most of the 1st year 1986 C34 had a Vberth water tank (usually, if there wasn't an aft water tank).
A thought
Alex,
My '86 does not have a V berth water tank. It might have been one of the later ones made that year. Our depth sounder and speedo transducers are under the V berth. There is a hole somewhere, 'cuz when I pull the speedo, the water gets to the bilge. Don't know whether it's factory or PO.
I do remember this being discussed a few times before, so some creative searching might find it.
Alex,
I'm in the same boat as Stu (pun intended), when I pull the speedo to clean the paddle wheel water always gets in no matter how you do it but the water always drains into the bilge, so there's a hole down there somewhere. It's possible you could have a drain that's gotten clogged. Also, my boat didn't come with a V-berth water tank, it has one now through.
I just spent some time under the v-berth because water was slowly accumulating in that compartment. We get quite a bit of condensation in the v-berth, but I don't think much makes it into the compartment below. I'm pretty sure I've traced the water to a leaky anchor locker drain (I'm currently looking through old posts to find the proper setup for this...). My 1986 has a water tank under the v-berth, but no drain to the bilge.
Guys : To prevent any condensation from forming under the Vberth here's what I did. I installed 2 louvered doors (12"x 12") on either side of the Vberth. Lets air flow and makes easy access to the Vberth sides!
I have installed more louvered doors or fixed louvered vents in all of my compartments under all seat cushions! To prevent condensation all you need is ventilation!!
A few thoughts
Here is a "hijacked" thread that deals with replacing the anchor locker drain while in the water.
https://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,9777.msg74542.html#msg74542
We had the same problem immediately after we bought our 88 C-34. Covering the last few miles of the delivery trip to our home port (about 110 miles) I discovered water under the v-berth about 2/3 of the way up to the bottom of the center drawer.
After a quick recovery from an understandable near heart attack I found a hose and drained the water into the bilge to be pumped out by the bilge pump.
Long story short, the seemingly intact anchor locker drain thru hull was cracked and when traveling with a bone in her teeth, our boat was taking on water into the v-berth storage area.
Like Noah, I replaced the fitting while the boat was in the water and it was pretty straight forward and not a complicated job at all. I did do ours on a very calm day though....that thru hull isn't very far above the water line.
I've since drilled a 1/2" limber hole at the base of the v-berth locker so water will now drain into the bilge and not collect should another leak develop. I did hold the location of this hole up off of the hull perhaps 1.5" simply because using a drill bit near a boats hull while said boat is in the water is inviting disaster.
Quote from: ewengstrom on March 29, 2021, 12:49:06 PM
I've since drilled a 1/2" limber hole at the base of the v-berth locker so water will now drain into the bilge and not collect should another leak develop. I did hold the location of this hole up off of the hull perhaps 1.5" simply because using a drill bit near a boats hull while said boat is in the water is inviting disaster.
Thanks for the reply on this. I will prob do just this (add a limber hole) at some point in the near future. I also need to investigate the same solution at the small bulkhead behind the engine. Water gathers here in my boat as well.
Funny you should mention that spot behind the engine, we have that same problem....there was a small hole there leading to the pan under the engine but it was clogged when we bought the boat. I found that the only way this area would drain was when we were sailing and heeled over to port the water would drain around the port side and find it's way thru that spot under the head that's open for wiring, hoses etc..... if we heeled to starboard the water found its way all the way into the starboard locker under the seat in the aft cabin.....and that's where I was storing my tool bag until I found it soaking wet on the delivery trip. Now we have to be careful with what we store under there until I can fiberglass a bulkhead under there to isolate this compartment.
I did clear and enlarge that original small drain hole somewhat but it's up high and water still collects there, but not as much. One day I'll see if I can make that hole drain UNDER the engine mount pan but I'll need to determine if water can get all the way to the bilge before I do that. This step would also involve a drill bit in close proximity to the hull again...and I'm thinking I'll wait till the boat is on the hard before I start making fiberglass drill bit dust.
I found quite a lot of discussion of adding limber holes while searching this message board. There are pros and cons--some say it's a bad idea. I'm not an expert, but might be worth reading through previous posts before drilling. If nothing else, the discussion is interesting.
I did a quick search of "limber holes" and "limber hole" and the only hit I got was this discussion. :? Not sure what's up with that but I'd be interested in reading other opinions.
As for me, I've never been a big fan of trapped water anywhere on a boat except in its water tanks. Water should not be allowed to collect (if an above deck leak forms) in any storage locker, I personally believe it should drain to the bilge for removal by the bilge pump system. It's true I want to know there is a leak (should one form), but finding probably 20+ gallons of water sloshing around under my v-berth because there wasn't a limber hole to the bilge didn't seem like a good overall design execution.
And then I woke up and searched the main message board and found the discussions you mentioned....sorry for the false alarm. :abd:
You can also use Google's "site:" tag to limit the search to the Catalina 34 website. For example, type
site:c34.org impeller replacement
in the search field (the URL box at the top of your browser).
If I had limber holes my boat would have sunk!
I have my sounder and speedo under the V berth and I once sprung a leak after being on the hard for a couple of months.
I didn't know about the slow leak but a week or two after launching I was at the boat and I looked under the V berth for something and I saw a foot or so of water.
Without limber holes the leak was contained and the water inside was level with the water outside. Having limber holes would have allowed the water to continue filling the boat, draining into the bilge and being pumped out until my batteries died.
I was happy not to have sunk. East fix.
I used to move the mattresses and the cover out of the way to drain water that accumulated under the aft berth. I got tired of doing that, so added a small handy PAR pump under the head sink with a 1/4" tube that runs to the center of where the water pooled under the aft cabin. Now all I have to do is open the cabinet door under the head sink, a few pumps into a bucket and the water is gone.
I also glassed in a bulkhead to divide that area for tool storage. Can get a lot of tools securely stored in there.
The above story occured to me as the one and only reason i would be interested in leaving it without limber holes. That said, a sealed compartment ought to have its own bilge pump if it doesnt drain to the main sump. To me, im not so sure i want another bilge pump to maintain.
John W,
I like your bulkhead idea. Seems like a good way to make use of a storage spot that would otherwise not be usefull.
So I did some google enhanced searching and found a bit more on limber holes. It appears that the aft cabin limber holes are not available to a Mk1 as the engine pan is different in the Mk2 than the mk1? I found a post where a mk1.5 guy found a limber hole drilled but it did not communicate with the bilge. Unfortunately the thread died out without a resolution.
Apart from that incident the only other time I had water in the vberth locker was when my anchor locker drain leaked. That's 23 years in the damp Pacific northwest. No need for a pump on my boat
Love that bulkhead under the aft cabin area and already have that on my oh-so long list of projects. I think that's a great place for tool storage too but with water sloshing around under there they will live elsewhere until that bulkhead is done. Thanks for the pictures!!!! (inspiration!!!!)
Interesting thoughts on limber holes, as is often said on this forum...YBYC....but I do like the different perspectives.
Quote from: waughoo on March 30, 2021, 08:58:45 PM
So I did some google enhanced searching and found a bit more on limber holes. It appears that the aft cabin limber holes are not available to a Mk1 as the engine pan is different in the Mk2 than the mk1? I found a post where a mk1.5 guy found a limber hole drilled but it did not communicate with the bilge. Unfortunately the thread died out without a resolution.
Alex & others,
When Jon W. first bought his boat, he posted about the clearance under his engine. It turns out his engine didn't have any clearance, whereas mine did. Point being, we can't make generalizations like that. I have a "ballroom" under my engine and have never had any water pool there, it all drains to the bilge. I was surprised he has this construction, but he showed me pictures.
On the other side of the coin is this:
https://www.c34.org/faq-pages/faq-drainhole.html
I added a limber hole to the Vee-berth. I have the plastic bow water tank (and the stern, and the port side somehow) so fixing the leaking anchor drain is very hard. It leaks a little if I am taking waves over the bow offshore. I'd like to fix the drain some day, but for now I used my long inspection camera thing that has a stiff wire from the bilge and drilled a tiny inspection hole from vee-berth side. Then once I confirmed clearance with camera, I drilled a 1/2 in limber hole from Vee-berth side. Been working well for a few years and a few thousand miles.
Cleaning the speed sender under the v berth found the water had no where to go, drilled a limber hole but so I know that water is getting in there I put a cork in the hole ,same set up under the engine
Quote from: oldcatsailor on April 07, 2021, 05:11:36 PM
same set up under the engine
Did yours come with the limber hole under the engine tray or did you drill it?