Bavaria 38 bilge drain

jordanbasset

jordanbasset

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I have recently had to change the heater element in my 2003 Bavaria 38, no problems with that. However in the course of this close to a gallon of water escaped and I have not been able to track it down!
The hot water tank is situated under the aft port side berth and the hole the water ran out of appears to go forward and or may be under the engine compartment. However having taken all the floor boards up I cannot find any water. Would appreciate any advice on where it has got to. I am sure I am stupid and the answer is obvious but I am stumped -
many thanks JB
 
No wonder Bav's always have a dry bilge then. Even when you pour water in, it just disappears! :D

Of course the wise old salts of the MABAS will tell you this is a very bad thing: how can you possibly get to savour the proper boatie fragrance if there aren't a few pints of unspeakable fluid sloshing around in the bilges. :p
 
jordanbasset said:
I have recently had to change the heater element in my 2003 Bavaria 38, no problems with that. However in the course of this close to a gallon of water escaped and I have not been able to track it down!
The hot water tank is situated under the aft port side berth and the hole the water ran out of appears to go forward and or may be under the engine compartment. However having taken all the floor boards up I cannot find any water. Would appreciate any advice on where it has got to. I am sure I am stupid and the answer is obvious but I am stumped -
many thanks JB
Click to expand...

Somehow the "lost" water reappears - when the boat has moved enough to cause it to shake down. There are areas in the hull that are sort of double skinned, but they all have a drainage point.

PWG
 
The frame/grid on the inside of the hull forms a set of channels for water to eventually find its way to the lower areas of the hull but the water can get delayed by pooling in some corners. There are holes through each of these frames to allow water to get to the open areas between the frame which we can consider the bilges, but the holes are, by the nature of the way the frame is bound to the hull, about 10mm above the lowest point of the hull so when the boat is not moving or heeled you can find water will not be at high enough level to get out into the open.

On my Bav44 I use a kitchen 'wettex' rolled up and stuffed into one of these holes to wick small amounts of water which remain in the grid/channels. It takes a few days but eventually they are bone dry.

1 Gallon is not a lot of water to get lost in these channels. It will turn up after a sail or if a mobo goes by and gives you a litttle rock-n-roll.
 
Thanks very much for the answers, it has put my mind at rest. Will try the wick and also move some weight far forward (probably get a few heavy blokes to stand there) to see if I can accelerate the process. Lot of wind around Almerimar today so won't be taking the boat out - thanks again JB
 
When thathappened in my 37, the water ran down either side of the engine bearers and overflowed into the trough in front of the engine. This is sealed off from the rest of the boat, but is big enough for quite a lot of water to hide! Pump it out with a little hand pump and soak up the last bit with sanitary towels - small enough to get into the space.
 
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Does the Bavaria 38 have a sump above the keel? On my Jeanneau 45.2 all bilge water eventually ends up in the sump which is actually recessed below the level of the bottom of the hull, into the top of the keel. It is pumped out from there via the automatic bilge pump, leaving less than a cup full in the bottom no matter how much is spilled.

Whatever the system on the Bavaria it is possible that the bilge pump has already removed most of the spill.
 
Thanks for all the ideas. It does have a bilge sump where the bilge pump is but so far no water has appeared there. Strangely there is only one drain hole into the sump and that from forward of the boat so not sure the route the water would take to get into it from the rear. Have checked on another Bavria 38 of a similar age and they have the same
arrangement .
No sign of water in front of the engine. Not too worried as some one said it is bound to show up when she gets moved about, hopefully anyway
 
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