Boat taking on water

skeeve

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We have a cheverton motor boat that about 4 years ago took on water via a loose rudder screw it was so bad that there was about 3 feet of water. Once we fixed it and remove the water we transported the boat to a beach berth. For three years she has been fine until now. We checked her a month ago but since then we have had loads of rain but for the last 3 years she has had a cover on to keep the rain out inside she is bone dry but today water has appeared in the cabin again is about a foot deep across the whole of the boat in the bilge.

Could this possibly be the stern gland that is leaking? The rudder is sealed all the bildge holes have cobwebs in them and there doesnt seem to be anywhere else water would have got in any ideas anyone please.

Skeeve
 

Erre

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I presume you have checked the integrity of all seacocks? If yes, then I reckon there is an excellent chance that you have identified the problem correctly with regard to the stern gland.
 

skeeve

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Yes the seacock have been closed for three years as the boats hardly been used due to a battery issue.

thanks for your help
 

Erre

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Sorry Skeeve, I shoudl have said this in my previous post.. too much of a rush.

You obviously leave your boat unattended for reasonably lengthy periods. I suggest you get a bilge pump rigged to a float switch and tie in a solar panel so that it maintains your battery condition.

Clearly this is not a fixit for your current issue but a general precaution once this issue is solved for the future.

I hope you will have it sorted soon. Good luck.
 

skeeve

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Thanks for that I will try and find one I think this will stop it happening in future. I was worried it could be something more sinister as upto 2 months ago she was dry or I should say as far as I could see she was fine.
 

Erre

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No worries. I hope you have success.

By the way (and I don't mean to patronise you), have you actually checked all the seacocks. I appreciate your statement that it (singular?), has been closed.. That doesn't mean it has integrity. they need to be properly inspected and checked. Please don't make teh mistake of assuming you closed it two months ago so it can't be that.

As regards the stern gland, do you have a waterproof grease reservoir with a turnscrew at the top that may need a turn or so to refresh the grease at the gland packing? If you do, make sure that the grease is proper waterproof grease and that you just give it a couple of turns max. If your system excludes such a reservoir, ignore this last paragraph!!
 

ggt9

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Hi,

I think you've got spot-on advice so far.

If it adds anything, I discovered three days ago that the through-hull fitting on the seacock on my Cheverton is 'weeping' a tiny tiny amount of water so I'm going to have to get it pulled and inspected. I don't know the cause yet but it's probably old age and corrosion. If you've already had a rudder fitting go and your anodes aren't up to date, you may have something similar going on.

I don't always have covers on and the current series of downpours can half fill my bilges overnight so I'd suspect recent rain if you weren't convinced it was salt water.

As it is, pump it out, dry it out and check through hulls, rudder and stern gland very carefully once it's afloat.

Best of luck.
 

skeeve

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Hi Everyone

I wnet down there today and first pumped out all the water which wasnt easy as my hand bildge pump is connected so had to do it with a jug and bucket :O(

However once I could get to the stern gland the grease was still in place but had a tiny gap in it so I refilled it all I then checked the seacock and found that although the handle was down the hadle was very loose I have tightend the nut but if I tighten too much it loosens up again so wondering if it has any kind of seal on it that my need replacing?

Also does anyone have any ideas how to remove salt whirls (like scratches) in perpex windows as we now cant see out of them.

Anyway all this has promted me to finally get a battery and I am going to try and start her next week fingers crossed.

thanks

Skeeve
 
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