Leaking Beneteau 311

[plover1]

A friend of mine ,who I sail with regularly has a problem with his lift keel Beneteau leaking. This has been a problem since new. He has a river mooring and settles at LW into mud.

Has anyone else had this problem and have they solved it.
Thanks for any help received.

 

[FullCircle]

On my Jeanneau (which is a nearly identical keel) I had fitted a relief tube tapped into the keelbox and a stopcock fitted an inch above waterline on the hull to let the excess water out, and no siphon back.
You local jolly Beneteau dealer will know about the fix, pity the manufacturers dont put it on as standard.
I have no problems with mine when I dry out.

If required I will photograph it this weekend

 

[achwilan]

This relief tube existed on my former 311, so the problem never appeared. But this tube was connected to the kitchen sink, which seacock had to be left open in case of deep mud beaching.
And my SO35 (2006 model) was delivered by the factory with the device you had to fit yourself.

 

[FullCircle]

Good, I am glad they made the effort for 2006 to at least supply the bits. Mine is a 2005, and we had to invent the fix ourself!

 

[Greenwichman]

Hello - I have a Beneteau 285 with similar keel arrangement. If the table is removed from the top of the GRP housing over the keel it is possible to see the relief tube (or if the tube is missing, the spigot where one needs to be fitted).

All that is happening when a "leak" occurs is that water is being trapped in the housing and has nowhere to go unless relieved through a length of plastic pipe, connected - in my case - to the sink seacock.

The other 'feature' of this installation is that stale water becomes trapped in the pipework and exudes nasty niffs via the sink plughole when underway in a bit of sea, when the plunging motion of the boat forces air through the keelbox. Smells are easily overcome with a dose of disinfectant down the sink.