Not having such good times ... water in blige and electrical fault

[Refueler]

Decided to check on boat (Anisette) ... and as normal flicked the manual switch on bilge pump ... boat has always had a very slow dribble into the space - we have never found out from where ... hard to tell what as the water here is only lightly brackish ... thoughts of leaking tank up in fwd section ... keel bolts ..... but all investigations have led to no actual answer ...

Pump never started .. and then that unmistakable electrical smell .... quickly switched off pump ...

Lifted cabin sole and water was just a few cm below sole .... keel space full. The water had shorted the bilge pump connections.

The breaker on the panel had acted .. but looks like it may have fried inside as well as it fails to reset now.

It knocked out nav gear / nav table light ... various stuff that has nothing to do with the pump ! After a while - nav gear was back working again.

Now have the job of finding out why the pump failed .... and to see about sorting out the panel ...

Anyone who remembers my previous about this panel - know its a job that is long overdue !!

 

[Refueler]

OK ... spenmt most of today with meter in hand ... small screwdriver .... torch and a lot of faith !!

The panel is confusing as you think the reset breaker is one above switch - but in fact its the one below it ... the top are main power breakers for sets of switches !! 10A main at top then 2A and 5A ones on each switch below that ..

The bilge pump was lifted out of keel space and found the case was shattered - probably winter freezing even though I put anti-freeze in the keel space ..
The pump was then shorting when I hit the manual pump switch. Auto lead was found broken ...

The breaker for that switch then fried inside ....



AA battery is to give idea of size ..
Judging by the twisted wires - that case has been opened before !

Based on the guys visit other day to the boat and advising that items can be removed from the electricals .... I first got bilge pump replaced and wired up (jumping the breaker till I can put in a new one) ... then started removing the redundant blue box / black junction and leads ...



Switches, trip counters and displays removed ...




The blue box is still behind the panel as the large multi-core black cable dissapears off behind woodwork and I need to find the end to fully disconnect and remove the box.

Of course not until actually sailing will we know whether I've stopped data to my nav displays !!

 

[Refueler]

Managed to find replacement Thermal Breaker same as old ... RS. Ordered.

I am thinking though ... the reset button sits via a hole that a fuse holder could probably fit. Wonder if it may be idea to remove these breakers and fit fuse holders instead ...

 

[Obi]

Have you thought about adding a little bit of colour (food dye?) to water and testing for the point of ingress by looking to see if the coloured water leaves a trace?
(Sorry I have nothing to offer on the panel/switch other than 'best of luck')

 

[ProDave]

If it's of any conselation it took us 2 years to find our leak, but it only leaked when we were sailing not sat still in the harbour.

 

[Dockhead]

Sorry, mate. I feel you.

I had a similar problem this year, which was extremely frustrating. My engine room bilge pump failed last fall (Whale Supersub; these are not long-lived). Not a big deal; I used a hand pump and bucket for the occasional nuisance water (like from cleaning raw water intake filters) and replace when convenient. I thought.

The manual bilge pump failed a long time ago; it's a Gusher 30, the expensive metal one, and the coating fails at the valve seats and it doesn't pump. I haven't been able to replace with a plastic one because it doesn't fit.

Then recently my main bilge maintenance pump, another Supersub 1100 failed.

Oh, great. At least I have my emergency dewatering pump. I thought.

Then that failed.

So I'm halfway across the North Sea last month, and not a one of my four bilge pumps is functional. Cascade of failures.

So far I've repaired two of the four and still need to deal with the other two. Boat ownership is really frustrating sometimes. Good luck to you.

 

[Dockhead]

Have you thought about adding a little bit of colour (food dye?) to water and testing for the point of ingress by looking to see if the coloured water leaves a trace?
(Sorry I have nothing to offer on the panel/switch other than 'best of luck')

He already cracked the case. Frozen bilge pump, burnt thermal breaker. He's already replace both and should be back up and running in no time! :thumb:

 

[Refueler]

The leak itself ... when we lifted her first time after buying - we noted wet lines on the keel from the plates covering the keel bolt ends ...



We of course removed the plates and checked - but could see no reason for water to get into the keel space as all is sealed behind them ... we reaseled and and covered with 2 epoxy primer and 2 top coats of high copper racing.
Until this latest incident - we've been reasonably dry ..

I have replaced the Seaflo auto with the Whale Superflo - not the best of bilge pumps .. and it seems to be working ... just do not rely on its auto sensing

As regards wiring ....

Yesterday I had an early evening go again at it ... basically I went to the boat to check bilges ... all dry so thought to do some wire tracing.

As mentioned earlier - I had already disconnected the 'Blue Box' and its junction block ... but still had two cables connected that I could not identify. I decided yesterday evening to go for it and risk removing panels. Did not help that fairings of joints on one panel was glued !! Will need to sort with small screws when refitting.

Interesting cables found .....

1. Music radio lead to a coax socket fitted to GRP bulkhead ...



Redundant GPS antenna to similar GRP bulkhead connector >



But the worrying thing is ... I finally found where the multi-core black cable from the mystery 'Blue Box' goes to ....

The grey thick multi cable has been disconnected ... but the mutli-core thinner black cable goes to the B&G Junction '7' terminal box !! ... the white metal din plug goes to ??????



I think I may have dug a hole for myself !

I have a bunch of transducers in front of the keel .... 6 in all ...

The two aft ones .. one has red and other green tape - are speed logs. It appears that they fed up to the #7 B&G junction box and the 'Blue Box' may have controlled which was used by the B&G network ... you basically cannot have two logs feeding pulses to display ...

My next step is to throw caution to the wind and disconnect the 'Blue box' from that #7 junction box ... and pray !!

Still trying to figure out what the white DIN plug lead is for ... it just dissapears off into the woodwork ...

Wish me luck !!

 

[Refueler]

The question being - do I really need two speed transducers ... I understand that if boat is heeled literally lee rail awash - the windward side 'ducer' could be out of water at times ....

I cannot help but think this all links into the problems I have with Wind displays as well ....