Regal 242 - Bad surprise in shower sump pump bilge - Help?

[AntarcticPilot]

Okay so I have looked into it a little bit more this weekend and really it's nothing but bad news:

To the question "Where does the oil come from?"

There's this tube thing at the aft-end of the mid-cabin bilge when said shower pump is. I believe the tube runs from there, under the fuel tanks, and into the engine bilge.

When I realised that the tube was there, I immediately checked my engine oil level again and surprise surprise, it was just above minimum safe level. The oil was topped up 20-30 engine hours ago and it has lost about a litre of oil. Topped that up, but concluded that the oil in the mid cabin bilge has effectively travelled from the engine bilge through that tube. And, of course, that my engine is leaking oil from somewhere (haven't figure out where yet but figure I can keep topping it up until the end of the season).

This of course opens up a plethora of other questions... Why is that tube there in the first place? And also it isn't only oil that makes it into the mid-cabin bilge. There's also another liquid in there which I desperately want to be sea water, but I believe might be fuel (though it doesn't smell like it, so maybe very diluted fuel).

At the moment I feel like I'm stuck. It's pointless cleaning the bilge unless I stop the oil leak. I won't stop the oil leak on my own. Therefore I think I'm just going to continue pumping out the most of it throughout the season, and get it sorted when it's out of the water over the winter.

The tube is there to ensure that when you pump the bilges, the water from one part of the bilges can be pumped out from another part of the bilges. It's sufficiently traditional to have it's own name, a limber hole (and if you're really traditional, you'll reeve limber lines through ot so you can unblock the hole by working the line back and forth)! It's a very common arrangement, though it does make it harder to determine where something like oil or fuel leaks are coming from.

 

[RupertW]

I would avoid drilling new limber holes for the portion of the bilge that the shower drains into as it's a good idea for shower water to be somewhere separate and ideally easy to clean. I would probably go further (if there is room) to put a much smaller container - perhaps enough for half a shower that is easily cleanable and accessible below the shower itself so that the shower tray floods back up when it fills. Then have a shower drain pump for that alone. That way any shower user will know they have to drain the shower as they go and you won't get any overspill into inaccessible bilges. One bucketful, let alone 10 seems too much to me.

 

[oldgit]

Under no circumstances drill any new holes in anything.
There may well be ply or something that can soak up water which is OK if left encapsulated , water will go everywhere if gel coat is breached.
Had old Regal many years ago, water had got into the transom,the wood inside was mostly mush after years of absorbtion due some holes drilled into the inner transom glassfibre many years before !

 

[Parisianzee]

The tube is there to ensure that when you pump the bilges, the water from one part of the bilges can be pumped out from another part of the bilges. It's sufficiently traditional to have it's own name, a limber hole (and if you're really traditional, you'll reeve limber lines through ot so you can unblock the hole by working the line back and forth)! It's a very common arrangement, though it does make it harder to determine where something like oil or fuel leaks are coming from.

Good to know! And so would that tube be plugged in "normal operation" and only unplugged when needed?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Good to know! And so would that tube be plugged in "normal operation" and only unplugged when needed?

No, it would normally be left open.