Those infuriating impossible to find leaks?

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Neil

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Whenever I come back to the boat there is a small puddle under the engine. I've tried talcum powder such that when I circle the puddle area, there are no water tracks, suggesting that the track is vertical. This suggests the possibility of a leak from the raw water circuit, but tying paper towels round all the pipes and joints has revealed no damps ones. Clearly it's appearing through a wormhole in the space-time continuum.....

Also another part of the bilge gets wet going through splashy bits, but the bouncing about just washed the talcum away again, there is no obvious source ..
Arghhhh ?
 
i found the talcum powder just skinned over, and the water ran underneath. In the end i traced it by laying beads of silicone across to trap it higher up. labour intensive, but nice when you finally have a dry bilge.
 
In really heavy weather, with lots of water coming over the boat, I had water everywhere, but with all of the tossing about, it could have come from anywhere....

The engine bilge has me really stumped though, because it happens when I'm tied up (and my other bilge compartments are dry otherwise). I had thought it was rain water from the rear locker, but no tracks from there...or anywhere.......

Maybe I could build dams between the stringers - at least I'd know which side of the boat it was coming from
 
Good luck!

It took me two years to find a leak which involved water getting in through the bulkhead cut-out for a cockpit repeater, running down between the bulkhead and the interior lining and then using a solar panel connecting wire to cross to the trim under the side deck where it ran along for a foot before dripping slowly.
 
Neil said:
Maybe I could build dams between the stringers - at least I'd know which side of the boat it was coming from
Click to expand...

My boat is built this way. No limber holes and a quite complex array of little cofferdams that keep various things out of the main bilge and give an accurate clue to the source of the problem.
Very useful and probably a bit 'green'for its day ('78)
The big plus is a skeleton of ribs and stringers which give a nice old-fashioned architectural strength to the hull. Some of my previous plastics were quite devoid of internal reinforcement.
 
Neil said:
Whenever I come back to the boat there is a small puddle under the engine. I've tried talcum powder such that when I circle the puddle area, there are no water tracks, suggesting that the track is vertical. This suggests the possibility of a leak from the raw water circuit, but tying paper towels round all the pipes and joints has revealed no damps ones. Clearly it's appearing through a wormhole in the space-time continuum.....

Also another part of the bilge gets wet going through splashy bits, but the bouncing about just washed the talcum away again, there is no obvious source ..
Arghhhh ��
Click to expand...

On my Sadler 25 any water collects at the bottom of the engine compartment, which to me suggests that if yours is the same as mine, your leak source is aft of where you are seeing it.
I get water in from my stern shaft, do you have a dripless gland, or a standard stuffing box? Other than that, any fittings on the base of the cockpit, push pit fittings, glands etc.

In bad weather I get a leak from the forehatch, I've also traced another to the retrofitted anchor well.
 
Ceirwan said:
On my Sadler 25 any water collects at the bottom of the engine compartment, which to me suggests that if yours is the same as mine, your leak source is aft of where you are seeing it.
I get water in from my stern shaft, do you have a dripless gland, or a standard stuffing box? Other than that, any fittings on the base of the cockpit, push pit fittings, glands etc.

In bad weather I get a leak from the forehatch, I've also traced another to the retrofitted anchor well.
Click to expand...

Yes, the pool is at the bottom of the engine compartment, and I have a standard stuffing box. However, I've ringed the pool with talc and there's no trail from aft......
 
LittleSister said:
Apologies for slight thread hijack, but any suggestions for tracking leaks on downward facing surfaces? Anti-gravity talc, perhaps?

I have a couple of leaks under the side decks of our 'project boat'. I know where the water ends up falling from, but can't work out where it starts its journey.
Click to expand...

Try taping strips of kitchen towel across suspected routes?
 
Neil said:
Yes, the pool is at the bottom of the engine compartment, and I have a standard stuffing box. However, I've ringed the pool with talc and there's no trail from aft......
Click to expand...

What I have sometimes seen is that you get a trickle from somewhere, and the water trace is very small/thin due to hydrophobic (water-repellent) surfaces - ie oily.

This trace dries quickly (as there is little water), whilst the puddle/evidence can stay for a while...

Good luck. A mate with a hose on deck squirting lots of water everywhere may find it.
 
You don't say what motor you have. My Sadler 25 has a 1gm10 which leaked from the back of the water pump not from the cover plate. It was just above the puddle you describe. It can be remedied ( there's a brilliant solution posted somewhere on this forum) but it might be your source.

Is there any water under the stern most of the bilge covers?
 
greggron said:
You don't say what motor you have. My Sadler 25 has a 1gm10 which leaked from the back of the water pump not from the cover plate. It was just above the puddle you describe. It can be remedied ( there's a brilliant solution posted somewhere on this forum) but it might be your source.

Is there any water under the stern most of the bilge covers?
Click to expand...

It's a beta 14, but I'll check all round the water pump. I only get water under the stern most of the bilge covers when I go through splashy waves, so that's a different leak. The problem is the boat is quite flat bottomed here, so any water will slosh from side to side, obliterating the talc.
 
Is there room to put a baking tray or something similar, may be even formed from tin foil, beneath the engine? Water in the container would have to have come from above, whereas water in the bilge beneath the container would have had to come from the side which might narrow down the source.
 
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