water and bilges

[icepatrol]

having often heard old salts saying water is always in ya bilges i wondered if any of you actually have a dry bilge.
we pumped about 5 gallons out of ours and it has returned. after being out of water for 7 months we tried to find anywhere seawater could enter but..........
so we presume she will always have wet bilges.(wooden hull)

 

[Anthony]

GRP boat with bellow style shaft seal, bilges always totaly dry.

Ants

 

[Tranona]

You need to find out if it is seawater coming in or freshwater from either tanks, piping or leaks letting in rainwater.

Water appearing after the boat has been returned to the water suggests seawater and it would be useful to find the source. Most obvious are sternglands and skin fittings. If those are both dry then it is coming through the wood structure. Whether this is serious depends on the method of construction. Traditionally planked boats often leak through seams which dry out when ashore and leaks stop as wood swells in sea water. If, on the other hand the boat is plywood or glued structure with maybe double planking then leaks are undesirable as water can get into the structure and cause rot.

Leaks are notoriously difficult to trace - 5 gallons in a boat the volume of yours can come from a very tiny source and spread easily through the bilge. All you can do is dry it and then sprinkle talcum powder around the bilge area and hope you can see the general area the water is coming from. You might then be able to trace the source - although s*ds law says it will be in some inaccessible place beneath machinery, tanks etc!

 

[tinkicker0]

having often heard old salts saying water is always in ya bilges i wondered if any of you actually have a dry bilge.
we pumped about 5 gallons out of ours and it has returned. after being out of water for 7 months we tried to find anywhere seawater could enter but..........
so we presume she will always have wet bilges.(wooden hull)

According to the Boatyard prog on telly, wooden hulls dry out on land and tend to leak a bit when put back in until the planks swell and compress the caulking again.

 

[Divemaster1]

Keep an eye out for this... if it is sea water..

1) Suspect shaft seals being dry after 7 months, so may be dripping
2) Skin fittings
3) Check your raw water strainers... they may be fitted below water line and may have a small leak there.
4) Check the raw water pump and hoses leading to/from
5) Generator water intake & fittings

Have you run the engines??

If so, check exhaust outlets and all connections, including water traps if you have, and through hull.

 

[Searush]

My first boat had very few holes in the hull & an o/b over the stern & the bilges where actually dusty - until my flexible water tank came adrift one season!

My current boat has a shaft driven prop with traditional stuffing box that tends to drip a little. As the bilge pump uses a 2" suck hose, there is never less than 1.5" of water in the sump - sometimes a little more if I haven't pumped a bit extra grease recently, or she has been left unattended in the water for a while.

 

[icepatrol]

hi alf.
thanks for your suggestion.
in fact the water is only in forward bilge, all bilges after the fuel tanks are good,
so it can only be the raw water inlet or as u say seapage due to drying out,
best wishes,

 

[Thepipdoc]

. All you can do is dry it and then sprinkle talcum powder around the bilge area and hope you can see the general area the water is coming from. You might then be able to trace the source - although s*ds law says it will be in some inaccessible place beneath machinery, tanks etc!

I like the idea of using talc...... I pressume the source can be narrowed down to the area the talc has dissapeared?

 

[Divemaster1]

hi alf.
thanks for your suggestion.
in fact the water is only in forward bilge, all bilges after the fuel tanks are good,
so it can only be the raw water inlet or as u say seapage due to drying out,
best wishes,

We're a bit smaller than you... in principle we have 6 seperate compartments, (up to 10 cm above waterline). The two forwards are connected with limbering holes, third is isolated, fourth,fifth and sixth may be connected (if I want to...). We had some seapage in shaft seals and in rudder seals, which, when I isolated the compartments made it easier to detect the source. Found an odd one as well in the air intakes where drains were blocked during this time as well... but suspect you may not have been out in rough weather yet..