Water in bilge. Prob been posted 1000 times before

jcwads

jcwads

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So, a few days into my summer cruise. Aweful weather, persistent westerlies, swell, chop and F4/5 with a little bit of 6 for good measure. I’m lucky my wife is still here....

I’ve noticed water in the bilge. About 2 buckets worth. Before you ask for a taste test, it’s a combo of salt, fuel (getting a residual smell) and water....

We’ve done 2 really bumpy passages, head on seas and slam central. In fact it was Horrendous So, would those conditions mean a Targa 40 would have water in the bilge? No idea how it would get in there...
 
It’s possible that this is water that’s been around the boat for a little while but is now reporting to the bilge due to the, more exiting bow angles of your recent trip - depends on the centreline flow of the boat.
More likely it’s coming in from the big spurlashes that you’ve been through, you might have some small compromise somewhere - rub rail screw sealant gone or maybe something closer to the transome if you’re getting oil....especially if you were being chased down some waves.


Clean it out, talc the surround and then give the boat a thorough hose down or Karcher the hell out of it - see if it repeats.

‘Course - it could be fresh water that tastes brackish because it’s picked up residual salt on the way to the bilge...
 
jcwads said:
So, a few days into my summer cruise. Aweful weather, persistent westerlies, swell, chop and F4/5 with a little bit of 6 for good measure. I’m lucky my wife is still here....

I’ve noticed water in the bilge. About 2 buckets worth. Before you ask for a taste test, it’s a combo of salt, fuel (getting a residual smell) and water....

We’ve done 2 really bumpy passages, head on seas and slam central. In fact it was Horrendous So, would those conditions mean a Targa 40 would have water in the bilge? No idea how it would get in there...
Click to expand...

Assuming you mean the aft bilge, the Targa 40 has an inspection hatch in the (removeable) garage floor. If you've had heavy seas over the bathing platform and into the garage, the water will drain down though this hatch and into the engine room. Have a look at the hatch from underneath and see if there's salt crystals (or even if it is wet).

Two buckets of water does sound like a lot through. Why isn't your bilge pump dealing with this?
 
Targa 40’s are renowned for taking in water in through the air intakes especially if going head to wind. Is there any evidence of salty engines in general or just in the bilge? Early ones in particular often had badly corroded alternators. Lastly do you have the early type black whole lid screw on sea water strainers or the later Volvo upgrade of 4 black screw / bolt down or even better the clip style upgrade?
 
Jonmendez said:
Targa 40’s are renowned for taking in water in through the air intakes especially if going head to wind. Is there any evidence of salty engines in general or just in the bilge? Early ones in particular often had badly corroded alternators. Lastly do you have the early type black whole lid screw on sea water strainers or the later Volvo upgrade of 4 black screw / bolt down or even better the clip style upgrade?
Click to expand...

Iirc the OP's boat is Kad300s, not D6s, so doesn't have the strainer lid issue. On my boat the air intakes are all via fans and ducting, there's no direct route from the air intakes on the side to the engine room. Might be different with a Kad300 boat I guess.
 
I’m D6 350 on my boat. Have the black screw down on the strainers.

I’m thinking JTB has a good point on the aft sun pad theory. I did hose down the outboard earlier in the garage so that must have contributed. Plus heavy seas adding a bit too.

Will monitor it but hopefully a simple couple of things here
 
jcwads said:
I’m D6 350 on my boat. Have the black screw down on the strainers.

I’m thinking JTB has a good point on the aft sun pad theory. I did hose down the outboard earlier in the garage so that must have contributed. Plus heavy seas adding a bit too.

Will monitor it but hopefully a simple couple of things here
Click to expand...

Aha sorry J I didn't realise you had the D6-350s. Same as me.

In that case - you should have the clear strainer lids with the four black plastic fixings. If you've got the old style black plastic screw-on lid then that is your #1 candidate for the problem (and you should replace these immediately).
 
I’ve got the clear strainer lid and 4 screws so that mod has been done pre my ownership.

It’s the aft bilge, water had collected mainly in the area forward of the engines and where the genset muffler sits and a little forward of that too. So there was no masses of water by the bilge pump.
 
jimmy_the_builder said:
Iirc the OP's boat is Kad300s, not D6s, so doesn't have the strainer lid issue. On my boat the air intakes are all via fans and ducting, there's no direct route from the air intakes on the side to the engine room. Might be different with a Kad300 boat I guess.
Click to expand...
Hi Jimmy what is the issue with d6 strainers ,ps mine has 4 bolts holding the lids on
 
I was thinking as previously mentioned, that it could just be water that was allready there being moved around by the rough sea but two bucket gulls does seem quite a bit

My last boat, a sports cruiser, always had some water in the bilge after heavy rain, never did find out where it came from, that and a little bit of green coolant!
 
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