Water in Bilge

[sailorman]

I have just bought a larger plastic MAB with a greaser. As only the second boat I have had with an inboard engine, I'm afraid I'm a little wary of it. My other boat 'Glayva' has a deep sea seal which it took me 5 years to work out how to stop it leaking into the non existent bilge. But I sort of understood the rate of leak of that except when motoring at full throttle.
When I bought 'Raven'* my new boat I was advised by the old owners that half to a turn after use was about right. 'Raven' has a 6 feet deep sump in the keel which allows me a fair margin of error in terms of taking on water, but the only bilge pump is worked by hand.

The question. I am taking 'Glayva' to the Azores this year and will leave 'Raven' on the mooring for two months. I assume if I tighten up the greaser well before I leave, I will have minimum leaks into the bilge. Am I right or should I get someone to check it every couple of weeks?

*Proper name 'Raven of Hamble', a much smaller sister to 'Phoenix of Hamble'

tighten the greaser ( with gland packing suitably adjusted) = no leaks
on the coldest morning i can grasp the 1/2 coupling & turn the shaft easily,we get virtually no grease or water into the boat.

 

[davidfox]

We sailed our new (to us) yacht (1988 Beneteau Oceanis 320) back from Woolverstone to our mooring at Felixstowe Ferry this morning (great weather at 06.30+ and a great sail!) but arrived back at Felixstowe to find the equivalant of three buckets of water slopping around in the bilge. None of the seacocks are leaking, the freshwater tank / through the hull fixings and keel bolts all seem intact. No leaks from the engine (they were sorted before we took delivery) so where can this water be coming from? We have dried it up and left it for further checking tomorrow but anyone have any experience of this / advice for a relative newcomer...??

Sounds like rain getting in somewhere, we have had a fair bit?

 

[nigelm]

Sounds like rain getting in somewhere, we have had a fair bit?

This actually reminded me of a fright I had , a few yrs ago I had a Etap26 and for a few months prior to launch she was sitting on her trailer while I replaced the cockpit seat/ locker lids , I rigged a tent over cockpit but couldn't cover everything , any way she was sitting stern down and I hadn't realised rain had accumulated in the void right aft behind the rudder post .

When the boat was launched and I went round checking for leaks etc I open engine hatch in cockpit floor and saw water gushing out of pipe from this void space I nearly **** myself with all the water coming in , after panicking for about 10 mins it dawned on me to taste it and then found it to be fresh (ish)
Crisis over !!!, then I worked out how & why it had happend .

Probably not what's happend in the OP's case but thought I mention it ..

 

[John 32i]

Thanks to all for advice, heading down to the boat in the morning for a through check over. This is the first boat we have had with an inboard so hate to say it but dont know that much about greasing stern glands...etc, but guess I am going to start learning pretty quick! The boat had been standing for 10 months (having been winterised) we had it craned into the water and a mechanic gave it a service and got it running...all seemed well so off we went!

 

[baffled9]

No one has yet mentioned that the curved Perspex windows/decklights at the forward end of the saloon on this model are notoriously prone to leakage.......

 

[noelex]

Not conclusive..tasted it and it didnt seem salty but there again the freshwater tank/pipes didnt seem to be leaking !

Salt water tastes very salty. Do a comparrison with raw sea water, so you know what salt water tastes like. Often fresh water leaking into the bilges has a slight salty taste from the left over salt, but it is very different to raw salt water.
The good news is that if it's not salt water water, generally it's less serious and your boat will not sink.
Paper towels are the best tools for tracking down leaks. Dry the area and if there is a small leak it is easily seen a few minutes later by on the paper towel. Water will generally travel down with gravity, so with a bit of detective work you can find the leak, but sometimes the water will accumulate a long way from its source.

 

[John 32i]

Ok....this one has taken a while but it seems that the exhaust has a massive split in it - difficult to get too (right under the transom), water has been running out and into the bilge.....hopefully it will be repaired in time for the weekend

 

[ex-Gladys]

That's interesting, I had a similar issue a few years back, where Gladys was losing cooling water, but I couldn't for the life of me work out where from, but whilst bailing out on one occasion I picked up the calorifier hose and it was dripping out under pressure.... Some of these things can be sods to identify