Water in Centaur cabin bilges !!

[Airscrew]

Also posted on Westerly forum, but more people and responses here.
My question is regarding the hull internal structure.

Boat has been bone dry for years.
This weekend alot of water.
NOT in the engine bilge.
We only dry out once a year to clean, and that was February.
We havent hit or touched anything, and the sailing this weekend was calm and benign.
Keels were professionally stengthened and sealed a 10 years ago.

But we have water in all 4 portside hull lockers, and also the central underfloor area.
(EDITED)Tasted and salt not fresh.
Thats the zone with the engine intake, the two port central locklers with the keel bolts, and the zone with the 3 heads thru hull fittings, plus the 'flat' section under the central floor.

I need to locate where is the source.
Question.
Does the construction allow water to move freely between all these zones.??
I ask, because visually they appear to be separate and sealed.

Ofcourse, yesterday eve, back on our pontoon, I dried out all 5 sections, and closed (as always) all the valves before leaving.
There was no visible weeping 30 minutes after that.
I wont be able to get back to the boat until Friday, so just trying to picture what is going on and where.

Any thoughts appreciated, esp from Westerly or twin(bilge) keel owners.
Thanks.

 

[RupertW]

I assume you have tasted the water to be sure it’s seawater not a freshwater tank leak.

Have you then shut off all seacocks and checked shaft drips (if an inboard) as well as log and echo sounder holes? Keels are I think usually the last place for significant leaks.

 

[MarkCX]

Mine’s not a Centaur or even a Westerly, but I regularly end up with water in my starboard bilge, rarely port. I too have seemingly separate under floor compartments and water sometimes ended up there too. Subsequent inspection revealed each section not to be totally isolated from the other with small gaps at the top where water could find its way through. A previous owner tried unsuccessfully to seal them. I tasted mine (yuck) and it didn’t taste particularly salty. It’s more common after heavy rain, possibly from certain directions. I have no idea how it’s getting in after much investigation, so I ended up fitting a small diy ‘dry bilge’ system for when it does, with frequent monitoring. I will get to the bottom of it eventually. All this probably doesn’t help you much, but you’re not alone.

 

[Bilgediver]

We had a Centaur at our marina a few years ago where the owners found water in the port and starboard lockers after going out for a sail. The soup cans in store were floating round in a sea of labels and the water was at the height of the sea level outside. The lockers were drained out and remained dry. They set off from Edinburgh to the West coast and all was fine for a while then hit bad weather. and returned to the marina a couple of days later with the lockers full of water. They had kept watch for leakage and discovered that both keels leaked when on the windward side when the boat heeled but stopped leaking when the boat was upright. The boat went to Croabh on the back of a truck and both keels dropped and resealed there .
The leakage must have been around the central wide part of the keel as no water appeared under the sink or in the cool box area where there are also keel bolts I have a feeling that the construction of their boat differed to mine as the sealed filet between the lockers and the underfloor area did not appear to be there ????? Their boat was a Centaur Ketch and mine a Chieftain. My underfloor is a sealed area with a sounding bung at the aft end

 

[JumbleDuck]

Have you checked whether it is fresh or salt. The two classic places for leaks in that age of Westerly are through loose bolts for the jib tracks (normally fresh water) and through loose bolts for the rubbing strip (normally salt). Leaks from either place then run down behind the head lining and appear in lockers. This normally gives wet undersides to the cushions as well.

 

[Catalina36]

Assuming it's salt, check that you don't have a hose connected to a skin fitting without an anti-syphon trap fitted. It sounds basic, but I fell for it and ended up with floating floorboards.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Two responders have asked whether it's fresh or salt when the OP clearly stated that he's checked and it's salty.
Come on pay attention at the back!

 

[RupertW]

Two responders have asked whether it's fresh or salt when the OP clearly stated that he's checked and it's salty.
Come on pay attention at the back!

Did it say that before it was edited?

 

[Airscrew]

Did it say that before it was edited?

That was the edit.
Sorry for any confusion or amusement.

 

[Jokani]

I have a Centaur.

It may be that you port side transverse stringers are not doing the job that the should be, allowing the hull to flex more that is should, this then causes the port side keel bolts to weep when the boat is heeled.

Later Centaurs had strengthened transverse stringers, make sure yours have been strengthened if an earlier model.

 

[Iliade]

Was your last tack to port? Could the toilet have back flowed while on stbd, then the water shuffled over to the port side before you put the sails away?

P.S. You tasted the water! ;-0

Has the boat been ashore? The keel bolts can leak a fair bit until they take up. (Unless they still have the original flowcoat covering. That's why they put it there I guess!)
If Centaur keel bolts leak, they can be addressed one at time without dropping the keels. They are assembled similarly to a stuffing box. I have the appropriate sockets, but in Shoreham so probably not worth the petrol unless you happen to pass this way.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Did it say that before it was edited?

It said that when I read it!

 

[RupertW]

Oh dear I didn’t read it right - if only I’d read it 6 hours before

The perils of editing