Water in the bilge

AuntyRinum

AuntyRinum

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I have a Hillyard 12 Tonner and there are always a couple of inches of water in the bilge.
What is people's opinion of how dry the bilge should be on a wooden boat?
Or put another way, how much water is acceptable?
 
Ah, now then. This all depends...

Firstly, does the pump rate vary depending on the sea state and the way the boat is being driven? Or, is the rate of water ingress fairly constant no matter whether beating into a 6 or swinging round the bouy?

I've always thought that a couple of inches in a wooden boat that doesn't have some form of sheathing is about right. I assume that this is a small bilge sump and not the whole length of the bilge? If you have to spend a lot of time pumping, there usually is a problem. If the boat doesn't leak, I'd worry. If she works a lot in a seaway, then there has to be some remedial action somewhere. (One trip we only got crossed the channel in a 7 with one of us on the pumps every 5 minutes, leaking 100 gals an hour!) If you can get to examining the seams and recaulking this may be needed. A fairly constant leak shows that the hull isn't working much but that there is a leak somewhere, or that the caulking generally needs refreshing.

It all depends whether you can tolerate the state of things as they are.
 
I'll be going down to Mariposa tomorrow after a 5 week absence. I expect to find a few inches in the bilges, but as long as it's <u>salt</u> water I won't worry too much.

I know if I pump her out there will be a few damp patches that refuse to dry. I suppose you'd call them weeps. This year I've not noticed much difference in ingress whether she's on the mooring or beating to windward.
 
Thank you both for your comments.
It is salt water in the bilge. All the seams were checked and caulked a couple of years ago, but it is caused by some slow seepage from somewhere.
The pumps, of course, don't empty the bilge completely so there is always some water there.
It niggles me as I would like to see a completely dry bilge but don't believe that's ever likely.
Old fisherman say that you don't need to recaulk until you get crabs in the bilge, but I can't agree with them.
 
If I leave the boat on the mooring for more than a week or so I expect a couple of inches to gather in the lowest part of the bilge, but so fer its never risen far enough to activate the automatic pump which is exactly 3.5 inches above the lowest plank. After a couple of strokes the Henderson is gulping air.
I do have a problem with rainwater getting in... the chainplates go through the deck and do weep water in heavy rain.
I spent Sunday afternoon lifting the floors and shifting pig iron ballast to clear the strum holes, then flushed from the bow with sea water to get rid of the pools of fresh.
I hate iron ballast.
Replacing it with lead is on the wish list... quite a bit after stopping the chainplate leaks, putting in new fuel tanks, painting the deck etc etc...
 
flushed from the bow with sea water to get rid of the pools of fresh.

Haha i did that yesterday...later i noticed a tiny fish swimming around in the bilge ...lol

i let it go free..:)
 
"leaking 100 gals an hour!"

Jeeze I'd be calling for help.

I never have more than a couple of inches about 1/2 gallon but I cant get rid of it as the pump will not pick it up. The only time I have had more than this was when caught in a 6-7 and the anchor hawse let water down into the bilge, even then it was only a few gallons.

All the water in my bilge is from the rear lazarette or the stern tube which only drips after a long run until the greaser is turned! I don't believe that wood boats have to have wet bilges.

Tom
 
Wooden boats do that - a little water comes in - for us it can be a concern if water isnt coming in on a timber yacht and she is dusty dry - it could mean over caulking - in the case of your Hillyard the wet areas are interesting to follow up. Take a look around the sternpost especially check the prop shaft is running straight as this will shake things about. Check keel bolt fastenings. More importantly for the moment fit an auto bilge pump, a good battery and if you can, fit a solar panel to top the battery. After you have inspected the hull internally maybe tell yourself water ingress is normal and plan her lift out for a good survey. Contact the Hillyard Club or us to guide you further.

----------------------------------
www.yachtsmartbrokerage.com
 
Why do people insist on going on about fresh water rotting boats? Do pilings in sea water rot? Do old wooden barges, sank in the canals on purpose and refloated later, when they had no work for them rot? Do sunken ships in the fresh water of the great lakes rot? do wooden boats rot at the waterline in salt water? Think about all these things and get back to me.
 
I grew up with a lifeboat conversion on the fen rivers, with occasional excursions into the Wash, and the hull never leaked a single drop even in quite choppy seas.
This was a larch on oak ex P&O pre-war clinker lifeboat hull, which spent all its time afloat apart from a haul out every 2 years for antifouling.
It was left unattended (no bilge pump) for about 4 months of the year, and not only were the bilges always bone dry, but the batteries never failed to start the engine.
 
I used to sail on a lovely old Sparkman & Stephens yawl 'Stormy Weather'. She would not leak a drop while at anchor, but the seams would work when beating to windward - if we didnt then pump the bilge every half hour the water was over the cabin sole boards....... and we crossed Biscay in November, bashing to windward in this fashion.
 
There is a difference between a boat being fully submerged and a boat that is merely damp. Most or all rots are fungal. They like damp places but not salty damp places. In salt water wood does not rot. It gets eaten. That is why you antifoul.

I am no expert on what a boat submerged in fresh water would not rot. However, if you take a wooden boat out of salt water, then let it fill up with rain water it will need an almost complete rebuild within ten years. And if you don't believe that then I suggest you never own a wooden boat.
 
We also have a 12 tonner. The only place we collect salt water in the bilge is aft under the stern gland and this only tends too happen if I rush away at the w/e and foregt to turn the greaser for the shaft tube . I also noticed a very small weep from the aft heads outlet seacoak when open. If you shut down all your seacocks and grease up your stern tube after a trip then monitor level of bilge water it might be that it will show you the answer. If its not one of these then its obviously somewhere else. John Lilley Yacht Surveyor seems to know more than most about these boats (He has had several I believe) so he might be your next point of contact. http://www.seasurveys.co.uk/
 
I have ONLY owned wooden boats over a period of 30 years and worked on dozens more, rotten and sound, fresh and salt water. I live on one now!
Boats also rot in salt water, as long as the water content is in a certain range, especially the splash zone on a hull, submerged boats in salt water do not rot, your right they get eaten, same for fresh water, they do not rot, they get eaten. Unless the water is too cold/deep for the wee critters to survive, as in the great lakes. The presence of spores for rot depends on a critical dampness and the oxygen, rot spores dont mind if the damp is salt water or fresh, that's my point, read up on it and check your facts before suggesting to me I shouldnt own a wooden boat, pompous git!
 
Googling around a bit it seems that there is no single straightforward answer to the question, can wood rot in salt water? The general view seems to be that salts tends to inhibit rot, but not totally, and that if the other circumstances are right (degree of dampness, lack of ventilation, presence of certain metals) then wood can rot even in the presence of salt.

Some wood of course is seasoned, or at least preserved, in fresh water. Elm logs for making barge keels were traditionally felled and submerged green, often for years, before being used.
 
Re sailing with Paul (a larger, and louder, than life legend....), I sailed on Stormy in Antigua Classics just once, in '95, but did a few Bequia Easter Regattas on her in '93, '94 and '95 - did you ever get to Bequia as well?
The sailing world is very small, hence am sure we have bumped into each other somewhere along the way!
 
When i bought my folkboat she was half full of fresh water and had been that way for a few years...i was concerned of course when she was pumped dry i went over that hull inside real careful and there aint no rot at all in the hull!..:)

But i cannot say the same about the roof which has rotted where the rains been driping in:(

the spors could not live underwater!

but they loved the damp roof!....ba sta rd s....fortunately only a few places!
 
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