Win a bottle of Champagne!!!!

FullCircle

FullCircle

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I am going to hold a contest on board Full Circle to see if anyone can find the root of my evil. The winner will receive a bottle of Champagne.

I have now fixed my leaking water pump, and no drips from that area.
I have now fixed my leaking Freshwater cooling system, and no drips from that area either.
Normally, when FC sits on the pontoon, I get no water ingress.

So, I have replaced the water feed to the Tides marine seal, and added a siphon loop, marvellous.

I have also disconnected the pipe that leads from the rear of the engine compartment to the saloon bilges, so that is isolated in the middle of the boat.

I moved the Tides marine seal back on the shaft and confirmed the seal area has no burrs or wear grooves. It as shiny as a shiny thing.

In engine free rotation for 1/2 hour no drips from the water feed.

I have run the engine in gear both backward and forward for 1/2 an hour and managed 2 drips from the seal. So thats not it.

When I go sailing/motoring, I get around 3-4 litres over a weekend.


So, I need to go sailing with some diligent leak hounds, who are prepared to crawl aorund the tight spaces looking for leak paths while we are bashing away under different tacks, speeds and degrees of heel.

I will provide brushes, talcum powder, kitchen roll and sponges. Not to mention healthy bacon butties and strong tea.

Any one up for that? I am thinking of this Saturday.
 
MoodySabre said:
Reporting for duty Sir :)

This would be good practice for finding why my boat does the same.:(

Speeds and degrees of heel might to hard to induce according to windguru
Click to expand...

Thanks Roger, will return the favour when the time comes.

Speeds will be limited by the weedy growth, but degrees of heel sorted by placing the blubber monsters such as myself either on the rail, or dangling from the boom on a reach.
 
As a wooden boat owner, it isn't likely that I can contribute any useful advice about making 3 or 4 litres! And unfortunately I am on my travels again on Saturday so canot offer useful time with you - BUT, I did have a mysterious leak (i.e. not accounted for by such trivia as leaking seams, weeping keel bolts etc). In the end I tracked it to a pinhole leak in the copper pipe on the water inlet. Only leaked when the seacock was open for running t'engine. This is on a Volvo 2030 (standard shaft of course). From the seacock the rubber pipe runs to a copper bend on the gearbox and it was on the bend that there was a pinhole leak. On getting a replacement from Volspec, it was clear that this was not unusual.

There - you will probably say you haven't got a Volvo but my machinery was not that old and it was pretty surprising and not where I was looking for the leak.
 
tillergirl said:
As a wooden boat owner, it isn't likely that I can contribute any useful advice about making 3 or 4 litres! And unfortunately I am on my travels again on Saturday so canot offer useful time with you - BUT, I did have a mysterious leak (i.e. not accounted for by such trivia as leaking seams, weeping keel bolts etc). In the end I tracked it to a pinhole leak in the copper pipe on the water inlet. Only leaked when the seacock was open for running t'engine. This is on a Volvo 2030 (standard shaft of course). From the seacock the rubber pipe runs to a copper bend on the gearbox and it was on the bend that there was a pinhole leak. On getting a replacement from Volspec, it was clear that this was not unusual.

There - you will probably say you haven't got a Volvo but my machinery was not that old and it was pretty surprising and not where I was looking for the leak.
Click to expand...

Thank you Roger, its not just Volvos. I intend to scrutinise the whole powertrain from inlet seacock to exhaust outlet.
 
Some years ago we chartered a Sigma 33, which had a significant leak, but only when engine was running. It also had unserviceable bilge pumps but that is another story. :mad:

It turned out to be a tiny hole in the water inlet pipe caused by it being routed too close to the flange on the prop shaft which had rubbed through the hose.
 
I leak 4-5 gallons a day when sailing, and that doesn't account for the amount my bunk soaks up, although it is less if I keep the rails out of the water. I'd be hard pressed to find 3-4 litres over a weekend. :)
 
this is only a suggestion as i am not familiar with yr boat but it has a lfting keel does it not ?? .

well , does the keel have a roller/s at the end/s ? have you looked in this area whilst sailing ? .

i only ask this because i had a similar thing with a lifting keel boat i had , at the aft end was a nylon roller set in a bronze bushing and had 1 big bolt up thru the centre into the bilges , motoring wasnt a prob but as soon as a bit of heel was present the bushing / bolt would move slightly and weep .

it bugged me for 2 seasons after trying to tighten the bolt from inside untill one winter i removed the bronze bushing from its recess in the hull and found only a small amount of sealant , refitted the bush with lots of "life caulk" and hey presto no more leaks .

just a thought .
 
nigelm said:
this is only a suggestion as i am not familiar with yr boat but it has a lfting keel does it not ?? .

well , does the keel have a roller/s at the end/s ? have you looked in this area whilst sailing ? .

i only ask this because i had a similar thing with a lifting keel boat i had , at the aft end was a nylon roller set in a bronze bushing and had 1 big bolt up thru the centre into the bilges , motoring wasnt a prob but as soon as a bit of heel was present the bushing / bolt would move slightly and weep .

it bugged me for 2 seasons after trying to tighten the bolt from inside untill one winter i removed the bronze bushing from its recess in the hull and found only a small amount of sealant , refitted the bush with lots of "life caulk" and hey presto no more leaks .

just a thought .
Click to expand...

Thanks Nigel, but the keel mech does not come into the cabin - its all contained in the stub under the waterline, and the only intrusion is the lead screw up through the dining table.
 
i have had another thought about this :rolleyes: was going to put brain wave but that might be stretching things abit :D:D

did any one check out the twin rudders ? do they have seals at the top of the tubes ?? maybe even a hairline stress fracture in one caused by a awkward drying out someplace and when sailing weeps a bit .
 
nigelm said:
i have had another thought about this :rolleyes: was going to put brain wave but that might be stretching things abit :D:D

did any one check out the twin rudders ? do they have seals at the top of the tubes ?? maybe even a hairline stress fracture in one caused by a awkward drying out someplace and when sailing weeps a bit .
Click to expand...

Sadly, the talcum powder is dry aorund that area...
 
Master_under_Dog said:
Jim

Silly question probably, but is the water salty?

Michael
Click to expand...

1 leak path has a mixture of fresh and citronella oil leaked from my hurricane lamp.
1 leak path has salt water, but is possibly residual, lying under the fuel tank.
1 leak path is the condensate from the fridge, which I will be directing into a bottle from now on.
No leaks taste of diesel anymore.

I did quite like the antifreeze cordial, but that has gone too now.
 
sarabande said:
Pressure Relief Valve on calorifier ?
Click to expand...

haha, you won't catch me on that one. I had 60 gallons of water in the bilge before!
No, that empties into the forward bilge.

We now have isolated forward leaks from aft leaks.

Further aft leak sorted was the transom shower head body had split during winter freeze, and was seeping fresh water.

Sadly, they are both dry at the moment, which is unbelievable.
 
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