Bilge is always wet

[pha]

I hope it's OK to piggyback on this thread, since I have a similar problem with my 1999 26x.

Last weekend I took it out for the first time with the sails up (long story) and everything was great for the first couple of hours. We motored for about 20 minutes and then put the sails up and sailed mostly downwind for a while.

Then to my dismay, a lot of seawater started flowing into the cabin through the hole that is drilled through the vertical face of the liner just below the ladder. I have a photo but it's not obvious how to paste it into this message . . no doubt I will have more questions so if anyone can advise on that I would appreciate it.

Some of the responses to this topic suggest that water is getting into the bilge from the hatch cover, which I don't think is my problem. It started leaking before we turned into the wind and started getting spray over the bow. And, the water was definitely coming from the aft part of the boat. I checked the motor mount bolts and the rudder mountings, and they seem well sealed up. At this point I'm planning to take her out again and crawl back into the aft berth to see where the water is coming from, but if anyone has experienced this and has advice, please reply. I do suspect the motor well's thru-hull fitting & hose, but I have no way to prove that until we're back on the water.

I know the hull is basically intact since it's on the trailer in my driveway and I can see every inch of the hull. The only possibility seems to be the various holes in the transom.

[hschumac]

I have had water in the bilge after every trip since I bought the boat earlier this year. Always keep it on the trailer, and after every time out had to bail many a gallon.

After searching the forums and seeing the many sources you all found, I took to the water with a dry bilge.

Checking all the hatches periodically, saw a puddle had formed. After drying some areas and watching again, found out it was my fault. Water trickling down the inside of the hull, behind the head, from the head sink drain. When I connected a new drain pipe to the through hull I didn't caulk it, thinking that the hose clamp was sufficient. Since I have never run water down it (purposefully) never even thought of that as a source. It was actually the lake water coming in the through hull that was leaking into the boat.

Then I filled the ballast. I had originally thought there HAD to be a leak in the ballast tank, even against all the statements on the forums that this is extremely rare. Normally after the tank is full I put the step back on, covering up the valve. Left the step off and sure enough as we were motoring along, with little waves in the lake a little water would surge up around the edges of the vent plug and immediately drain into the bilge through the small seam between the hull liner and the ballast tank. This answered the question of why it leaked but the cabin sole never got wet, and making it counterintuitive to find.

So there you have it. My assumptions that all proved to be wrong, and two simple answers.

[ChuckieTodd]

I too collected some water when on the trailer during Isaac last week. Turns out the overhang on my house was directly over the stbd edge of the hatch and with 16 inches of rain....

[Ormonddude]

Awesome get a fresh plug and O-ring for the main valve calk the thru hull and your all set

[Divecoz]

If you constantly have water in your bilge ? You have an issue. Sliding hatch could be it.. Motor controls at transom could be it.. Bedding for windows and winches could be it, as has been shown in this thread , damage to rub rail could be it.. Leaking Anchor drain tube could be it, as could the sink drain..
toss in for good measure.. any apparatus that has caused there to be holes drilled through the deck like rope clutches could be the entry point as well.
Through Hull Ports for what ever reason under the boot stripe could be the entry point.. BTW any and every one of these could be an issue on any boat that has them.. I had a couple leaks over the years as well. One was when I had the boat next to the garage.. I had stripped her out and was cleaning her real good.. hummm duhhhhh I forget to close the hatch and I had? A Leak Hahahaha

[Don T]

Hello,
That hole drilled at the base of the ladder/step was put there specifically to reveal water getting in through the center valve rod or vent. Can happen if the valve does not seal properly (my boat had this) and or the vent plug leaks. The latter is easily solved by screwing the plug handle down thereby increasing its diameter. I can also get water in there from a following sea through the Cable / wiring penetrations at the transom.

[pha]

Just to close the loop on my posting, I finally figured it out this past week. Because the leaking only happened when on a starboard tack, I assumed that (a) the ballast tank had a leak on the port side or (b) one of the two thru-hulls on the port side was leaky but only when submerged to a certain depth. I had examined both thru-hulls pretty carefull but only visually, and couldn't find anything wrong.

But when I put a strip of duct tape over the thru-hull for the galley sink and filled the sink with water, it was obvious because water started pouring out of the joint between the bottom of the sink and the PVC tailpipe that the hose clamps onto. So after repairing that with MarineTex, all is well. I took her out yesterday and no more seawater in the bilge! Thanks everyone for your replies.

[RobertB]

After changing out the stock factory steering linkage for the BWY kit (issues here also but better), I think the main source of water in my bilge is through where the steering linkage comes through the hull to the motor. When in rough Chesapeake Bay conditions, the aft end does get submerged and the steering linkage does submerge occasionally.
Does anyone have a low friction way to seal this? Could possibly adapt a grease seal, similar to what is on a wheel bearing, except installation would be a bear with the fitting welded onto the tube.

[mastreb]

After changing out the stock factory steering linkage for the BWY kit (issues here also but better), I think the main source of water in my bilge is through where the steering linkage comes through the hull to the motor. When in rough Chesapeake Bay conditions, the aft end does get submerged and the steering linkage does submerge occasionally.
Does anyone have a low friction way to seal this? Could possibly adapt a grease seal, similar to what is on a wheel bearing, except installation would be a bear with the fitting welded onto the tube.

That's a hard problem. I think it's most easily solved with a bilge pump.

There's the cable raceway down there as well, which is pretty open and would be easily packed with bulkhead putty.

[seahouse]

Does anyone have a low friction way to seal this? Could possibly adapt a grease seal, similar to what is on a wheel bearing, except installation would be a bear with the fitting welded onto the tube.

RobertB- you mean something like this?...

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ?view=1595

and

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/modt/in ... ?view=1596

- Brian.

[RobertB]

That is close - looking for a seal that is servicable without removing the whole steering arm - have the BWY one with the linkage fitting welded on the end. A split setup of some sort is called for.

[seahouse]

Yeah - the factory fitting on the end is threaded, and removable, so that makes it easier. But on the inside of the hull I'm picturing in my mind another pivoting threaded screw/bolt that can be removed for installing the seal? You will need to remove any burrs on the holes in the"L" shaped tube so that the seal is not damaged on installation, but you would need to do that anyway.
-Brian.