Water in bilge - E34

[bsangs]

Note B: if your refrigerated ice box is accumulating a lot of condensation, you need to immediately put a thin sponge rubber gasket around the lid. The 1/8 inch "window insulation foam" they sell in rolls at the hardware store works great for this.

Loren - I’m sidetracking here from OP, sorry about that - wouldn’t putting that strip of insulation tape prop the lid up and prevent it from lying flush and sealing better?

 

[Loren Beach]

Loren - I’m sidetracking here from OP, sorry about that - wouldn’t putting that strip of insulation tape prop the lid up and prevent it from lying flush and sealing better?

Indeed it could. Altho having the lid be a sixteenth proud will not change the "seal" since the thin foam is doing the sealing. Ours sits slightly proud - maybe a 32nd - if anyone notices. Note that the slightly uneven mating surface, flange and bottom of lid, is where air infiltrates in the first place. So the foam just flattens and makes the 'seal'.
Also, be sure to used some cold-moldable putty around the hole where the coolant tubing enters the box.
Third, I added some one-inch rigid foam, foil covered, to the bottom of the lid. EY had not insulated the top, perhaps to be able to certify a max. cubic inches of ice box capacity? I dunno.

 

[K2MSmith]

Without tasting it ( and it is brownish) is there a way to determine the answer to that question?

I purchased a saline detector on Amazon. They are cheap . Keep in mind that freshwater in the bilge will still have some salt in it.

 

[Phr3d]

The brass T replaced a PVC one that was cracked. I couldn’t find a store that had PVC.

The hose attached to it runs down from the drain in the fridge. The valve to the right goes to that black hose that goes (apparently) under the cabin sole to somewhere.

The thru-hull has the two clear-ish hoses - one that goes to the foot pump and the other to the top of the drain valve assembly with the black hose coming out of the bottom. The cork bothers me.

Does this look like it is designed to be that way?

 

[peaman]

The cork bothers me.

The cork bothers all of us.

I think the grey fittings at the seacock, and the hose to the foot pump are original. I think the tee with the cork is not original and anything beyond that may well be post-delivery. It appears that your plumbing is similar to mine in that one foot pump is plumbed to deliver to the sink either salt water or ice box/ reefer drain water. Beyond that, given that it is not clear where the other various lines go, it's hard to say what else is going on here.

The grey fittings are original "Qest" fittings and tubing. The tubing is compatible with 3/8" PEX tubing and fittings.

 

[Christian Williams]

It looks like you can remove the white Nylon "T", and I would feel moderate urgency. If the seacock is left open and the plug fails, the boat will sink.

 

[bgary]

If you have had not water in the bilge in a couple of days, then whatever it is only happens when something is running (or it is raining out)... one way to try to diagnose would be to do different things, each time keeping an eye on the bilge.

Yup. First winter I had my boat I was sort of astonished at how much water was in the bilge. I ended up putting a bung in the limber-hole of the TAFG pocket just behind the mast, to isolate that section with an eye toward determining how much was rain-water and how much was something else. It worked. After a rain, forward pocket may have quite a bit of water in it (it's amazing how much water can come down the inside of the mast!), the rest of bilge largely dry.

Since then, as you say, it's a cycle of observe and fix. Noticed that there was water in the main bilge after running at hull speed for a while. Determined that the water was coming up out of the rudder tube. Fixed with some grease applied through the zerk fitting. Noticed there was water in the main bilge after a big rain. Determined that one of the cockpit scupper hoses had a leak. Fixed. Found water under the galley sink. Determined that the .... I don't know what you call it, the drain fitting that goes through the bottom of the sink?... wasn't bedded, and dripped whenever the sink had water in it. Fixed with some plumbers putty (and a new hose while I was there). Etc.

After the last big rain, I found a wet spot about the size of a quarter on the dinette cushion directly under the aft corner of the aft window. Clearly it is telling me it's time to re-bed the windows. So it goes.

It's a constant quest. Substantially less annoying if you decide to make a game of it. Kinda like hide-and-seek, but with water

B

 

[Pete the Cat]

I have never liked Ericson's practice of putting that ribbed bilge hose below the waterline. That stuff can eventually crack and fail. I am not sure it would pass current ABYC regs. The stuff is fine for bilge pump exits above the waterline where failure is just an annoyance. Different when it could sink your boat.

 

[Nick J]

I really didn't like the Qest T fitting Ericson used on the salt water pickup. Being able to use the foot pump to drain the ice boxes or pump sea water into the sink is nice, but I thought the execution could be better. When I replaced our thru hulls, I used reinforced hose designed to be used below the water line, installed a strainer, and used a stainless steel manifold placed above the water line to replace the functionality the T provided. by using a 4 way manifold, I also have the ability to eventually install a raw water wash down pump in the system. Here's a pic before I connected the ice box drains and the sink drain.

 

[Pete the Cat]

I really didn't like the Qest T fitting Ericson used on the salt water pickup. Being able to use the foot pump to drain the ice boxes or pump sea water into the sink is nice, but I thought the execution could be better. When I replaced our thru hulls, I used reinforced hose designed to be used below the water line, installed a strainer, and used a stainless steel manifold placed above the water line to replace the functionality the T provided. by using a 4 way manifold, I also have the ability to eventually install a raw water wash down pump in the system. Here's a pic before I connected the ice box drains and the sink drain.
View attachment 50316

Nice work. Mine will never look that good.

 

[Phr3d]

I wish I could eliminate some of the variables to make this less of a guessing game.

But, since crawling around with hands/arms in damp/gross places, use of endoscope/flashlight/etc., I can say I now am more familiar with my boat.

The refrigerator draining into the cracked "L" (sigh, not "T") can't be contributing any longer since I replaced it with the brass one. And the fresh water taste is gone.

My latest theory concerning all the water (which is now salty only), is that the two days of motoring to bring the boat home probably are related to the stuffing box that is dripping pretty steadily now (but was dry in Dan Diego prior). Sticky added to learn how to properly adjust/maintain this thingy.

There is less water in the bilge now - probably because the fresh water is not being added and probably because we're only running the engine for 10 minutes to get out of the marina.

There ARE bilge pumps!

In the under-the-settee-storage-area-bilge (behind the mast) A large ribbed hose is what the whale gusher in the cockpit is connected to (I suppose). The bilge pump sound in the engine compartment is in fact made by a bilge pump that goes to said under-settee-storage-bilge. It took a while to prime and start draining OB. The shower bilge is located just forward of the bilge pump in the engine compartment and operates automatically (or manually) when the pressure water 12v switch is "on" to drain the shower OB.

 

[Christian Williams]

NIce work. Honorary bilge rat now.

One more test of elimination, and that is a run at full throttle while you crawl under the cockpit with a flashlight to observe the rudder tube and rudder post and the stuffing box.

When motoring fast the stern squats, and certain leaks can occur only then. It is good to confirm that they don't.

 

[Phr3d]

While at the boatyard to have the mast stepped for the standing rigging, I requested they take a look at the stuffing box. It had 2 different sized flaxes which were spent.

There still seems to be some water in the bilge. I ran the pump before leaving and closed the raw water thru-hull for engine cooling. The hoses that were for the raw water and the bilge seemed to be unexplainably damp. I may just change both to remove those variables...

 

[N.A.]

NIce work. Honorary bilge rat now.

One more test of elimination, and that is a run at full throttle while you crawl under the cockpit with a flashlight to observe the rudder tube and rudder post and the stuffing box.

When motoring fast the stern squats, and certain leaks can occur only then. It is good to confirm that they don't.

Wow; I never would have thought of that, and it is very apropos -- searching for my own bilge leak of recent vintage. Thanks yet again...

 

[Phr3d]

Bilge is now dry after sailing/motoring. The crack in the top of the muffler was the last part. I wouldn't have found it except I had the boat motoring forward in the slip with a bunch of dock lines so that I could measure the dripping in the stuffing box. I was amazed to see water streaming down from the starboard side somewhere.

The stuffing box drips about a couple of drops per minute or so when motoring after replacing flax and adjusting. IR thermometer says about 80 degrees until after the heat soak from the engine gets through the transmission and coupler. "One flat side" of the coupler is no joke. It is literally 5-10 degrees temperature difference per 1/6th turn when its close to "right". No dripping when the motor is off, seems to be only a result of the "couple drops per minute/no more than 30 degrees ambient temperature difference when motoring" is accomplished.