Water coming into bilge underway

[Clarice]

Hello All,
Yesterday went for a (short) sail and were clipping happily along at 6 knots when we realized that we had water slopping out of the bilge on either tack. So, since the bilge pump didn't work we returned to the slip. Pumped out about 7 gallons of salt water. This is the second time it has happened in the last couple of weeks. The bilge stays dry when the boat is in the slip. I will start to investigate today. We just got through replacing the steering and transmission cables. I can't see how this would affect the water in the bilge but I am fairly new to this. My first thought is that the water is coming in through the shaft area and we should check the packing gland etc there. Any other suggestions would be gratefully received. We will not go out again until we get to the bottom of this (and not the ocean). Thanks in advance.

 

[Clarice]

Update

Sorry, we changed out the throttle and transmission cables not the steering cables. We have a tiller.

 

[Emerald]

If you're not taking on water at the slip, it's not likely to be the shaft log or related pieces - nothing really changes positionally for them in what you describe. I would walk around and try to visualize what is under the water line when healed over. It could be anything from the head to a sink drain line to a bilge drain line, but I'd focus my exploration on what get's low when heeled but is above the water line at the slip.

 

[supersailor]

Water in bilge

Hi. Welcome aboard. I had this happen in my E-34 right after I bought it. I was happily zipping along on port tack with the rail down when I noticed that things were floating on the floor boards. Instant panic. It turned out that the broker had left the head sink drain seacock open and the sink was filling and overflowing. I wasn't familiar enough with the boat to realize there was a problem there. closing the sea cock stopped the leak. The sink is under water when the rail is down.

Bob Morrison

 

[Christian Williams]

You may have a leaking rudder tube. They only leak when under way, especially when under power when the stern squats down.

A full description of symptoms and solution is here (click for link).

It would be a great help if you put your boat and year in your signature. It really helps others to know if their experience relates to yours and to your boat.

 

[ignacio]

What Christian said. I had the same issue, and I could actually see water coming in from the rudder tube. I have a 1979 E35-II and also installed the zerk fitting and packed the rudder tube with grease. Water ingress from the rudder tube is gone....it's bone dry back there now. This was also relatively easy to do, but I decided to do it while hauled-out, since I needed to paint the bottom and replace transducers.

Even after the above, I've still had water come into the bilge. I recently installed vented loops on both my manual bilge pump and my electric bilge pump lines well above the heeled water line (PO didn't seem to think this was a priority!). Both of the through-hulls for the bilge pumps are above the water line at the slip, but frequently below the water line underway, especially in following seas and at higher-than-average heel angles. The line for the electric bilge pump is especially prone to creating a siphon since there is no check valve in the line (not recommended either).

Even after the above, I *still* got some water in the bilge --- maybe 2-3 gallons or so, so I'm curious to see what other ideas surface here.

 

[exoduse35]

Third on the rudder shaft seal! A reletively cheap and easy fix, but make sure that you get the right material and right instructions and specs for your shaft. The manual for the 35-2 gives me three posibilities and the corect choice is "none of the above" cause what is in mine wasn't listed. That added years of frustration!

 

[Clarice]

Thanks to everyone. All suggestions will be taken. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I will post the results of the investigation as soon as I complete them. You are awesome and as I've said before this blog was one of the reasons we purchased an Ericson and it proves again what a great decision it was.
Thanks,
Mike and Janet

 

[Akavishon]

I had the same problem, which persisted even after I fixed the prop shaft and rudder seal ... turned out to be the anchor locker drain hose on the bow! Damn thing had a tiny leak which filled the bilge whenever the boat was under way, at a fast enough speed to push the bow wave up the drain ... took me forever to figure that one out
Zoran

 

[Gregoryulrich]

Cockpit drain?

I found two leaks on mine. One was an easy fix, the other not so much.

Before I knew about replacing the grease and tightening the water pump impeller grease cap on the A4, water would pour into the engine bilge slopping all over the inside of the cabin. Easy fix.

The other was the cockpit drain tube. I suspected it for a while and when I sighted it from the lazarette I could see a ring of daylight around the place where the tube exited the hull. When I wiggled it the fiberglass tube came away leaving a 1 inch hole just above the waterline. It looked like the only thing originally holding it in place was the gel coat. I glassed that puppy in and have had no more leaks since.

 

[markvone]

Cockpi Drain Hose +1

The E36RH cockpit drain hoses exit the transom either side of the centerline a few inches above the waterline. They are submerged when the stern squats under power and when heeled. They don't back up into the cockpit because of the vertical height but mine leaked slightly (constant drip) where they were double clamped to the fiberglass exit tubes glassed to the transom. There was evidence of additional silicone sealant on the old hoses. This added a couple of inches of brown Cheasapeake water to my bone dry bilge after a day of sailing. These hoses are horizontal at the transom, so they fill up and cover the hose/tube junction when submerged. Picture in post #15 here of hoses clamped to transom in background:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...54-Cockpit-drains-flooding-back-while-sailing

Check all your hose/valve/thru hull fittings for leaks that are above waterline at rest, but may submerge underway. They may seem to work fine with water runing through due to gravity but may leak when slightly pressurized by being submerged.

Mark

 

[Glyn Judson]

The adventure of the little mushroom fitting.

Dear friend, Soon after taking delivery of our boat but before learning all the plumbing systems (and everything else for that matter), my wife was single handing the boat mid channel to Catalina Island from Marina del Rey when she discovered the cabin sole awash in several inches of sea water. Panicked calls to the Coast Guard, and Bay Watch on the mainland and the island brought help big time including a USCG cutter and helicopter. She immediately ceased sailing and fired up the engine in the hope of getting into shallow water before the boat sank. It was quite an adventure and something for which she can be proud because she never lost her head and communicated calmly on the radio during the entire ordeal. Bay Watch Redondo Beach arrived first and boarded the boat with a large hose that dispatched the standing water in short time. They stayed with her for another hour or so while she still motored to the Isthmus, but no more water filled the bilge. A thorough search of the bilges and engine compartment after she arrived surfaced the problem. The vacuum breaker hose from the exhaust elbow was blocked and terminated and had been removed from the mushroom fitting in the hull by a previous owner. While on a sustained starboard tack, that little fitting allowed water to enter the hull while below the water line. As soon as she began motoring and with the hull righted, the water stopped. Why not check yours to eliminate that fitting from the list of many potentials? Have faith, you will eventually find the source, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del REy Ca

 

[Clarice]

Update

Well, its been a while but I've been busy hunting down the leak. So far we've walked around and checked the through-hulls from the exterior and interior with no joy. Then repacked both stuffing boxes. (They were overdue) Had to remove the old rusty hot water tank and re-route the plumbing to the engine to ease up access to the stuffing boxes. That was on my list of things to do anyway. Seemed all was well so we started the engine in the slip and let it run for a while and water started gushing in again. At this point I called for help and the mechanic checked everything but could not find the leak. He started the engine and sure enough the water started gushing in again. He pinpointed a cracked through hull for the engine exhaust. It was not easily visible for some reason and held in place by the copper tubing. It only allowed water in when the engine was working but is above the water line the rest of the time. Its being replaced and hopefully this will take care of it and we can get sailing again. The good: I learned a lot more about the boat and took care of some of the PO deferred maintenance and hopefully fixed the leak. The bad: seems this happened after we replaced the control and the transmission and throttle cables and hit a marina dock with the stern trying to get the boat into forward gear (providing great entertainment for the dock denizens). The ugly:chagrin that I missed the cracked through hull,:headb: missed a few weeks of sailing and $$!

The most excellent: being able to communicate to other owners and get some advice. As a newbie its very comforting to read about other owners struggles and successes on this site. Thanks to all! Final update to follow.