• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Water, Water, everywhere

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Yes, I recall it being a copper tube on the 32-3. After cleaning mine with a coathanger, the connection to the stem appeared to loosen. I caulked it with epoxy putty from the outside.
 

jtsai

Member III
Christian, I also cleaned the hole with wire recently. Can this be repaired temporary in water to slow down the leak? Home port is 8 hours away and forecast calls for head wind.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I guess only you can make the judgement, but....if I was worried about water into the hull from the stem, I'd just caulk the hole in the stem closed temporarily. You can do that at the dock with a fingerful of goo.

If water is just being forced up into the anchor rode pan, well, it doesn't hold much anyhow, and I'd probably just shrug it off and "keep an eye on it."
 

Teranodon

Member III
I have an '87 34'. I am having trouble with water in the bilge, and I cannot determine where it is coming from. I can get as much as 15 gal after a couple heavy rains. I cannot find any leaks that bad, that it would result in that much water coming in.
Has anybody ever had such a problem??? Could it be coming from the mast????
It is always clear water, except one time it was black.
Howard
Water comes in via the mast, for sure, but fifteen gallons sounds like too much. The appearance of the water can be a clue (for example, it can pick up black crud if coming in under the engine) but the taste is more important. I dip my finger and lick it every time I pump the bilge. It's kinda disgusting, but it's better to know.
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Trying to visualize your problem:

You said copious amount of water "in the anchor well." Once the water lever (and thus, pressure) in the well builds, I would guess this would prevent further incursion of water in through the drain hole.

You also said the water drains out when you stop motoring. I assume you mean it drains out through the drain hole as it is supposed to.

If you are not seeing water collect in your bilge, what is the problem?

I have never noticed (nor looked for) water collecting in my anchor locker while motoring. In rough/wavy conditions, it seems plausible that it could happen while the bow is buried into a wave.
 
Last edited:

jtsai

Member III
My apology not making it clear. I pumped out about 20 gallons of water from the bilge so the back flow from anchor well draining tube is finding its way to the bilge.
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Oh, now I see the problem.

As others already said, the long term fix may require pulling the anchor well pan and repair/reseating the drain hose. This is reportedly NOT easy to do.

If you just want to limp it back home (seems like I read that in another post), I'd probably (a) tape off all of the seam between the anchor locker hatch and the deck (to prevent ingress of rain or breaking waves from above), (b) plug the drain hole with a cork (to prevent water ingress through the drain), and (c) fix the bilge pump wiring.

Before doing that though, I'd probably dry the bilge, dump 2 gal of water into the anchor locker, and examine how much leaks inside the boat versus out through the drain tube. This would verify that you actually have found the source of the leak and give you some idea of its magnitude.

Also, have you examined the stuffing boxes on BOTH the prop shaft and the rudder tube as leak sources. The rudder tube stuffing box can leak while motoring (especially when the stern squats down in the water at hull speed) but yet stay dry when the boat is stationary, sailed, or motored slowly.

The 32-3 is a great boat. Good luck.
 
Last edited:

Kevin A Wright

Member III
One source I found was the cable for the radar did not have a 'drip loop' in it before it entered the mast. An absolutely amazing amount of water was running along that cable into the mast and down into the bilge before I pulled some slack back through the mast and made a loop and caulked the entry hole.

One other trick I used in my old E27 which had lots of bare fiberglass running along the interior was to take a dry erase market and make a line all along the inside below the hull deck seam. That way I could find the spot where it was coming down even if I wasn't there for the rain shower. Still didn't mean tracing it back to the leak was easy, but it was a start.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I think 20 gallons would be over the floorboards on my 38. For that volume of water I'd look to the rudder tube, as Ken cited in Post #28.

 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
I think 20 gallons would be over the floorboards on my 38. For that volume of water I'd look to the rudder tube, as Ken cited in Post #28.

Agreed - that much water is probably not coming in through the anchor well drainage hole in the stem ... unless the hose between the bottom of the anchor well liner and that drainage hole has come loose. Based on how mine was attached when I removed the liner, that connection isn't likely to have broken.
I wrote a long report on this project early this year, as step #1 in installing a windlass.
I can confirm that any water that does come into the space under the liner will drain back to the main bilge.
 
Last edited:

nquigley

Sustaining Member
Yes, I recall it being a copper tube on the 32-3. After cleaning mine with a coathanger, the connection to the stem appeared to loosen. I caulked it with epoxy putty from the outside.
My drain hose was made of the gray plastic tubing (Pex?) that's also used with the water tanks, water heater, etc. Not copper. But who knows what they had on hand at the factory day-to-day.
 

jtsai

Member III
Thank you all for the kind advises. An update, I made the 45 nm trip returned from Ocracoke Island without incident. The 8 hr. return trip was an opportunity to experiment with the following control variables:
- epoxied anchor locker drain from outside
- disabled main bilge pump and shower bilge sump pump (behind the mast)
- manually evacuate water from both bilges to the lowest levels and mark levels with tape
- wrapped paper towel around rudder shaft fiberglass column
- set 30 min. timer and check anchor locker, bilge, and engine compartment

After the 8 hr. trip motor-sailed into head wind on the Pamlico Sound with speed ranges from 5 to over 6 kts, there was no new water in bilge and not a drop from rudder shaft nor PSS shaft, a VERY good thing. After arrived the slip, I poured a bucket of water in the anchor locker and walked away packing the car. After 30 min, the water remained in the anchor locker, and no new water in the shower sump bilge. Strange?

Thinking back (fun thing to do after an eventful trip), when high water level in the bilges were discovered, I found both pumps were not function. The main bilge pump had a broken wire and the shower sump bilge pump ran but unable to evacuate water (diaphragm pump). This all happened when I was in smack middle of Pamlico Sound out of sight of land. In addition to using the manual pump in the cockpit, I pumped out additional 5 buckets of water using hand pump kneeling on the cabin floor. At the time, it felt like it was 15-20 gallons, but it was probably more like 6-8 gallons.

Furthermore, the weather underground record showed the town had 2.75" of rain since my last visit. Is it possible all this was caused by rain water drained from the mast with non-function sump pump? That seems like a lot of water.

Regardless, here are lessons learned:
- check bilge for high water before departing
- taste bilge water if abnormally high to ascertain source, heck, taste all questionable fluid in the boat!
- make sure bilge pumps are functional before departing
- also, don't assume dock staff has control of your boat when you handed them dock lines. They don't, but that's another story.

Oh, I did enable both pumps and taped anchor locker lid when left the boat as Zeta will make a sweep tomorrow. Next trip, drill open anchor locker drain tube and go sailing!

Jeff T
1990 32-3, Ardea
New Bern, NC
 

mjsouleman

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Taking this discussion one step further - let's talk anchor locker design. Has anyone made a major change to the anchor locker not just the drain line running to the bilge or an external weep. What about an on deck storage locker?

Mark "Souleman" Soule
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
I completely sealed my anchor well by gluing (epoxy) a sheet of marine ply to the original bulkhead, tabbing its edges and bottom to the hull with 4" fiberglass strips, and then covering all of it with fiberglass cloth. It now only drains through the drain hole in the stem just above the waterline. No more drainage of smelly water and mud from the anchor rode back into the main bilges.
 

mjsouleman

Sustaining Member
Moderator
I am tired of sailing heavy seas and having the bilge fill with water. It's a constant worry. I need to install a drain hole in the bow and install something but I don't know what.
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
Can you do something like this in our anchor well?
You can see the drain hole way in the bottom, and that the well does not drain to the bilge.

IMG_1158.jpg
 

mjsouleman

Sustaining Member
Moderator
nquigley,

The 1983 E-30+anchor locker has a different shape and the drain is forward and inset. What it doesn't have is a nice rubber gasket. I think I'll trip down to Home Depot and check out a 1-1.5" gasket material, that's gotta help. Then find a drain SS drain tube and clam shell to stick on the bow hull.

Thanks for the picture.

Mark
 

bigd14

Contributing Partner
Blogs Author
Mark, I had water getting into the v-berth and bilge from the anchor locker, so I glassed in a bulkhead. The top of the bulkhead makes a convenient step when hauling anchor up or you can sit with your feet in the locker and haul it up that way. I kept the existing drain hole with copper tube, and drilled another hole at the new deeper bottom of the locker. Bow down, water comes in, bow up, water goes out. The only thing I might do is put some foam in the hollows between the bulkhead and underside of the toe rails to completely isolate that front compartment. But the conditions we usually find don't warrant that kind of worry. Going on two years with no issues and dry boat.

Edit: This setup holds 60 feet of chain and 150 feet of rope rode with room to spare to fit the Mantus anchor in the locker since it doesn't sit on the anchor roller very well.
 

Attachments

  • CFBAB1F9-3B27-41DD-9432-EC3AA65D4738.jpeg
    CFBAB1F9-3B27-41DD-9432-EC3AA65D4738.jpeg
    165.2 KB · Views: 15
Last edited:
Top