DandD

What a lot of horror stories! We are considering how to remove the panel at the end of the saloon - sadly the panel behind the steps only has a small opening to enable the water stop cock to be turned off, and the tank insulation prevents us seeing further. We have also spotted an air vent on the outside of the bulkhead, close to the filler cap and behind the stove. We will try removing this to see if we can see more, which is unlikely, but are going to take our time deciding what to do - if we can do it ourselves without getting a boatyard involved, then we will. Thanks Magnetman for the warning about hose measurements.

Thanks Magnetman and Jen-in-wellies. Sorry I can't see how to reply individually! Magentman, yes it does have a bit of pipe sticking down. Jen-in-wellies, we emailed Colecraft to see if they had come across this issue. Gary called us and said he hadn't, but suggested we would need to remove the lining inside the cabin to have a proper look, as you have. Sadly the fitters lined the inside of the boat before they fitted the cupboards, so access won't be easy, especially as the decorative bits that conceal the joins appear to have been glued on. D will need to bring the jigsaw on our next visit. Thanks for this fabulous welcome to the forum! PS I did find the air vent, we will check this out too, thanks.

This is our 2nd boat, built by NSM Narrowboats (now out of business) on a Colecraft shell. Unlike our first boat which had an integral water tank, this has a stainless steel one. When we filled up, I expected water to overflow through the well deck drain hole when the tank was full. It didn't, but when we checked, it looked full so we stopped fillling. A couple of days later we noticed a wet patch on the cabin floor and discovered the cabin bilge was completely full of water. . By peering down the filler hole we can see that the top of the water tank is not connected to the fitting on the well deck, so any overflow goes down the side of the tank and into the cabin bilge. The hole in the tank is not even directly below the well deck fitting. Has anyone come across this before, and is there a fix other than vigilance when topping up the tank? We have established that there are no pipe leaks (the water pump does not come on unexpectedly) and there is no leak from the shower pump. If we are super-careful when taking on water, the cabin bilge stays dry.