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Water in the hold!


Fly Navy

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So I pay a visit to a well known and respectable marina in the NW to look at a 60' boat.

One owner from new (2004). 50hrs on the engine as it was a live in boat for nearly all of its life and it didn't go far outside the marina.

Boat seemed solid and everything appeared as expected, except............................

when the broker lifted the engine bay hatch on the semi trad, the engine bay (engine mounted on two longitudinal "I" beams about 9" tall) was up to the top of the I beams and the engine sump was submerged in dirty water??? When I asked where that came from, he said "rainwater getting in through the hatch cover". The hatch seemed intact to me sitting over its guide rails as expected. The guide rails surrounding the hatch cover appeared unblocked. I also checked to see if surface water on the platform could escape - and it could, easily.

I asked why the auto bilge pump hadn't kicked in and he said the pump cct bkr (which I saw on the console) was "popped" and he had to hold this in to make the pump work satisfactorily!!!  This he did and the pump started ejecting the dirty water for as long as he held the bkr in???

Questions for you:

1. Could that much water get into the bilge after the boat has been sitting there unattended for 4 months.

2. Is there a serious risk that water 'may' have seeped into the engine sump, contaminating the oil?

3. Bilge pump cct bkr 'popped' - what's all that about?

4. If it's not rain water - how can so much water enter the engine bay in 12-16 weeks?

 

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Number 1 Yes

Number 2 Yes but very easy to check and doubtful

Number 3 Poor maintainance and crap brokerage which is parr for the course

Number 4 It will be rainwater or a leaking stern tube so easily get to that level.

 

Check stern tube and drainage channels for the deck.

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12 minutes ago, Fly Navy said:

1. Could that much water get into the bilge after the boat has been sitting there unattended for 4 months.

Easily I bought a 2 year old boat which has 7 hours 'on the clock'. It was 'sunk recovered due simply to rain water filling the bilge. a couple of leaves (yes just a couple) had blocked the drainage hole and it had flooded back and into the engine 'ole.

 

It was a cruiser stern with steps going down 'outside of the cabin.

 

You cannot leave a boat for long without needing (or arranging for) regular inspections.

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I'm staggered that this is not necessarily a major issue????

I'm guessing another month maybe, unattended (waiting to be sold) and at the very least, the engine becomes a right off? At worst - boat sinks!

Would any of you, having seen what I therefore saw - still look at this boat as a serious option?

What checks should I insist on now?

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15 year old engine with only 50 hours on it , you would need to make sure that it runs, under load for quite a while and doesn't overheat. Has it had an annual service/oil change, or has it been left??

How is the engine bay once the water is pumped out, rusty, a mess - or painted and clean?

Has the boat been galvanically isolated for any/all of its life - if not, you MUST get a hull survey as an absolute minimum -  as 15 years hooked up in a marina could well result in BIG pits!!!

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Have the boatyard to dry out the bilge then start the engine, or try to. Have all this happen while you watch, so that they can’t hide if anything nasty happens. 

Have the deck drainage system checked out, as well as the stern tube greaser, as these are  two most likely culprits for the engine bay flooding. Assuming the water hasn’t got in the rest of the boat, then it is all about the state of engine and bay as Matty says.

I’m more agnostic about galvanic pitting than he is, but that is just through my experience, he has other experiences than I do.

  • Greenie 1
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46 minutes ago, Fly Navy said:

Excellent advice  - and thank you.

All good advice above. Just to add that it may all be a good bargaining tool for you. Also its not uncommon to come across these issues. personaly I would rather the boat had five or more thousand hours on it than 50 as if its been stood unused it could be cream crackered?? If you take someone with you who knows boats they will be able to do a quick look over it for you, it is suprising how a few years of boat ownership makes most of us see things quite quickly. ?

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20 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

If you take someone with you who knows boats they will be able to do a quick look over it for you, it is suprising how a few years of boat ownership makes most of us see things quite quickly. ?

1

That is so true, remember going to see a boat when we knew next to nothing about boats, the boat smelled like the owner had just been warming up a tin of baked beans. Now I'd be wary about the toilet system ?

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Cruiser sterns are terrible for filling up with water, Semi trad less so but there's not much in it. Its poor design as many boatbuilders are really just fabricators. Anyway, you are where you are. Dry the thing out, check the engine for anti freeze or in fact any coolant at all, check the oil for water, carefully, remember, oil floats, turn it over cross you fingers and try it. You are dealing with a 'barn find' so it could be excellent or it could be u/s. In fact check everything that you can, new oil and filters, new grease, the lot. It could be a leaky stern tube and everything is OK. You just don't know and nor does the broker. Good luck.

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I have had a response from the broker:

He is adamant it is rain water only. The auto bilge pump had a jammed float and hence the cct bkr blew.

He is draining the bilge and will then monitor it.

I like the suggestion that I need to be there when they try to start it.

 

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5 hours ago, Fly Navy said:

3. Bilge pump cct bkr 'popped' - what's all that about?

Probably corroded wires because of being submerged long term or in constant use ? Maybe the  electrical fault  can be repaired but if not  a new bilge pump fitted.

More significantly is the engine bay and engine corroded due to standing in water . Did  the water get up to the alternator ?

 

If you like the boat these things are all repairable  . The tricky bit is deciding the extent and the cost of the repairs .

 

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19 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

The words ive warmed the engine up , or its round the back ill go and get it on my own, from someone selling an infernal combustion engine, are roughly akin to a horse trader giving an old nag a steroid injection before you see it

It may not be a major issue. On my first boat, a semi trad stern where rainwater that had got past the cover drained down the steps to the cabin and entered the bilge, I turned up after having left the boat for a couple of months. I found water half way up the engine, the battery for the auto bilge pump had run flat. I got a bucket and chucked out the water from the engine ole. A check of the dipstick showed water in the engine sump so I drained it and changed the oil filter. I filled with flushing oil and ran the engine for a while. Then I drained the flushing oil and filled up with regular oil. The engine ran fine for a further five years until I sold the boat. 

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I left my boat for a couple of weeks last month, lots of rain, cruiser stern, plastic tarp over it, self draining back deck which mostly works, and still had about three inches of water in the engine bilge. All rainwater. 

Every automatic bilge pump I've ever had has failed when needed. I still install them on the off chance they'll work, but I wouldn't rely on one. 

  • Greenie 2
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8 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

We had a GT semi trad hull

Is that the one with the go faster stripes?

 

Sorry, couldn’t resist it :offtopic:

 

All good advice on here, by the way, it’s what CWDF is really about. :cheers:.

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