Back End Low

[lucypaddydog]

We are new to boating and live aboard, this morning we woke up to find canal water seeping in and my husband noticed that the outlet pipe at the back of the boat was below water, he checked the valve and it was ok, but the seal around the pipe was no good so he fixed it. Is there any other reason this has happended, the back seemed very low, we have been liveaboard and boating since January 09,

Anyway we are drying out now and the back end seems to have come up since we pumped out all the water that had seeped in.

 

Any advice would be most welcome

Oh we are in the Nantwich area, and our boat is 65ft long

 

Regards

Lucy

Edited June 4, 2009 by NB Alnwick
Topics merged

[RLWP]

Just joined the forum, My Husband and I are Live-aboards since January this year. We have a had a a steep learning curve, especially me as I had never been aboard a narrow boat before coming to live here. We woke up this morning and found canal water had seeped in, My husband thinks the seal around the pipe that pumps water out at the back end was no good and has fixed it. he also has pumped out all the water.

What else could cause this problem?

 

Hi Lucy and welcome to the forum.

 

How much water had seeped in? Drops, cupfulls, gallons, half-a-boat full?

 

Richard

[mayalld]

Just joined the forum, My Husband and I are Live-aboards since January this year. We have a had a a steep learning curve, especially me as I had never been aboard a narrow boat before coming to live here. We woke up this morning and found canal water had seeped in, My husband thinks the seal around the pipe that pumps water out at the back end was no good and has fixed it. he also has pumped out all the water.

What else could cause this problem?

 

Puzzled here.

 

Pipes that pump water out at the back should not be under water!

 

The only openings in the hull that should be under water are;

1. The propeller shaft
   
2. The raw water intake (if you have one)
   

[Bon]

Hullo,

 

Welcome to the forum

 

Sorry i have no idea about the seepage, but hope you fix it.

 

Bon

[nbtafelberg]

Hi Lucy

 

It's probably your Stern Tube leaking, it's normally a brass cyinder with a TAP on the top, every time you go boating you should tighten it up and every now and then it will need filling with STERN TUBE GREASE available from your local chandler.

Edited June 4, 2009 by nbtafelberg

[Strads]

Hi - it would also help if you can describe what type of boat it is

 

If the water was entering from a particualar side/end -

 

is it re-occuring and how quickly

 

 

there are a number of variable...

[bottle]

Just joined the forum, My Husband and I are Live-aboards since January this year. We have a had a a steep learning curve, especially me as I had never been aboard a narrow boat before coming to live here. We woke up this morning and found canal water had seeped in, My husband thinks the seal around the pipe that pumps water out at the back end was no good and has fixed it. he also has pumped out all the water.

What else could cause this problem?

 

Hi Lucy and welcome.

 

Agreeing with myalld (David).

 

Now reading between the lines and guessing, it is the prop shaft that is seeping,if so, have you been turning the 'greaser' after running the engine (only needs half to one turn).

 

How has husband fixed it and does he have experience of narrow boats.

[RLWP]

Lucy has asked the same question on the forum Here: >Link removed<

Perhaps that's the best place to respond

 

Richard

Edited June 4, 2009 by NB Alnwick
Topics merged

[bottle]

This is a duplicated thread more answers on the other thread.

 

>link removed<

Edited June 4, 2009 by NB Alnwick
Topics merged

[RLWP]

This is a duplicated thread more answers on the other thread.

 

Doh! I've just linked that back to here!

 

I thought the answers would be more use here in General Boating than in New Members.

 

Richard

 

Oh well...

Edited June 4, 2009 by NB Alnwick
Topics merged

[bottle]

Richard

 

I agree.

[alan_fincher]

My husband thinks the seal around the pipe that pumps water out at the back end was no good and has fixed it.

 

It would help greatly for people to advise you if you can give as much possible information about what pipe/outlet is being described.

 

As MayallD has said in you other thread, no outlet used for pumping water out of the boat should normally be under water.

 

What water normally pumps out through this outlet that your husband has worked on - engine cooling water ?, bilge water ?, shower/bath/sink water ??

 

Is the outlet normally below water, or only so because of the extra water that has caused you back end to go low, please ?

 

Does the boat engine use raw canal water for cooling - i.e. it pumps in cold canal water, then pumps it out of somewhere at a raised temperature ?

[MaryP]

I agree with the above, but I have had the following problem recently, so another thing to check out!

 

I have realised since having a leisure battery moved that was covering the weed hatch, that the top of weed hatch is underwater unless the water tank at the front is utterly full. I had been wondering why water came in on some trips and not on others. Someone has obviously shortened it at some point!

It also isn't sealed, as heading upstream on the Thames into the wind recently, I had to push the engine, and the prop sent water splashing against the hatch lid, and yes it poured in. I left the bilge pump on, and it cleared itself, where I usually only use it occasionally.

 

Just a thought!

 

Just to add, I also have a wet gas locker - separate from the engine bay obviously, but of course the holes are only just above the water line, and there are holes below too, to allow it to be wet!. A problem would occur if the locker rusted through.....

Edited June 4, 2009 by Mary P

[alan_fincher]

I have realised since having a leisure battery moved that was covering the weed hatch, that the top of weed hatch is underwater unless the water tank at the front is utterly full.

If moving one leisure battery is enough to put your weed hatch under water I'd be seriously worried.

 

A battery weighs a lot less than a person, so with those sort of margins, even before it was moved, somebody stepping on board whilst you had the weed hatch off could have been catastrophic. If you haven't got several inches of margin when the hatch is removed, just another boat stirring things up could be disastrous too.

 

Sounds like something is seriously wrong - probably that the addition of various extra weight has resulted in the boat being far lower in the water than the designers/builders ever intended. Something you need to address urgently, I'd say.

[MaryP]

If moving one leisure battery is enough to put your weed hatch under water I'd be seriously worried.

 

A battery weighs a lot less than a person, so with those sort of margins, even before it was moved, somebody stepping on board whilst you had the weed hatch off could have been catastrophic. If you haven't got several inches of margin when the hatch is removed, just another boat stirring things up could be disastrous too.

 

Sounds like something is seriously wrong - probably that the addition of various extra weight has resulted in the boat being far lower in the water than the designers/builders ever intended. Something you need to address urgently, I'd say.

 

Sorry, If I didn't make myself clear. The water leak has always been evident for the 3 plus years I have had the boat - as I say, the leak was sometimes there, and sometimes not. I have had it investigated, but no-one could find the problem. I then had the battery moved as I wanted access to the weed hatch.

 

I have realised since the re-siteing of the battery (still in the engine bay) what the problem was - a short weed hatch. It is above the water line when the bow water tank is full, but is below as we use up the water. At the next opportunity - Aynho - I will get them to extend the hatch.

 

Thanks for your concern!!

[dor]

There should be a minimum of 150mm between water level and top of weed hatch. The weed hatch cover should seal completely. This is not always an easy thing to spot, but running the engine at full revs in reverse will often show where leaks are occuring. Check the welds round the weed hatch: use a waterproof torch inside the weed hatch and look for light coming through. You shouldn't have any water leaks at all - any that are there should be sorted.

[alan_fincher]

There should be a minimum of 150mm between water level and top of weed hatch.

I wonder what percentage weed hatches actually manage to provide 6" of margin ?

 

In my experience it would be pretty low, I think !

 

Maybe modern designs are more thorough in this respect, and this might push the percentage up somewhat ?

[lucypaddydog]

Thank you all so much, my husband says that the outlet that was below water was the 'Bilge Pump Outlet' For some reason it went below the water line and let the water in as the diameter of the out let pipe was PVC and smaller diameter than it should have been, he has now used a tighter fit pipe and it does seem to have solved the problem, although I must admit that I will have a sleepless night and will get up early to see if the water in seeping in again.

But I really would like to thank you all for all the help and advice you have given and hope to make some good friends on this site.

 

Warmest Regards

Lucy

[sociable_hermit]

Is there a lot of 'stuff' on your boat? It still sounds like it's sitting very low in the water - the bilge outlet should be well above the waterline.

 

One circumstance in which a boat will 'sit down' is due to a water leak filling the space under the floorboards with water, not necessarily canal water from outside (though this will eventually attempt to join in), but a leak from the tank or the plumbing. Large quantities of water are heavy and will drag the boat down. A neighbour of mine had this recently when he fell asleep with the hose in the water tank and the overflow, didn't. His boat dropped about 6" and was very close to letting the canal into the engine bay through the cooling grille (twas a Lister engined boat). I'd suggest looking under the floorboards in the cabin and/or having a good clear out of weighty objects!

[bottle]

Lucy

 

I would advise, like many others no doubt, that at the first opportunity you get the bilge pump outlet raised to well above the waterline.

[Gibbo]

Many bilge pumps don't have a non return valve in them so the boat weill fill up with water anyway if the outlet is below the water line. Regardless of whether the pipe fits the outlet properly.

 

Gibbo