Lots of water in the bilge... or dry as a bone

[becki]

I have been looking at secondhand narrowboats to buy. All but one (which was dry as a bone) have had lots of water in the bilge. I've been told that this is fine and it is just a matter of pumping this water out, although a boater friend said to me yesterday that (although her boat currently has water in the bilge of her boat) I shouldn't touch a boat with water in the bilge "with a bargepole". What do you think of a boat that has been left standing for some time with water in the bilge?

[Naughty Cal]

It depends on the boat. Some older craft were designed with wet bilges so would never be dry.

 

Ours has clean, dry bilges but is a completly different boat to what you are seeking. The hire boats we hired had sopping wet bilges that spewed water out every day. Each boat is different

[Guest]

I have been looking at secondhand narrowboats to buy. All but one (which was dry as a bone) have had lots of water in the bilge. I've been told that this is fine and it is just a matter of pumping this water out, although a boater friend said to me yesterday that (although her boat currently has water in the bilge of her boat) I shouldn't touch a boat with water in the bilge "with a bargepole". What do you think of a boat that has been left standing for some time with water in the bilge?

If by the bilge,you mean around the engine hole in a cruiser stern say, or a semi trad, that is no big deal. Mine filledulast month due to leaking lock gates. I would be concerned if there was water under the cabin floor of a modern boat.

[alan_fincher]

I have been looking at secondhand narrowboats to buy. All but one (which was dry as a bone) have had lots of water in the bilge. I've been told that this is fine and it is just a matter of pumping this water out, although a boater friend said to me yesterday that (although her boat currently has water in the bilge of her boat) I shouldn't touch a boat with water in the bilge "with a bargepole". What do you think of a boat that has been left standing for some time with water in the bilge?

Where is the water, please, Becki, and what style of boat (trad/semi-trad/cruiser stern, etc) ?

 

Most modern boats should have their bilge areas highly segregated, so for example the one under the main cabin is separate from any that lie under deck-boards.

 

Even in the engine area, (whether that's in rear cabin area of a trad, or lies "outside), the area under the engine should be separate from any surrounding, (stops contamination of other bilge water, and hence the canals, by oil and fuel dropped by engine).

 

The bilge under the main cabin area should be dry - water in there indicates some problem, usually leaking plumbing and/or leaking windows and hatches. If the boat you are looking at is wet in those areas, serious questions need to be asked.

 

But it is not unusual to find lots of water, (clean or otherwise), in the rear of a boat, either under the stern tube or (hopefully) contained under the engine.

 

If it's a cruiser or semi trad with outdoor hatches this can relate to rain getting in around those - often blocked or poorly designed drainage channels are to blame, as ideally such water should go overboard, not through into the engine area.

 

A slightly leaking stern gland can be another cause.

 

I'd say neither are areas on which to reject a boat, or, put it another way, if you do, you will reject an awful lot of boats, as an awful lot are presented like this for sale!

 

It does need somebody who understands these things to see if it is an easily rectified problem or not. Sometimes it will just be a case of tightening or repacking a gland, or alternatively sticking something pointed into blocked drain holes to clear them. On the other hand if the deck drain design is poor and/or stern gear is "cream crackered", then it will start to get more expensive to properly keep the water out.

[Matthew Dowson]

My wet underfloor experience turned out to be a leak in the top of the cold water tank - which only happened when you were brimming the tank - proper confused me for a year. So it could be that, leaky shower pump connections, shower tray etc. As has been said if its the engine hole on all but a trad they're often wet.

[LoneWolf]

Hi becki

 

I'm assuming you mean the bilge(s) you can see when you look at the engine.

I'd ask the owner where the water comes from & see what he says. It could be an indication of how well the boat has been looked after - if they know where it's coming from why haven't they fixed it?

With a cruiser stern it will probably just be an indication of recent rain though.

 

some boats have a 'wet bilge' which means the shower drains there (on purpose) & then the bilge pump gets rid of it.

 

 

The bit under the cabin floor is also called the bilge but is usually (i think) seperated from the engine/stern bilge. Ask if there is an inspection hatch which will be a hole cut in the floor and then maybe 'hidden' in some way by eg putting a step on it. You can stick your arm in there and feel around to check for water in the other bilge. Not all boats have one though

[Speedwell]

As everybody has said, water in the cabin bilge (unless a wet bilge boat) is a very bad thing, however, most of us with cruiser sterns have to live with water in the "engine hole". All you can do is get it pumped out and check to see if there is any serious corrosion as shown by deep pitting, especially along joint lines. You get an awful lot of rust from a small amount of metal, it's pitting that's dangerous.

Arthur

[Lewis 53]

If you use the boat a lot in winter you may find that condensation forms on the inside part of the hull. This will drain into the cabin bildge and can look to be a large amount of water. Some boats are ballasted slightly down in one corner and the water will collect there. More modern boats are insulated with materials that reduce this to a minimum but one very reputable manufactuter tells me it is almost impossible to eliminate it completely (puts on hard hat awaiting replys).

Lewis.

[Smelly]

If you use the boat a lot in winter you may find that condensation forms on the inside part of the hull. This will drain into the cabin bildge and can look to be a large amount of water. Some boats are ballasted slightly down in one corner and the water will collect there. More modern boats are insulated with materials that reduce this to a minimum but one very reputable manufactuter tells me it is almost impossible to eliminate it completely (puts on hard hat awaiting replys).

Lewis.

 

Our water tank is open to the boat, admittedly in a very restricted way, and we get maybe 3 or 4 litres of condensation a year building up.

[ChrisR]

I have been looking at secondhand narrowboats to buy. All but one (which was dry as a bone) have had lots of water in the bilge. I've been told that this is fine and it is just a matter of pumping this water out, although a boater friend said to me yesterday that (although her boat currently has water in the bilge of her boat) I shouldn't touch a boat with water in the bilge "with a bargepole". What do you think of a boat that has been left standing for some time with water in the bilge?

We've heard that too, but my husband thinks that standing water inside a metal hull is bad news anywhere.

 

Our semi trad used to get water in the engine bilge, even with a tonneau cover on. But he has improved the way the deck drains so that it works as it should and now the bilge stays dry. He's currently applying rust-stop/primer/undercoat/paint.

 

We found water under the cabin floor - same problem others have reported of the water tank overflowing into the hull instead of onto the deck. Had the water inlet fixed properly and vacced out 25 gallons of water, and it's now staying dry. Had to cut an inspection hatch in the floor at the back, also near the water tank, to diagnose & fix the problem. (I wondered why I had felt seasick the first few days of being on the boat! )

 

Dry is good, wet is not so good (possibly due to poor design), and you may want to consider what can be fixed.

 

Chris

[Keeping Up]

When I was helping some friends to find a boat a few years back, I'd estimate that one in three that we looked at had water under the cabin bilge, in what was supposed to be a dry bilge. Two of them were about-to-be-ex hireboats, and in each case the fleet operator (different fleets) said it was easier to pump the water out every couple of weeks than it was to find and cure the leak. It was obvious at even a cursory glance and sniff, that one was a fresh water leak and one was a central-heating system leak. In several of these boats, part of the floor was rotten either where the leak occurred or where it collected.

[Morphyous]

I had water inside my boat which collected in my rear cabin this turned out to be

a leaking water tank which i repaired. I do have water in my engine compartment

under my cruiser stern which is due to rain. The bilge pump never pumps out

every last drop of water and so unless there is a long dry spell there will always

be a drop of water there.

[RLWP]

When I was helping some friends to find a boat a few years back, I'd estimate that one in three that we looked at had water under the cabin bilge, in what was supposed to be a dry bilge. Two of them were about-to-be-ex hireboats, and in each case the fleet operator (different fleets) said it was easier to pump the water out every couple of weeks than it was to find and cure the leak. It was obvious at even a cursory glance and sniff, that one was a fresh water leak and one was a central-heating system leak. In several of these boats, part of the floor was rotten either where the leak occurred or where it collected.

 

To be fair, Tawny Owl must have had a leak like that because the boards under the rear shower had rotted (yes, there were two showers). To fix the leak and replace them would have taken her out of service for at least a week. That's on a boat that was on hire for over forty weeks a year.

 

You would only fix that at the end of a season, which is also when you sell hire boats.

 

Richard