Water in bilge

[tommyleyland]

Hello all, I'm just wondering as I've always had a wet bilge that I pump out now and again but I thought that yesterday was the day I maintained a dry bilge.

 

I spent a couple of hours pumping and mopping and removing sludge and degreasing and voila! A dry, if not oily bilge.

 

I could see a slight trickle coming from the front cabin but thought it might be the leftover water seeping in to the bilge in the engine room.

 

I left it overnight and there's water there again. It looked worse than it was but I mopped it up again to my annoyance and it was about half a bucket of water that was removed.

 

My first thoughts are that there was some leftover water trickling down OR condensation due to it being winter and two people keeping it nice and warm in the cabin.

 

The water pump isn't leaking but it looks slightly damp near the wall where condensation would be.

 

Does anyone know where I should be checking to stop leaks or should I deal with it over the winter as its an old trad boat and these things happen?

[Tony Brooks]

If this boat has an "all in one" bilge rather than separate engine and cabin bilges or if the weld between the two bilges is porous it could take a week or two for water in the cabin bilge to drain back. If your ballast is gravel (as on some older boats it could take even longer.

 

The seal between windows/portholes and the cabin side often leak as the boat gets older as do vents in the roof. The only real cure is to take them out, de-rust. paint, refit with new sealer of your chosen type. This often eventually shows up as dark stains on the roof or cabin side.

 

If you are a livaboard then condensation on the hull sides could be fairly sever at this time of year, especially if there is no or poor insulation.

 

Certainly on cruiser sterns the engaging rooms ofetn run with condensation in the winter, especially if there is water in the bilge.

[tommyleyland]

This is what I'm hoping. There is no gravel but there is a weld between the cabin bilge and engine room bilge with some holes to let the water through. I've been thinking if it's a good idea to raise the porous hole higher and put an automatic pump in that little bit which means the engine room will stay dry and the water will be pumped out just as well?

[Grebe]

Where does you front deck drain to?

 

We've had previous posts on here where the front decks drains by a channel under the floor to the engine bilge.

[Scholar Gypsy]

This is what I'm hoping. There is no gravel but there is a weld between the cabin bilge and engine room bilge with some holes to let the water through. I've been thinking if it's a good idea to raise the porous hole higher and put an automatic pump in that little bit which means the engine room will stay dry and the water will be pumped out just as well?

this is also good in terms of reducing pollution.... Ideally one should not pump water from under the engine..

[pearley]

Where does you front deck drain to?

 

We've had previous posts on here where the front decks drains by a channel under the floor to the engine bilge.

As in a lot of the Ownership boats. On our particular boat it was a cause of a lot of problems.

[tommyleyland]

We have a cover on the front so I shouldn't expect any water to be draining in to the bilge.

 

I'm doing a major refurb of the bathroom as it was completely rotten from someone else bodging the shower so I'm hoping the shower is one of the main causes.

[Powney]

I don’t want to make a new topic so i will post over this one. I have a similar problem, but in cabin bilge. I went away for the weekend to come back to 1-2” water over the aft floor of the cabin.

 

I was in shock. we bailed the water out that we could see until something manageable. There was no cabin bilge inspection hatch. I contacted the marina office and they allowed me to dry dock it over night to sort the issue out. I pumped gallons of water out the boat from the front end. I boat sat level in the dry dock.

 

I then put it in the water in the morning, we checked the hull and couldn’t see anything visually that would indicate i hole. Its a 2003 construction and regular blacked and looked in okay condition.

 

The boat sat aft heavy again and i cut a 6” hole inspection in the aft on one side where the steps are. i also put a few holes down the boat through the floor to visually check, but can only see the concrete block ballist.

 

Through the 6’ hole i chiselled out the concrete slabs, 2 slabs at 60mm a slab down to the hull base plate. I have set up a bilge pump and are now pumping out the water from the corner. we have weighted the boat to that side and seem to be taking the water out okay. every 2 hours around 50mm of water appears and i pump it out in seconds. it slowing down at that rate.

 

I have virtually no water in my integral domestic water tank. Visually can’t see any water leaking. Checked all pipe work. I do have some water damage in the ceiling around a air vet and light. i do have some water damage near a window frame in the wood. struggled with condensation this winter.

 

Any Ideas? could it be years worth of accumulated water then the boats just had it and the water has ran to the aft of the boat?

 

 

 

Cheers Adam

 

hopefully not sicking!

[Tony Brooks]

It takes an age for water to trickle back past the ballast blocks so you think that you have pumped the bilge dry only for it fill up again. keep at it for maybe a week and it will probably then stay dry for a while.

 

You are probably right that its the build up of ages with no way of knowing it was there.

 

It could be rain getting past the window frame to cabin side seal or condensation. What sort of shower pump do you have? if its a bilge pump in a box that will be suspect. Could also be condensation on the inside of the hull.

 

 

 

[valrene9600]

Every winter I get water below the cabin floor. I pump it out regularly from the rear corner below steps via inspection hole.

Every summer it's bone dry so obviously condensation.

I guess the sprayfoam doesn't cover all the hull sides. My thinking is in the bow at sides of stainless steel tank as I believe the hull arrived with tank fitted and sprayfoamed after.

Perhaps also spraying the tank would have stopped a lot of condensation forming on its outer surfaces.

[David Mack]

I don’t want to make a new topic so i will post over this one. I have a similar problem, but in cabin bilge. I went away for the weekend to come back to 1-2” water over the aft floor of the cabin.

 

Even if you did have quite a lot of water in the bilge already, to get enough to put 1-2" over the floor in a weekend would suggest a significant increase. To get that much in that time there's only 2 places it can realistically have come from (assuming you haven't had a rainstorm on an open boat) - either your water tank has emptied into the bilge, or it is canal water.

 

If your water tank is empty is that why? Can you get to your tank to inspect it? Could the pipework have failed? Did you leave the water pump on when you left the boat for the weekend?

 

When the boat was out of the water, and drying off, were there any persistent damp patches on the outside of the hull? That could be indicative of a hull leak.

 

I take it you have checked that the stern tube isn't leaking significantly.

[cuthound]

Looking ate the colour of the water may give a clue.

 

Clear = fresh water tank, or condensation of rain water.

 

Brown tinge = canal water

 

Grey tinge = shower water.

[Loafer]

Tommy, do you have a calorifier, or hot water tank? Old ones are prone to leaking from other than the pipe fittings and can be a huge mystery (and a mighty pain in the arse).

[Powney]

When people say a lot of water from condensation, how much could accumulate over a whole winter, been using my stove since last October. Not spray foam walls, it's polystyrene? 60ft NB that's been toasty warm all winter

[MtB]

When people say a lot of water from condensation, how much could accumulate over a whole winter, been using my stove since last October. Not spray foam walls, it's polystyrene? 60ft NB that's been toasty warm all winter

 

A cupful, perhaps. Or maybe two.

[boots]

We have found water in the bilge on two occasions - both due to leaks in the shower - and as Tony has mentioned it took a couple of weeks before we got it dry again - would mop it out until it was dry, only to find a couple of days later that the water had returned - however, the indication that it was not a permanent leak was that each time the level wasn't quite as deep as the previous time. I assume it was the concrete soaking up the water and then only slowly allowing it to seep out.

[Alan de Enfield]

 

A cupful, perhaps. Or maybe two.

 

With the amount of Kitchen roll I use, I reckon we get that that per night, just on the window frames.

[valrene9600]

When people say a lot of water from condensation, how much could accumulate over a whole winter, been using my stove since last October. Not spray foam walls, it's polystyrene? 60ft NB that's been toasty warm all winter

I get may be 10 litres over winter. Remove it regularly.

Suggest you check if out especially if cabin is isolated from rear engine bay.

[koukouvagia]

I get none in the motor, although the engine room, being uninsulated does attract quite a lot. I'm not bothered by it, but I have to make sure I cover my engine and especially the magneto.

The back cabin of the butty is a bit of a problem. The walls are fine and there's no condensation in the bilge. However, the roof is uninsulated - it's just inch and a quarter pine. I can't do much to insulate it because the headroom is pretty low already, so I just have to live with it. The only way I can stop the condensation there is to leave a small greenhouse heater on during cold weather.

[bizzard]

To minimize condensation in the boat=

1. Don't heat or boil water in the boat.

2. Do all your boiling of food and kettles, filling hot water bottles ect outside on the bank.

3. Do not shower, bath or wash in the boat. do it all on the bank.

4. Do not breath in the boat without a breathing tube in yer gob secured with a jubilee clip around the lips to prevent leaks, this tube should be directed out through the roof, or wear a fully self contained life support space suit available from NASA s/h, not cheap though.

5. Do not use the toilet for either No1's or 2's as they both create vapor.

6. Sleep on bare planks, as bedclothes hold moisture.

[Scholar Gypsy]

Bizzard, I think you should suggest removing the roof?

 

I get almost no water in cabin bilges, unless water pump leaks or someone (not me) forgets to close the drain valve when refilling the water system ... But mattress can get a bit soggy.

[Loafer]

To minimize condensation in the boat=

1. Don't heat or boil water in the boat.

2. Do all your boiling of food and kettles, filling hot water bottles ect outside on the bank.

3. Do not shower, bath or wash in the boat. do it all on the bank.

4. Do not breath in the boat without a breathing tube in yer gob secured with a jubilee clip around the lips to prevent leaks, this tube should be directed out through the roof, or wear a fully self contained life support space suit available from NASA s/h, not cheap though.

5. Do not use the toilet for either No1's or 2's as they both create vapor.

6. Sleep on bare planks, as bedclothes hold moisture.

 

Even better, buy a good tent and pitch it next to the boat. Live in that.

[George94]

The advice of Bizz is the biz, as usual.

 

But there is an alternative....

 

1 Recognise that simply being alive causes condensation, so concentrate on cure, rather than prevention.

2 Install an always-on (in winter) solid fuel stove.

3 Buy a dehumidifier for when the always-on stove isn't.

[Powney]

I'm still pumping out from the inspection chamber I made, seems to of slowed down... a little! Anyone have auto bilge pumps in the cabin section? Wouldn't be hard to install and send it through to the engine bay and link it into the bilge pump that side... I think. Just for emergency and so I don't have to check it as much and rig a pump up and pump it out the door and over the side... In the rain! But it's been 3 days now of pumping bits out. Must be a few litres a time! Where is all the water trapped! God knows but it's slowing down ?

[system 4-50]

Buy a very large bottle of Quink! Remember that? Throw it in the cut. Then check the colour of your bilge water. Just for reassurance.