Water in bilge

Cutty Stark is 14 years old now and has always had a perfectly dry bilge, recently I noticed a small dribble of water in the bilge around the keel bolts. I checked the sea cocks and sail drive seal for dampness and found none. I emptied the fresh water tank and sponged out the residual water left in the bottom I checked all the other accessable bilge compartments for signs of wetness, none. I lifted the table/floor in the saloon and built an moat round each keel bolt with plastercene to see which if any were leaking and found none were. i tasted the water and found it to be salty but not as salty as the sea. I thought this might be explained by the fact I had recently spent a week in fresh water. Then I noticed the water was weaping into the main bilge from a large lump of sicoflex sealing the two bilge pump pipes as they entered the bilge from a totally inaccessable part of the bilge under the floor between the gally and the heads door. I poked a small hole in this seal and out poured the water, about 5 bucket fulls in total over 4 days, I didnt want to rip off al, the sealer in case I couldnt stop the flow and so managed it. Eventually it stopped and I took all the sicoflex off. I sllid a narrow sliver of wood into the gap between the pipes and the hole and found that it went down an unexpectidly long way and was wet when pulled out. I slid a small plastic syphon pump into the gap and quickly pumped out another half bucket full of water from this unaccessable part of the bilge which seems to be as low or lower than the lowest accessable part of the bilge where the bilge pumps are. The bilge pumps dont go there though but it seems that over a period of time water from somewhere certainly does. I have since discovered that another owner had the same issue when his boat was around 14 years old and thought I would flag it up.
I will now lift the floor and table every couple of years and pump out this hidden void !

Hi Bitbaltic,
My boat has a deep fin keel. when I lifted the floor between the Galley and heads door I found a shallow tray which is part of the interior moulding just a few centemetres below and no way through it. It would seem that there is a fairly deep void below this tray.

Hi Samuel,
Thats prretty much the plan. rather than drill any holes though I'm thinking of inserting a piece of thin plastic pipe into the this void through the same hole as the bilge pump pipes and leaving the end in the bilge under the inspection hatch in the saloon, I can then periodically attach a pump and suck out any water.

CuttyStark wrote: Hi Samuel, Thats prretty much the plan. rather than drill any holes though I'm thinking of inserting a piece of thin plastic pipe into the this void through the same hole as the bilge pump pipes and leaving the end in the bilge under the inspection hatch in the saloon, I can then periodically attach a pump and suck out any water.

The reason one goes in vertically is that the end will not flap about & you get more out. If you just lay the pipe horizontal it may not sit dead flat on the bilge at the lowest point, ie it may be 2-3 mm up off the GRP. then with the 6mm diam of the pipe you cannot suck less than 9mm of water before you suck air ( I experimented in a part of the bilge with the floor removed)
If you go vertically with a square end to the pipe you can get down to 1-2mm of water remaining which on the shallow bilge of  the type we have this equates to quite a lot of water

If you do not like a small hole showing (mine is in the middle of the saloon & I never notice it) you can get a plastic screw cap & place over it. Alternatively, countersink the hole & screw a 6mm stainless steel machine screw into it & make it look like a fixing


Edited by samuel - 24 July 2016 at 13:34

Totally agree with Samuel's approach..
Now about the water, my 301 was born Jan 2000, and I Lund that water was in this area, plus some in the bilge, and when on a heel, this water would come out of the bilge via the gap between the floor board and the grip floor. It would lay at the base of the moulding for the saloon bunks and the floor...
I pumped out all the water, cleared out all the sikaflex from between the hoses in the bilge pumped out the water in this compartment, and dried of the boat with a dehumidifier.. next time went out but turned of all the seacocks for the toilet and the vanity basin. Still had a dry boat, went out again but with the seacocks open, I then had a wet boat. So now I always turn off seacocks for the toilet, and since ( two seasons) still got a dry boat... I have not checked but I presume in the hoses for the toilet there is behind the panel an anti syphon, I sure somebody will confirm or refute this. I understand hat sometimes this stops working, so I am then assuming that water is feeding back.
Either way by turning of the seacocks I keep a dry boat now..😄😄😄