Fresh Water in Bilge

[pocoloco]

Hey and Happy New Year!

I hate a wet bilge. I have spent hours cleaning and painting my aft bilge under the engine but every time it rains my bilge fills up.Yes I have cleaned the drain hoses with water under pressure to blow out dirt etc so wonder where else it may be coming from or if the heavy rains in SFla just overwhelm the drains or what!
Does anyone else have thus issue?
Al, PocoLoco 32-2

[TomA]

I have the same issue Al. Don't know where the rain water enters but it occurs after every heavy rain. Tom

[drbob]

A couple more areas to look.
1. The drain hoses in our A28TE don't flow down. They are spot tied higher than the drain holes. Go figure. They drain fine when the boat is underway with the bow up. LOL. Okay, I'm on that one.
2. The engine air intake boxes on some boats (see other forums here) seemed to have been installed upside down and so collect water and let it flow into the bilge. The heavy rain and strong winds we just experienced during one of the cold fronts hear in SW Fl blew water so hard against the bow and forward deck of our boat that it went right up into the forward hatch and dripped onto the table - minimal but, there it is. Yep, on my list to adjust the hatch handles.
3. Sump overflow. When our shower sump pump failed, we added a bit of water to the bilge before we figured out the problem. Fixed.
4. We have a small amount of water that collects on the inside hull on the port side. Lift the back seat rest and there is a storage space. At the aft end of this storage their is a place that puddles water. I filled that with caulk and now it runs off into the bilge. It's no more than a tablespoon and so not worth chasing it down.
5. It's a process of elimination and take nothing for granted that it was assembled correctly.

Bob DeGroot
2005 A28TE
Cape Harbour, FL

[Tree]

One area I've noticed (yes I need to address it) is the bow rail. I've noticed when coming back after wet trips water has run down the inside of the hull where the rail is bolted down.

[Nancy]

One area I've noticed (yes I need to address it) is the bow rail. I've noticed when coming back after wet trips water has run down the inside of the hull where the rail is bolted down.

Where do you see this?

[Tree]

Nancy,

If you lift the seats up around the table, you've got the hatch just behind at the back of the seat. It's not a lot of water but there is evidence water has been trickling in there.

[Nancy]

Tree, do you mean in the anchor locker? I don't think we have an access hatch behind the forward-most seat back. I have no photos of the cabin with the seat backs up. I might have to wait for a warm day and climb in through the zipper door and take a look.

[Tree]

If I go down to the boat today I'll take a picture but currently we've got the tail end of the big storm that hit the east coast of America last week hitting us and dumping lots of rain and wind!

[Tree]

As promised. Here is where I see evidence of water. It's not a lot but you can see where the mildew is on the left hand side.

However, it's currently blowing gale force 9 and pouring with rain but dry. That could be however since the rain is hitting the boat from the starboard side.

[drbob]

Ahhhh, we had the same collection point. Don't know where the water is coming in either. Could be the port nav light connection point. I've got that on the list to check out. It was such a small amount that the mildew was a greater concern. So what we did after we sprayed and cleaned with the mold & mildew remover is to fill that indented area with putty. Now if and when the water comes in it flows down into the bilge for disposal.

Bob DeGroot
2005 A28TE Engine Box

[Tree]

Just after a took that photo I checked the bilges due to the rain from Storm Jonas and despite pumping out a few litres yesterday, today there was quite a bit more. It was fresh water in the bilge so I can only assume that volume has come off the deck. I do wonder also, how much water could essentially run down the flush mounted rod holders?

[Nancy]

Thanks for the orientation photo, Tree.

[Nepidae]

Pocoloco,

I noticed that you have a 32 and I'm not sure how that fits into the smaller 27's & 28's.

We have a 43 and we get water inside which my mate doesn't like either (I say it's a boat in water but do what I can to stop it).

First, when we got the boat she used a hand bilge pump and diapers to keep the water down (sounds like a lot but it never was). Then I got a wet/dry vac at Walmart and she now uses that up at the fwd bilge pump for what the pump doesn't get and it is never enough to start the pump.

I found one place for water intrusion was the anchor locker howser hole will take on water if the top isn't on. I also turned the whole unit around so the notch for the chain/rode was facing aft. No more water there.

We also got water in the windows until I removed years of dauber mud in the weep holes.

Last place is the steps to the sundeck on the stbd side have a leak which comes in the aft head. Can't find where it is leaking I just see the residue on the sink top after a rain.

Hope this helps in your search.

Good luck.

Best regards,

Charles

Charles Williamson
m/v Nepidae
Albin 43 Sundeck
Nepidae.trawler@gmail.com
MTOA 3927

[wilsonbryan]

Hello
I have a 1995 32 command bridge for two plus years now. When I purchased, it has same problem, rain water collecting in engine room bilge. After repairing all cockpit drains, the problem persisted. Futher investigation revealed the rain water was leaking along the outer edge of the coaming deck surrounding the cockpit. This is a separate insert from the main hull deck with a seam going around the cockpit coaming deck along the toe rail. Rain will run down the deck (like a waterfall!) and as it passes over the insert, drain thru the seam between the cockpit liner and the hull (at a rapid rate during a hard/long rain).
The cure was simple (but a little time consuming). Reef out all the old calulking (if any), tape both sides of the seam (for a tidy job) and recaluk with something durable. I used boat life polyurethane, but I think 5200 would have been better since I don't plan to remove this deck insert.