Leak in rear bilge 27fc

[davem554]

I’m at wits end. I have water accumulation in the rear bilge and can not find the source. The stiffing gland only drips every 30 seconds. The upper rugged post gland seems dry..
I would appreciate any ideas you may have, since
I seem to be at a dead end and would like to avoid a quick haul if possible.
Thanks, Dave

[Sprig1]

Maybe swim platform bolts

[tego]

Where in the rear bilge? It could be coming from a leaking portlight or a leaking hand rail on top of the aft cabin. The water will run down behind the hull liner and you'll never see a trace of it inside the cabin. It could also be a loose scupper hose under the rear cabin sole. If the water accumulates in the steering quadrant area, these . are your most likely culprits. If it's in the keel, it can be coming from anywhere that has a water hose or tank. Check first to see if it's salt water of fresh and good luck! Ben

[davem554]

Pete, Good thought, are there concealed bolts below the rear compartment where the rudder
shaft exits ?


Also thanks to Ben, I will check all you mentioned

[ChrisP]

Not sure if water is accumulating in your keel or in the aft bilge compartment around your rudder post?
Mine was leaking around where the shaft log came in through the keel. Their were pieces of wood that were originally glassed in as backing plates for the nuts that the bolts for the cutlass bearing pulled against. These had rotted causing the bearing housing to vibrate loose and the shaft log had detattched on one side from the hull. I gooped it up from the inside using a tube of 5200 and it got me through the season ( I didn’t know the severity of the damage). It appeared it was only leaking in through the two 3/8 cutlass bearing bolts.
Hopefully yours is leaking from the sources listed in the previous posts and is not as severe as mine was.

[stmbtwle]

Fighting exactly that problem now. Stuffing box and rudder packing gland are dry. Water appears to be coming in around the stern tube. Yard says they'll have to pull the shaft, rudder, and cutless mount to get at it. Not sure what we'll find, it does not look like an easy fix.

I think one MIGHT be able to remove the prop and cutless mount and be able to do it without removing the shaft, but I can't be sure. Either way, the boat has to be hauled out. Sorry.

[davem554]

Thanks Chris.when you refer to the shaft log do you mean the rudder shaft or prop shaft ?
The compartment with the rudder shaft seems dry.

[stmbtwle]

I think he means the prop shaft. The rudder stuffing box is firmly bolted to the bottom of the boat. I believe the shaft log/stern tube is just bedded in with a nut on the inside like a big bolt. Too much torque (as from overtightening the shaft packing) could conceivably break it loose and cause it to leak. I'll know more when we get mine opened up.

[ChrisP]

I am referring to the shaft log for the prop shaft. I just finished rebuilding mine today. I had to cut the old log out (it was junk anyways) so I could get below it to grind out the rotten wood and fiberglass. It looks like mine had been leaking for along time through the bottom bolt on the cutlass bearing. I wound up building up the whole area with glass and I glassed in two pieces of G10 for the cutlass bearing bolts to pull against.
My stern tube runs the entire length of the keel from the cutlass bearing all the way into the engine compartment where it has a PSS seal.
I believe some Albins have a stuffing box on the inboard side of the cutlass bearing right under the aft cabin floor? If I have to work on this again, that’s the way I’m going to go. There just isn’t enough room in there and you have to pretty much stand on your head to work in there.

My boat does not have the rudder support skeg that 84 and later boats have. I have read where the bolts from the skeg leak over time and need to be replaced and resealed.
Something else to check?

[stmbtwle]

Yes the skeg can create problems. It has it's advantages (crab traps, fishing lines, etc) but it's also subject to damage, and the bolts can leak.

The stuffing box in the aft cabin is a bit hard to get to, but it IS accessible. On my boat at least I can't imagine trying to access it if it were up near the engine. There would have to be another hatch in the deck just for the purpose.

[stmbtwle]

With my boat it turned out that the water was coming in around the stern tube, which was bedded in 5200. The cutless bearing was also shot. My thought is that vibration from the bad cutless broke the 5200 seal and caused the leak, though there's no way to know for sure.

[davem554]

Thanks to all of you that responded. Sounds to me
A haul out in the near future. Based on your collective wisdom it sounds like the tube and cutlass bearing.
Are these items hard to find ?

[ChrisP]

The stern tube in my boat is over 6' long and fiberglass. I ordered a section of fiberglass tubing from Fisheries Supply which I had to turn down on each end. I think it was around $45/ft. I purchased a Morse bearing for less than $50 from IBoats.com. Additionally, I replaced the original 1.25" x 82.5" long bronze prop shaft (it was worn .018" on the bearing fit) with a new one from General Propeller for $550.
Like I stated earlier though, the setup in my boat might be drastically different from yours as mine is hull #1.