Help with water in bilge

[fishtale]

I have a 2005 20' Seacraft and am getting a little water in the bilge, not much but any amount is more than i want. So, looking suggestions on figuring out where it's coming from, what say ye'? There is a live well in the stern with a thru-hull pick-up so i'm guessing that would be the most likely place to start looking, correct?

[joshmon71]

Went through this myself 2 years ago. so how much water?Could be any place there is a hole/thru hull into boat as culprit start with obvious suspect areas.

a properly installed seacock with flange or what are you dealing with got a photo?

there is some normal amount of water that enters the bilge from the vents on my 23n and just driving around water splashes, given its now an outboard, i turned my front vents back (you would keep them front facing if an IO or inboard engine. but thats normal. keep them as air flow is a good thing. brings up the point how much water are we talking?

on the front fish box there is a drain, it could be the bronze tube is shot and leaking there, it was for me. i removed mine and glassed it over, and in the future plan to run vac hose line to a macerator from my 2 fish bozes forward, but for now its into the bilge for my forward box and middle box.

guess first question is, is water leaking from front of bow area near that box? is it from back of boat at rest near thru hull? i have pretty good access to check these bilge areas on my 23, you may not.

How about your scuppers? out the back or down bottom of boat? how is the bronze tubes there or are they replacedand not bronzed? another suspect area.

those are my 3 guesses-thru hull u mention,scuppers tubes if bronze, and forward fish box bronze tube. 1 is front, 2 are rear, start with where the water is coming in if can do so.

i also note on a trailer boat, if you do not tilt the bow up enough when storingm water will hold in the bow...


Good Luck!
-Josh

[joshmon71]

Never mind this is a 2005, not classic, but a seacraft, prob most of my post is not appropros thus! still i would check anyplace where there is a hole(fishbox drain,scuppers,thru hull). is the seacock secured with screws from the outside of hull into the flanged seacock or how done? might be ahrd to tell though.

[joshmon71]

Put a bucket of water with some dye in it,like food dye or something that wont stain, in the bilge,see where leaks.

[Blue_Heron]

I have a 2005 20' Seacraft and am getting a little water in the bilge, not much but any amount is more than i want.

Do you have a deck plate or other bilge access in the motor well? If so, that would be a possible source. That being said, it's not unusual for an outboard boat to get small amounts of water in the bilge. Water on the deck will find a void in the sealant around a hatch. Bilge vents will allow a little water in. The hole where the engine wiring harness and steering cable/hoses pass through can allow water in. Unless your automatic bilge pump (you have one, right?) is kicking on more than once per hour, I wouldn't sweat it.
Dave

[eggsuckindog]

Dry it out - pull the access plate put it in the water and look where it comes from - simple.

[fishtale]

Yep, my next plan was to let it dry, splash it, and look for water leak. Only had it in the water twice now, first time i thought the water had come from the live well as it had cracks around the top and thought water had "sloshed" around and out of well into bilge. But, i sealed the live well and kept it dry for the second outing and still ended up w/about a gal of water an hour in bilge. Only access points i can see in the bilge area are the live well pick-up and 2 drain scuppers that are below the waterline. Hope it's one of those or at least something i can see in the bilge area. Have had very little water on deck or in splash well the two times i've had it out so i'm pretty sure it's coming from below deck somewhere.

[76Red18]

Front fishbox drain is a known problem on the older 18' and 20's. Can't see the leak because of the liner. Leakes from outside of hull to bilge.

[Fr. Frank]

Re-seal the outboard motor mounting bolts, too. Mine leaked past both bottom bolts after a dealer re-install of my motor. I sealed with a poly-sulfide caulk, instead of silicone. I used 3M 4200. No leaks there since.

[fishtale]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Well, i did the dry out/splash/look routine and I have id'd 2 sources so far. One is the main drain plug, or "garboard drain", the sealant around the fitting was done very poorly (yeah, i know, that's what u get w/a production boat). The second place is the drain for the "dry" storage (dry it ain't, but that's a whole 'nuther issue) area in the floor in the bow. It is piped to drain to the bilge but the sealant around the pipe was, once again, done very poorly so that any rain/wash/sea water hitting the deck and going into the storage bin could leak some around the drainpipe into the hull . So, gonna dry it out again, seal-up those 2 places, and look again to make sure the thru hole isn't leaking also. Considering how sorry a sealing job was done everywhere else, i will be re-sealing the thru hole anyway, just hoping to be able to wait for a little cooler weather cause it's very hard to get to, i only have a 6" pie hole opening to access it.