Weird water tank problem

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Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
I have a 31' Hunter (not Cherubini) built in 1983. I live on the boat exclusively and have owned it for just under two years.

This summer I was out of town a lot. One time I came back, and the water tank was full. I thought the guy who works on my boat had filled it for me, but he said he had not. It's enough of a bother to fill that tank that I was sure I couldn't have filled it and forgotten, but since I was going out of town again, I drained it through the kitchen sink.

Got back in town and noticed the bilge pump periodically pumping out small amounts of water. Since I wasn't using any water on the boat (not even the ice box, which drains into the bilge) that was a puzzle. I caught it in a bucket -- fresh water.

Then I went to wipe down the inside of the water tank, having left it open to dry -- and found it overflowing with water. That's why the bilge pump -- the overflow was trickling into the bottom of the engine compartment, and then to the bilge. Once again, fresh, not salt.

So far I've pumped about 90 gal. of FRESH water out of the water tank, which by the way had its lid resealed very well fairly recently, but the deck does not leak anywhere ... and it hasn't rained in weeks anyway. I pumped it out about 24 hours ago and the tank is nearly half full again already. The water includes a very fine silt (fine as talc powder when dry).

I live in a salt water marina, only one water tank, and no shore supply of water. Does anyone have ANY idea where this fresh water could be coming from???
 
Ralph Johnstone

Ralph Johnstone

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Jan 4, 2006
6,473
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
Either Gremlins ..................................

........................ or someone's yanking your chain.

Pull the old James Bond stunt and tape a long, fine human hair across your filling spout and check it the next time you find the tank full when it shouldn't be ;).

Next, invest in a shotgun :eek: ! ! ! !
 
S

Steve Dion

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Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Where is your tank located? On the later models it was under the aft berth (holds about 35 gal. The fill for the tank was under the teak pad where the emergency tiller is located.
 
Ken13559

Ken13559

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Oct 29, 2005
2,356
Hunter Marine 326 303 Singapore
Rakuflames, lots of country would be envious of you. You get fresh water for free msgically. Where I'm at we have to buy our water from neighbouring country.
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
I know you're having fun, but this is a serious problem. I have to pump it out with a hand pump because it includes that fine silt that could damage the water pump for the galley sink.

Please, no jokes -- I really need to know if anyone has seen this -- and if you saw my boat, you would know that no one could be playing a trick on me. Because of the way my boat is netted (to keep my cat in) I would actually *know* if someone were getting on my boat -- and it's happened in two different locations.

There has to be an answer; I'm due to go back out of town and I can't leave the boat this way.
 
S

Saillife

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Apr 5, 2011
113
Hunter 34 Tilghman Island, Md
Rained much? Like a previous poster said tape a hair across the fill, see if someone is pulling a not very funny joke.

Where is the silt coming from?
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
Saillife said:
Rained much? Like a previous poster said tape a hair across the fill, see if someone is pulling a not very funny joke.

Where is the silt coming from?
Click to expand

No -- as I said, it hasn't rained in weeks, and yesterday the water gathered *while I was on the boat.* There are other reasons why it really couldn't be someone else.

The question is -- has anyone else SEEN this? Any first hand experience? It's not a joke. It's very serious problem. I live on this boat and I can't use the water tank.
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
Saillife said:
Rained much? Like a previous poster said tape a hair across the fill, see if someone is pulling a not very funny joke.

Where is the silt coming from?
Click to expand

If I knew where the silt was coming from, I'd know where the water is coming from. As I say, the tank top was recently removed, thoroughly cleaned, reseated and sealed, bolted down -- and tested afterwards.

It doesn't leak.
 
J

Jimmy Jenkins

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Mar 5, 2009
55
2 30_74-83 Port St Lucie, FL
There are three planned openings water can can get in. Tank fill opening, overflow tube to the outside of the hull, and the outlet to the pump. I can't imagine where the water is coming from, but if you can block these three openings one at a time, it may give you some idea of how it is getting in. Keep us posted on what you find out.
Jimmy
Port St Lucie, FL
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
jaj63207 said:
There are three planned openings water can can get in. Tank fill opening, overflow tube to the outside of the hull, and the outlet to the pump. I can't imagine where the water is coming from, but if you can block these three openings one at a time, it may give you some idea of how it is getting in. Keep us posted on what you find out.
Jimmy
Port St Lucie, FL
Click to expand

Thank you! It will be a little while but ... that's a great idea. If anyone has any other ideas (we've covered the "fine hair" thing -- grin) please post it.
 
py26129

py26129

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Oct 25, 2011
576
Island Packet IP31 Lake St. Louis, Montreal
Another idea, along the lines of what Jimmy suggested would be to disconnect each of the three hoses from its tank fitting. It should be easy to identify if any water is entering the tank via one of the hoses.

Matt
 
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D

Deadline

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Jun 7, 2007
515
Hunter 320 Williamsburg
Been there... sucessfully

I puzzled over this very problem for six months this year. It turned out to be a hairline crack in the "unbreakable" blue water line from the tank through the bowlels of the boat (H320) to the water pump. I bypassed the pipe with a new hose.

I recommend you do everything you can to narrow the source of the leak, and then attack as I did through a process of elimination. Very frustrating, to be sure.
 
RAD88

RAD88

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Dec 15, 2008
163
Hunter 30 Glen Cove, NY
Re: Been there... sucessfully

I would not disconnect the intake hose in case someone is pulling a prank.With no hose on the deck fill they could fill you boat with hundreds of gallons of water, possibly sinking her.
 
py26129

py26129

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Oct 25, 2011
576
Island Packet IP31 Lake St. Louis, Montreal
Re: Been there... sucessfully

Agreed in that I woudl not leave the boat with the hoses disconnected. I should have been more explicit.

He mentioned in an earleir post that the water level was changing while he was on the boat. In that scenario. pulling the hoses might show if that is where the water is entering. By all means, reconnect the hoses before leaving the boat.

Matt
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
rad88 said:
I would not disconnect the intake hose in case someone is pulling a prank.With no hose on the deck fill they could fill you boat with hundreds of gallons of water, possibly sinking her.
Click to expand

Please listen carefully. :)

No one is "playing a prank." I've been on the boat and watched the water gradually rise. In addition, no one gets the netting in the cockpit right (so the cat can't get out) except me. No one's getting on my boat. I live in an active, busy marina that is live-aboard heavy. The office has a clear view of my boat. No one would even try it here.
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
py26129 said:
Agreed in that I woudl not leave the boat with the hoses disconnected. I should have been more explicit.

He mentioned in an earleir post that the water level was changing while he was on the boat. In that scenario. pulling the hoses might show if that is where the water is entering. By all means, reconnect the hoses before leaving the boat.

Matt
Click to expand

Unfortunately "he" is a 66 year old woman and I have NO idea how to do any of this. I have a friend who can help me in a couple of weeks but it all sounds tremendously disruptive to living on a boat. Nevertheless I am TREMENDOUSLY grateful to everyone who's thought about this (even the jokes although I'm glad it's being taken more seriously now).
 
gpdno

gpdno

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May 16, 2011
144
Watkins 27 Venice
It's a relatively new boat to you, correct? Maybe the PO had a water maker installed and never mentioned it... If it's running that at least could make water... Just a wild guess ;)
 
R

Rakuflames

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Apr 3, 2012
21
Hunter 31' St. Petersburg, FL
gpdno said:
It's a relatively new boat to you, correct? Maybe the PO had a water maker installed and never mentioned it... If it's running that at least could make water... Just a wild guess ;)
Click to expand

No, I've had the boat for two years and this is a very recent problem ... and no, he didn't have a water maker on it.

This is not clean fresh water I'm getting. It has silt in it.
 
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