2005 Hunter 36 Bilge

drm1

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Sep 13, 2020
107
Hunter 36 Bayport Yachting Center
lots of great ideas and thoughtful advice everyone. thank you!
 

drm1

.
Sep 13, 2020
107
Hunter 36 Bayport Yachting Center
I replaced the packing in the stuffing box and it solved the leak problem. Thanks everyone for your help!
 
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drm1

.
Sep 13, 2020
107
Hunter 36 Bayport Yachting Center
ok. So packing was replaced in the stuffing box. My ex-,mechanic only hand tightened it, so a huge flood of water filled the Blige on our first trip this season. That's another story though. Lesson: make sure you really trust your mechanic and/or always double check your mechanic's work!

That didn't fix the problem though. It turned out we had a leaking macerator pump so blackwater was seeping into the bilge. We sail on the Great Lakes so the pump isn't used, but it's on the bottom of the tank so the leak was a pretty serious issue.

Pump replaced, bilge cleaned, and leak has stopped. Problem solved. thanks everyone.
 
Sep 20, 2006
2,912
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
I removed my macerator and capped the tank long time ago. The hose to the macerator was downhill so would fill and not get pumped out. Like you, on the Great Lakes so will not be used. Easy to install if ever needed in the future.

You may also want to check all your other plumbing hoses. The clear hose with black spiral galley drain started to crack so was replaced with better hose. I also replaced all the head intake and head sink drain hoses after the head intake had a leak.
 
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Apr 8, 2011
768
Hunter 40 Deale, MD
I removed my macerator and capped the tank long time ago. The hose to the macerator was downhill so would fill and not get pumped out. Like you, on the Great Lakes so will not be used. Easy to install if ever needed in the future.

You may also want to check all your other plumbing hoses. The clear hose with black spiral galley drain started to crack so was replaced with better hose. I also replaced all the head intake and head sink drain hoses after the head intake had a leak.
+1 on Scott's post. When I bought my boat in 2018 one of the first things I did was rip out the stinky macerator that could never be pumped clean and capped off both the black tank outlet and the thru hull. No sense in replacing what I'll never use on the Chesapeake, and take a system out of the boat that has no need to be there. Simple matter to uncap and rerun a macerator if I was ever to want to go offshore (unlikely).
 
Sep 20, 2006
2,912
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
I used the macerator thru-hull for the wash-down pump for the anchor.

@drm1 you may want to check your waste hose as well. They used cheaper hose and mine was permeated after only a few years. ( Had our 2005 H33 for 14 years )
 

drm1

.
Sep 13, 2020
107
Hunter 36 Bayport Yachting Center
Yes checked. Mine seems to be ok. The previous owner never used the head, or the galley and never slept over. So the interior is like new. But I will check regularly, since we're using the boat a lot :)