Ballast Tank Vent Plug Leak

[Jason Alexander]

So I was out sailing the other day and was in a hurry and didn't get the old drain plug tight in the vent hole. We sailed for about 4 hours and when we came back notice that the plug had come out and we had water in the bilge and under the inspection plate next to the steps. There wasn't enought water to reach the bilge pump but it looked like more then I would have expect to come out of the ballast tank. We were sailing in about 10 knot winds and kept the boat reasonably upright except for a couple gusts which pushed us over a bit until I eased off the main sheet. But we weren't sailing with the rail in the water.Anyone had this happen to them. Care to comment on how much water should come out of the tank.Jason

 

[Tom2909]

Quite a bit

Splashes out when I've left the plug out at the dock while doing other things waiting for the tank to fill. I doesn't surprise me.Before locking down, you can twist the lever on the plug so it turns relative to the rubber part and it will change the diameter of the plug. I think that Clockwise makes it bigger (tighter) in the hole.Fair winds,Tom

 

[Jim Schaff]

That Happened to Me.

My plug was in but not snapped down. I took on so much water on my H26 that water was in the bilge and flooded under boat seats in the cabin. I lost a lot of boxed food because I store it under those seats. I seriously thought I had a major leak. Took the boat out many times after that with the plug in tight and never had any more water come in. I also glassed in the forward of both storage lockers (under the seats) so that couldn't happen again.Jim Schaffs/v Savannah

 

[Jason Alexander]

Water to Bilge

IT wasn't nearly that bad for me. Just a few rags worth of water. One question. If you glass in the passage from the seats to the bilge what do you do if you get water in there. I would hope that water never found it way in there but if something went seriously wrong the water would have no path the bilge

 

[Jim Schaff]

Path to Bilge

That particular boat was a 1997 H26. I don't have it anymore and I don't recall how the water made its way from the ballast tank plug hole to the front of the boat -- under the cabin sole I guess. But when it got to the area under the V-berth it had easy access to the storage compartments under both the port and starboard seats (depending on which way the boat was healing). Once the water got under the seats it was stopped at the end of the storage compartment under the ice box on the starboard side and at the head wall on the port side. So the path that water had to take to get to the bilge was back to the front of the storage compartments. I glassed in the front of each storage compartment so no water could get in there in the first place. Clear as bilge water?