Beneteau 40 2008: limber holes - clogged - incomplete - not laid out at all ?

[miraculix]

Hi all,

Our Beneteau 40 is a two cabin version, we bought her in Spring of last year and during the summer we found something that seems to be odd.
Right in front of the rear cabin is an almost square relatively shallow section of the bilge. Water that collects under the floor boards of the rear cabin seem to flow via an overflow into this part of the bilge. Unfortunately, the water that collects there is not flowing further into the bilge and finally to the bilge pump. It just sits there. There is one small hole on the side facing the companionway. I assume that that normaly is the way for the water towards the bilge pump.
I tried with a wire to follow the chanel and maybe remove what ever is in there, unfortunately after some 12 to 15 inches there is a hard stop the wire could not overcome. Not sure what to do, maybe I try a stiffer wire or the like?

There is another section of the bilge that doesn't seem to be drained. It's in the salon underneath the bench behind the hot water heater. During winterizing and draining the hot water heater some water got in there and it stayed there. I tried to find a limber hole but there is none.
Is that normal ?
Any thoughts how to find out if the limber hole is just clogged ?
Also I thought about putting some food dye into the water. It may flow extremely slow, but with the food dye I could see if it's flowing at all.

Thank you,
Christoph

 

[Davidasailor26]

When you run the wire and reach the hard stop it’s possible that you’re hitting the grid, and that there’s some other limber hole just not lined up with the first. In the pictures it looks like the level of the water is a little bit up the hole, but not covering it. I suspect that if you add more water it will flow into the bilge, just going back down to about the same level where it is. In our 37 there are places where I can pour over a gallon of water and it disappears under the grid without going to the bilge. Over the course of the spring when the boat rocks and heels it eventually makes its way to the bilge.

The section without any holes is a little strange. I would expect a way for it to drain somehow. The 37 has a few boxes like that with holes that aren’t in the lowest spots, but I think they all have holes somewhere.

 

[miraculix]

When I found out about the problem, the whole section was basically flooded. Meaning both sections, the one in the aft cabin in front of the battery compartement as well as the one next to the companion way were both full of water. So the amount of water was probably enough to see something going to the bilge pump. Also, the route the water most likely flows from there to the bilge seemed to be dry.
The water initially came from the shower because the shower sump pump wasn't working correctly.

You really think It might be that there is no real channel and the water is just flowes into the grid?
Finally comes out in a different place? Maybe only if the boat is heeling some.
I thought about one of these little cheap chinese endoscope cams I am wondering if they are small enough to fit into the hole to see where this is going. Maybe worth a try.

 

[Davidasailor26]

No, having significant amounts of water in the sections doesn’t sound right. I’ve only seen small amounts because of where the limber holes are, and water getting under the grid going to low places. Nothing like you describe in the boxes themselves. It does sound like you have some plugged or missing limber holes in that case. For the ones that might be plugged you could try an air compressor or shop vac to blow or suck enough air to clear whatever might be jamming them.