Bilge leak

[Hedonia]

Hello all,
Second Season with the boat, first time we launch it ourselves.
Entered water on Saturday, checked for leaks and all seemed well. Bilge pump area still had antifreeze in it so we cleaned it. By Monday, bilge pump was running every 20 minutes. Cannot confirm but water seems to be coming from one of the 4 bolts.
So what are the possibilities ? Do I need to get the boat out to fix it ? What changed during winter since all was fine last fall. Anyone ever had this issue ?

 

[rgranger]

Yikes! Every 20 min seems like a rather significant leak. If you have the boat hooked up to shore power, maybe you could shop-vac out the bilge and then get an eye ball view of where the water is coming in. If you are lucky, a quick turn on a keel bolt nut might get you through the season without a haul out but I would loose sleep worrying my boat is going to sink.... at least until I get a haul out and a look at the keel, hull joint.

 

[Hedonia]

Indeed, planning to go back with a big enough wrench a give a couple of turns. Any idea where I could get the schematics to understand how it is all attached ?
Many thanks for your comments.

 

[JohnVTX]

https://www.google.com/search?q=hun...NGEVPM:;zCmRHm7Fjy293M:&imgrc=aj4uu2TYNGEVPM:

 

[rgranger]

Go here

http://hunter.sailboatowners.com/resources/index.php?task=model&mid=75

then click on the "downloads" link. There is a PDF service manual in the list of things you can down load.

 

[Hedonia]

ok great, will take a look. Thks again.

 

[rgranger]

de nada

 

[Scott B]

That's odd, but I'm having a similar issue on ours. Not quite that much water but slow leak. I'm thinking keel as it was leaking prior to filling the water tank. I grounded out on a rock few years back and wonder if this has opened up a seal and worsened sitting on the cradle over the winter.

Is your water tank full and have you checked all you pipe fittings. You would also hear the water pump going off every few minutes if it was a water leak.

 

[Hedonia]

Hello Scott,
Yes fresh water tank is full and was the first thing I checked for. Everything points to one of those 4 nuts... Would you by any chance happen to know the size? Are they standard on all Hunter 33 ?

 

[Scott B]

Sorry, missed your last post. Did you track down the source of the leak? I finally pinned down my leak tot he head intake hose. Must have either worn through at a rub point from motion or a mouse chewed through the hose. I had mice in the boat this winter and they chewed up the toilet papaer, rages, paper towel etc.

I left the head intake closed all weekend and everything was dry. I always close the thru-hulls when I leave the boat for the week.

 

[Hedonia]

Last Friday had the boat looked at and the conclusion so far seems to be that the water comes from a leaking keel bolt, but obviously the one isolated closest the stern. Monitering the leak and planning to take care of this in the fall so that everything has the chance to dry off nicely before resealing. Cost of about 1500$... Only odd thing is that the warmer it gets the less water seems to come in and vice versa.

 

[MitchM]

a 1980s vintage catalina 30 in our marina was dropped on its bow by an inept travelift operator. the operator was a new replacement for a very experienced operator. the stern was in a sling and the boat on its cradle. a sling was around the bow. instead of hitting 'raise the bow ' he hit 'raise the stern.' since the stern end was already in the sling, that dumped the boat on its nose. the owners launched the boat, against general advice. shortly they were were seeing a very very slow leak, which was coming out of the fore most keel boat area. the boat also had the famous 'catalina smile' which had not been there before it was dropped. its bilge pump was keeping up but the better part of caution said to haul her immediately for a keel bolt repair. fortunately the marina insurance paid the repair bill, which i think was in the thousand dollars range . they tightened all the keel bolts. (that repair bill did not include any payment for the sheer fright of seeing your boat dropped on its nose, or its loss of use for a month. ) several years later, that boat is still doing fine.

 

[Hedonia]

Hello Mitch,
Indeed I do have my doubts that since I was not present last fall when they hauled it out that the keel might have been hit or other. If they did though, did not leave any signs... Slow leak is still there but oddly enough, less and less as the water warms up.