Finding my way around my Hunter 260 (question #1: bilge water)

[symont]

Hello all,

I have been a passive follower of this forum for about a year now (and joined in a few moths ago) , the time it took me to finally find and buy a 2004 Hunter 260 in great shape. This beauty is now sleeping beside my house.

So, let me first thank every contributor on this forum. Your answers to past questions, your evaluations and mods, all inspired me to choose this boat which I am convinced is the perfect match for my family (two kids). Here in the Montreal region, we are surrounded by several body of water with countless possibilities.

The previous owner took great care of it. Still, there is some little concerns or “projects” here and there that need to be addressed. I now have a few questions on the more puzzling ones.

Let start with an easy one (I hope):

These is some mold on the wall surrounding the water tank under the V-bert. I intent to remove the water tank and go in there to give it a good scrub. Question: if I rinse generously with water, will this water find its way up to the bilge pump or will it be trapped by the water ballast tank?

Thank you for your help and happy sailing

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

No. Try for example spray bottle of windex with paper towels. Wear gloves and a mask please sir for your protection and after you finish, wash clothes separate from others

 

[twalker H260]

Don’t remove the tank. - wash around it. If it is mould, wash the area with concrobium available from Home Depot up here. It is one of the few things that I’ve found that is supposed to kill the mould and prevent its regrowth vs most cleaners that remove the discolouration but leave the mould ready to grow again.

As Dave says, use mask, -gloves and goggles wouldn’t hurt and old clothes to wash separately.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@twalker H260
Thank you sir

 

[symont]

Thank you Dave and twalker. I will go in there fully protected and use concrobium as you suggest.

But if anyone know, the question remain for future reference. Will any spill under the V-birth find its way up to the bilge pump or will it be trapped by the water ballast tank?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Sent you a private message

 

[twalker H260]

Sorry I didn’t answer that portion. In my experience no. Water will not flow back to the bilge to be pumped out. - at least not till there is a lot of water.

Water will flow fairly freely from the area under the v birth to the side areas under the front settee. From there it usually seems to follow the sides of the boat under the settees to the areas under the head and Galley sinks.
The bilge pump is mounted quite high in the aft of the boat so a substantial amount of water is required before it will activate.

That being said if boat was completely empty you could do it that way but you would have some substantial hand mopping to do after. If it’s on the hard you could lower the bow jack and use a small utility pump to keep the water in the bow and limit the hand drying.

 

[symont]

Good to know. Thank you for the complete answer and great tips twalker.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

If removing mold, put rags just forward of the fresh water tank to trap runnoff so it will not flow thru the boat. Did that once and learned a lesson.

 

[h2o_snow]

An aside, but you might consider adding a 8" port to the top of the water tank while you are cleaning up the mold.

I did this year and found a surprise. The outlet is above the bottom of the opaque tank so there is always water in there. After 17 years, our 2002 H260 had enough mold in it that I did not mention to Mrs. Snow that I had done a substantial cleaning before she got in there with her smaller hands.

We generally only use the house water system (has a pump) while on the road cruising. Work out of gallon or 3 gallon jug while in our home slip.

 

[Whiskey]

Symount, while I do not have a water tank in the V-verth, I was/am having the same type of issues at a much lesser scale all over the boat. Anywhere where there was not a lot of air moving through was developing specs of black mold.
I suspect the Fibre Glass is becoming porous with age. My wife has a crazy sense of smell and said the boat smelled all the time.
I have started to use bilge paint to reseal the fibre glass (after a detailed cleaning with rag and windex like Dave said). The stuff is cheap and seems to have prevented it from coming back. The paint is pretty smelly, so I would also recommend some type of mask.

As for the water draining back, my H26 (97) has a lip/step behind the stairs to where the bilge is located. This prevents the water moving past until it would build up past the lip (3"+). Prior to the lip, there is a small inspection port on the floor that leads to nowhere (approx. 2" deep). This is where I remove any water from with a sponge or shop vac.

Hope that helps

 

[symont]

Thank you Wiskey. The bilge paint is a very good idea.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Clean for sure. Sand gel coat lightly and spray with Kyrlon plastic paints. Suggest getting paint chart to match first. Mask off area and wear a mask