Fresh water filling floods bilge?

Dec 8, 2019
2
Beneteau Farr 50 Tacoma
Hey, new owner of a 1995 Beneteau Farr 50 here. When filling my four fresh water tanks, the top tray of the water tanks fill with water and, if left overflowing at the hose deck fill, will flood the bilge as well. Has anyone else had this issue? The clamshell tank vents don't ever seem to flow when overfilling, so one of my suspicions is that they might be clogged. As a boat owner of many years (but new to this model), I'm perplexed.
 
May 17, 2004
5,026
Beneteau Oceanis 37 Havre de Grace
Sounds like there may be a leak at the fitting where the fill hose meets the tank, or somewhere in that area. Even if the vent is blocked completely the tank and hose should contain the water and just overflow the deck fill.

A leak near the top of the tank, fill hose, or vent hose would also explain why you don’t notice any air coming out the vent, as the air would all escape through the leak first.
 

NYSail

.
Jan 6, 2006
3,048
Beneteau 423 Mt. Sinai, NY
Strange that this happens with all 4 tanks. Do they all fill, vent and connect to house system independently? Have you looked at each tank, checked the fill and vent hose attachments as well as any inspection ports. One of my water tanks has a large inspection port that will leak a small amount if filled to the top of the tank, however I lubricated the gasket with a veg. Oil and that stopped. It does sound like you have some issue with the vent hoses as even if there was a slow leak you would get water pushing out of the vent fitting. Wonder if the p-o undid a hose / opening on the tanks while servicing and never closed them. I have a friend who cleans his tanks and leaves the inspection port open to let it breathe over the winter....

Good luck
Greg
 
Dec 8, 2019
2
Beneteau Farr 50 Tacoma
Thank you guys for the replies, you've given me a couple places to start. As a liveaboard who is still moving in to this new boat, I'm going to have to move some stuff around to gain access so it's helpful to have some likely starting places!
 
Oct 26, 2019
1
Beneteau Oceanis 320 Sydney
I had similar issue with 1988 Beneteau 320. The problem was difficult to trace but amazingly simple to fix. It was a hose clip at bottom of the calorifier. It needed to be tightened. The leak became more extreme when the water was fully hot from running the engine.