I am new to sailing monohulls. Am sailing an old 70's Catalina 22. Have kept it in a freshwater slip all summer. Sailing a couple times a week. Lately it seems that the bilge pump is running way too often. About every 5 minutes it pumps out about a gallon of water. Don't know where its coming from. This doesnt strike me as normal. What to do ? Having a few days of early Fall warm , sunny weather. Would like to sail, but can take out immediately if I'm in trouble. Then what? How do I find and repair the leak? Thanks
Help!.....boat leaking?
- Thread starter polarbear
- Start date
wow first of all wow second of all. Third I don't even have a bilge and you shouldn't have a drop coming into the boat.
Things to check fast. Your volcano that's the tube that your keel cable comes up into to connect to the winch. it's behind your stairs going down. The volcano has a radiator hose connected to it and the bottom of it is BELOW water line.
Second thing to check. is any threw hull fittings that you might have for speedo or depth finder.
Third there is a t handle under the left seat that tightens to tighten the keel down it's not under water but it will slosh up if that's loose.
I don't have a 70's model so others can advise better but your cockpit drains on that model I know cause a lot of people fits I have read on here.
Personally I'd haul it out immediately. Again there should be ZERO water coming in anywhere. Again on another remember I have no bilge pump never needed one and no plans on getting one.
Things to check fast. Your volcano that's the tube that your keel cable comes up into to connect to the winch. it's behind your stairs going down. The volcano has a radiator hose connected to it and the bottom of it is BELOW water line.
Second thing to check. is any threw hull fittings that you might have for speedo or depth finder.
Third there is a t handle under the left seat that tightens to tighten the keel down it's not under water but it will slosh up if that's loose.
I don't have a 70's model so others can advise better but your cockpit drains on that model I know cause a lot of people fits I have read on here.
Personally I'd haul it out immediately. Again there should be ZERO water coming in anywhere. Again on another remember I have no bilge pump never needed one and no plans on getting one.
Polarbear: First question, Are you only getting water in the bilge while you are sailing? 2 Where is the water pooling in the bilge? The most likely source of the leak, while sailing is usually the Keel Lock Bolt under the forward dinette seat. The water will start to pool up a little bit than run aft and come out under the aft dinette and flow to the centerline under the step and pool up where the battery is located. This is usually an easy fix, get a good quality heavy marine grease, than screw the keel locking bolt all the way out, grease the inside of the hole making sure to fill in the threads, grease up the bolt, and put the bolt back in. 95 percent of the time this fixes the problem. The keel Locking Bolt is located above the water line but water splashes up in the keel trunk while sailing. Give it a try and let me know how it worked.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 333
Don't take it out if the water until you find the source of water intrusion.
You should be able to trace the leak source if there is couple of gallons every few hours. Get down low and start looking every where.
You should be able to trace the leak source if there is couple of gallons every few hours. Get down low and start looking every where.
Thanks Barry. It DOES seem to happen when and after sailing. I sat in the cockpit in the slip for an hour this afternoon and the bilge never activated once.
Allen, I followed PicFlight's advice and tried to dry everything out and check for a leak. I DID find a locker under one of the port seats that had some water in it . Something electrical(depth finder?) appears to go through there. Try as I might I could not sponge that area completely dry. Self contained so I think two separate problems. Is there some kind of caulk I can use as an emergency measure around the damp electrical connector. It will not be under water but will be wet. Thanks to all
Polarbear, was the water under the forward dinette seat, the one where the keel trunk sticks up alongside the cushion, the aft dinette seat by the companionway, or under the port side of the V berth? Also do you have foam under parts of your boat where you are finding the water, the foam is for flotation and can keep the boat from sinking if it fills up with water, but the foam can also hold some water and it takes a while for it all to drain back out making it seem like it is still coming in from somewhere when it was already in the boat. Your Depth Finder Transducer or the Keel Cable hose where it clamps on to volcano was the problem you would have water coming in all the time as they are below the water line with only a slight increase if any while sailing. The Keel Locking Bolt is the most common cause of water leaking into the port seating under the dinette while sailing, as it is above the water line, an easy way to see if this Bolt is the problem is to get a water based marker in a bright color like red and draw a couple horizontal lines across the keel trunk immediatelyunder the bolt just before the next time you go sailing. The first time you hear the bilge pump kick in take a look if the water has a reddish tint or the lines you drew are streaking down the keel trunk there's your problem. The Keel Locking Bolt should be re-greased every couple years to keep the port side storage under the seats dry.
Keel Bolt
Thanks Barry. Is there a diagram somewhere that I can study to see these things so I know what I'm looking at ? The water that I couldn't sponge out was under the forward dinette seat. That was where the transducer appeared to go through.
Thanks Barry. Is there a diagram somewhere that I can study to see these things so I know what I'm looking at ? The water that I couldn't sponge out was under the forward dinette seat. That was where the transducer appeared to go through.
G'day PB. I agree that the keel trunk and bolt are the likely culprits. Allen made a good note about the volcano tube for the keel cable but if that was faulty you would likely be sitting in a 22' bathtub. Nevertheless check out the fittings but don't undo anything or take the hose off while the boat is in the water - that will result in a bunch of trouble.
An old trick i learned (from this site) was to put water finding paste (available at a hardware store), or a whole lot of coloured chalk, around the keel bolt where it enters the trunk. Go for a sail on a starboard tack and get some port heel on at speed. If water is coming in the paste will change colour, or the chalk will get wet. If not, your problems lie elsewhere.
One other thing to look for related to the keel bolt is to check the fibreglass around it. If a past event resulted in either the keel dropping hard against the trunk or the keel hitting a submerged object with the bolt tightened, then the casing may have cracked and water is getting in that way. Some quick and easy fibreglass repair could fix that.
An old trick i learned (from this site) was to put water finding paste (available at a hardware store), or a whole lot of coloured chalk, around the keel bolt where it enters the trunk. Go for a sail on a starboard tack and get some port heel on at speed. If water is coming in the paste will change colour, or the chalk will get wet. If not, your problems lie elsewhere.
One other thing to look for related to the keel bolt is to check the fibreglass around it. If a past event resulted in either the keel dropping hard against the trunk or the keel hitting a submerged object with the bolt tightened, then the casing may have cracked and water is getting in that way. Some quick and easy fibreglass repair could fix that.
Milton that is good advice !!! My C22 had some delamination around the keel locking bolt, there is a piece of steel that wraps around the aft end of the keel trunk that has a nut welded on to it than they drilled through the strap and tapped the strap so the threads go all the way through the nut and the strap. Than they laid up several layers of of fiberglass over top of the strap to totally incase it. The fiber glass on mine separated right where the strap is. I cut out the bad fiberglass, bent the strap out away from the port side of of the keel trunk and used a four and a half inch angle grinder with a course sanding dish to remove any rust from the strap and to rough up its surface for a better bond. Next I cleaned up the rust residue from the strap and keel trunk and using a new sanding disk I removed any additional bad fiberglass and roughed up that whole area. Next I bonded the strap back to the keel trunk by whetting out the surfaces to be bonded with West System Epoxy, than using a V notched spreader I put more epoxy that was thickened with West System microfibers. than used some wood blocking and a hydraulic bottle jack to hold the strap tightly in place for 48 hours. Next I cut out several different sized rectangles of fiberglass cloth an cut a round hole (slightly smaller than the the nut in each piece. I than sanded the entire area again for a better bond and laid up the fiber glass, one piece at a time, start by laying the first piece in place and using a 6 inch and 2 inch paint rollers with West System roller covers, roll the epoxy on top of the the cloth while smoothing the cloth as you go, than roll over it with some pressure to push cloth tight and squeeze out any voids and air bubbles. At this point the cloth should be transparent, re-roll or use a chip brush with additional epoxy resin on any area of the cloth that is not transparent. Repeat until all layers have been laid up. Most of the area that I laid up is about a Quarter inch thick and tapers out around the edges and I built it up so it was flush with the face of the nut than i whetted out the entire hole including the nut than added some epoxy thickened with microfibers to fill in the threads and build out the walls. Next I put 2 layers of fiberglass cloth over the nut, once it cured I re-tapped the threads, using the proper sized tap for the nut (I think it is a half inch course thread) and an appropriate sized wood twist drill bit for the tap, I was only drilling fiberglass and resin. Run the drill bit through the top 2 layers of fiberglass than through the hole and run the tap all the way through the hole so it is threaded all the way. Use a small wooden coffee stir or Q-Tip and put a moderate amount of marine grease on the threads in the hole and also on the Keel Locking Bolt an screw the bolt back in, DONE!!!!! No more leak.
Thanks for all the help. When we are talking about the keel bolt are we talking about the keel locking bolt? I never knew it was there. Can I take it out and grease it when the boat is in the water. Sorry to be so ignorant. Have a lot to learn. Hobies were so easy and dummy -proof.
Yes you can take it out when the boat is in the water, it's a few inches above the water line. It is located under the forward dinette seat, a couple inches below the seat. On the port side of the keel trunk.
You literally have to stick your head down into the space under the dinette seat to see the Keel Locking Bolt. There are two types of Keel Locking Bolts, one type is is made from a straight headless bolt bent at about a 75 degree angle to create a handle. The second type is a straight headless bolt with a perpendicular hole drilled in the outer end with a slide handle that is flared on rack end to keep it from sliding out.
