Help with bilge!

[Calamity]

Im a new Hunter 27 boat owner, 1986
Having problems with water. A small bilge is mounted under the teak boards in the galley. Even when there is no water in that area we are still able to extract two buckets of water from small holes located on the fibreglass beaneath the stairs to the cabin
and under the latrine area....question: Should the bilge be in a different location?
Should the bilge not be mounted lower to drain water from under in the hulll
Its all new to me...help!

 

[JamesG161]

I am guessing, but I had a bilge area that wouldn't drain either until I found the drain holes to main bilge were plugged up with trash.
Jim..

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

I see you just joined us today...welcome aboard! It's pretty obvious that everything about a boat is all new to you and this is the best site on the net for a "newbie" to begin what for most of us is a never-ending learning curve. The first step in turning you into a sailor is learning the right terminology:

The BILGE is the inside of the bottom of a boat. It's a small bilge PUMP that's mounted under the teak boards in the galley...if you're referring to the "kitchen" you got that one right. But only someone who's served in the army would call the "bathroom" a latrine (I know this because I grew up an "army brat")...on a boat it's the HEAD, which is also the traditional name for the appliance, but today it's acceptable to call it a toilet.
(end of today's lesson).

A couple of bucketfuls is a lot of water! How long does it take for that much to accumulate? Does it happen while the boat is just sitting at the dock, or only while you have it out sailing?
Where are the small holes in the fiberglass...are they in the hull or inside the boat? If they're in the hull, how close to the waterline?

 

[Benny17441]

The bilge on the h27 Cherubini is not small but it is very shallow. The usual float switches do not work very well in the shallow bilge because the arm travel is just as tall as the bilge. The best I could recommend is to install a computerized automatic bilge pump. RULE makes a 500GPH that will activate itself every two minutes for 2 seconds until it finds water resistance on the impeller and then it will continue to pump the water out until expelled. Power usage is minimum. The bilge pump on the h27 comes from factory in a manual configuration partly because an automatic bilge pump is not considered but a convenience item and also because the bilge is so shallow. The bilge is the lowest point in the hull and that is why it is located there. There are other compartments that feed the bilge and those may be higher up. In the average boat there are many gallons of water trapped under the cabin sole and those will usually release the water with the motion of the boat. That is the reason for which you may dry the bilge and then continue to see water flow in. (many gallons trapped and the water will turn foul and stink) Don't despair it is all part of the learning curve.

 

[sailscallny]

Welcome aboard Calamity!
I too am a new member, having not had a boat for 10+ years
I purchased a much larger boat than I have ever had.
With so much more to address than a little day boat.

So I had a similar problem, amongst the slew of minor repairs that I've come across from neglect

My bilge is located above the keel in the center of the salon floor.
I found water in other locations building up
I managed to run a wire through the drain holes and the water ran to the low part
I read that your bilge is higher than that?

My next project is to try to get the oil that has built up in the valley above the keel
We also found that the mast step has detteriorated since it sat in the water for so long
Guild game to support the mast and post piictures next week

Best of luck. Happy Sailng
Welcome again!

 

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[wsmac]

Is this water from before you took ownership of the boat or brand new water you know wasn't there before?
Here's my story... for what it's worth...

I found standing water in the grids of the hull under my sole also. I reached my hand with paper towels under the sole and found more water than I thought would/should be there!
I haven' t pulled the salon sole up yet (which I'm going to do for repair work) buy it's my understanding these areas should all be linked with passageways... holes (I know there's a more technical term... can't recall it yet) that allow all the water to accumulate in the bilge where the pump is.
.
Here's why I'm not worried about my issue...
Some of my water issue is from the mast/mast support allowing a tiny bit of water in from rains (I will be addressing that this Summer, but I'm talking teaspoons after heavy rains and wind)
Some of my water issue is from the prop shaft packing. Again... not much... probably just drips over time.
Other water I figure has come in from open portlights when rain swept through or when someone opened them up and dumped collected rainwater downward.
.
After ALL that... .... Have you had your boat out sailing yet or has it been sitting in the marina/slip for a while?
Mine was sitting for some time. The water looked dark, the boat had some interior musty/mold issues.. so I gather that the normally small amounts of water infiltration just accumulated from the PO not checking for it... the boat not moving around enough to slosh the water over to the drain holes, and all that just building up over the last year or two.