During recent discussions about odor on boats, Peggie mentioned that the head is not the only place where odor can begin; she mentioned items such as bilge as culprits. Knowing my 1985 H31 was way overdue for bilge cleaning (looked like it had never been done) I decided to tackle the job this past weekend. As mentioned in many threads, the bilge-to-bilge drain holes are not always in the absolute lowest position in the compartment. My boat was no different as each compartment had no less than 1/4" water standing in it. I keep a "one drip every 15 seconds" leak in my stuffing box so I will never have a completely dry bilge, but I'd like the water to flow instead of stand in each of the compartments. After massive cleaning with nothing but water and a Scotch-brite pad, I was then able to actually see the drain holes from compartment to compartment. (It was really nasty.) I noticed the drain holes do not have tubes or hoses connecting them between compartments. The water runs over the top of the liner, into the drain hole onto the inner hull, then eventually into another drain hole and onto the top of the liner again. With each of the drain holes being roughly 1/8" above the level of the previous hull portion, a good bit of water was being trapped in the hull, never able to reach the lower bilge for pumping overboard. With a dirty bilge area to begin with, this meant grunge, critters, or whatever were being distributed to the inner hull instead of directly to the lower bilge. The biggest problem was the shower sump. The shower sump does not drain directly to the lower bilge but travels over the inner hull on both sides of the lower bilge liner to drain holes that are 1/2" higher than the inner hull. I also wanted to rewire the bilge pump, clean it, etc. so decided to remove a cable tie-down screw from the starboard vertical wall of the lower bulkhead. When I removed the screw, a 1/8" stream of water began gushing out of the hole! Using a wet-dry shopvac I was able to remove just over 4 gallons of water from the inner hull by sucking it through this and one of the drain holes. (An extra 32 lbs. lighter for racing now 
) When vacuuming, I noticed I was getting a lot of "gunk" such as mold, etc. out of the space under the liner. The water pouring out of the screw hole was so rancid I could hardly stand it and knew I found the worst culprit of tiny odors on the boat. After doing that much work, I still thought it better to rinse anything left and decided on a test at the same time. I ran the shower in the head and timed how long it took to get water to the bilge. Four minutes and 20 seconds later, water finally started coming out of the drain holes and into the bilge. Another vacuuming of about 25 minutes removed another 4 gallons of water, this time, much cleaner. I decided to leave the cable tie-down screw out and instead secured the wires to the under side of the cabin sole. This tiny little hole seems to be the lowest hull drain into the bilge although not designed for it. After removal of all rancid water and "gunk" from the boat and into the marina's treatment plant, I discovered the bottom side of the cabin sole's bilge panel is "...a great place for a Stick-Up" (Anybody know anything about Stick-Ups that makes this a bad idea?) I would suspect that the boat's inner hull might drain as designed if one was to beat their way to windward for at least 4 tacks. This might drain the hull into the bilge where it can be pumped, but it's not always convenient to get underway after a shower. I know this has been discussed in another thread, but my decision was to use the trusty Dremmel tool to carefully extend the drain holes low enough to the hull that water will flow easier. The questions are (finally): HOW does one keep water out of the inner hull when showering on board? (Any kits to upgrade the shower sump to bilge flow?) HOW does one keep any standing water on the inner hull from smelling up the boat? Does standing water in the inner hull damage the hull in any way? (I've not completed my fiberglass education yet. My boat is turning 15 and although still floating, the last bottom job revealed a lot of blisters on the outer hull. Do blisters form on the inner hull if standing water is left on it? If so, how does this effect the structural stability of the hull? HOW long can this go on before the keel pulls off the bottom of the boat and it sinks?) Do newer Hunters have these same issues? Do any boats have watertight liners? If so, who and does it really matter? Thanks all for any input.
) When vacuuming, I noticed I was getting a lot of "gunk" such as mold, etc. out of the space under the liner. The water pouring out of the screw hole was so rancid I could hardly stand it and knew I found the worst culprit of tiny odors on the boat. After doing that much work, I still thought it better to rinse anything left and decided on a test at the same time. I ran the shower in the head and timed how long it took to get water to the bilge. Four minutes and 20 seconds later, water finally started coming out of the drain holes and into the bilge. Another vacuuming of about 25 minutes removed another 4 gallons of water, this time, much cleaner. I decided to leave the cable tie-down screw out and instead secured the wires to the under side of the cabin sole. This tiny little hole seems to be the lowest hull drain into the bilge although not designed for it. After removal of all rancid water and "gunk" from the boat and into the marina's treatment plant, I discovered the bottom side of the cabin sole's bilge panel is "...a great place for a Stick-Up" (Anybody know anything about Stick-Ups that makes this a bad idea?) I would suspect that the boat's inner hull might drain as designed if one was to beat their way to windward for at least 4 tacks. This might drain the hull into the bilge where it can be pumped, but it's not always convenient to get underway after a shower. I know this has been discussed in another thread, but my decision was to use the trusty Dremmel tool to carefully extend the drain holes low enough to the hull that water will flow easier. The questions are (finally): HOW does one keep water out of the inner hull when showering on board? (Any kits to upgrade the shower sump to bilge flow?) HOW does one keep any standing water on the inner hull from smelling up the boat? Does standing water in the inner hull damage the hull in any way? (I've not completed my fiberglass education yet. My boat is turning 15 and although still floating, the last bottom job revealed a lot of blisters on the outer hull. Do blisters form on the inner hull if standing water is left on it? If so, how does this effect the structural stability of the hull? HOW long can this go on before the keel pulls off the bottom of the boat and it sinks?) Do newer Hunters have these same issues? Do any boats have watertight liners? If so, who and does it really matter? Thanks all for any input.