New Sailboat - Bilge Question

[ChattOday]

Hi Everyone,
I was just given an O'Day 22. It had been my cousins, he had no time for it, and I own a house with dock property on the lake.

It is in functional condition, but needs love. I intend to spend the winter refurbing it.

I have a question about the bilge system and I need help figuring out if I have a serious issue.

The other day I was hosing it off. Sap, leaves, bird crap and getting leaves off of it. In doing so I noticed it had water in the cockpit, so I washed it out and scooped it out.

Despite the angle (I pushed it nose up with the trailer lift) and the amount of water, the water did not appear to leave with any force out the back hole. Water did come out, but it did not empty the cockpit area.

Second, when I went into the boat, there is a hatch right there that I pulled up and there was water in it. I also bailed this out with a cup and removed most of it.

I was spraying water up into the hole in the back (to see if it was clogged with mud) and put a good bit up in the cockpit. At one point, 2 to 3 inches deep. I proceeded to try and clear the leaves and nuts out of the back hole that I thought would lead down to the lower exit hole, but it did not drain well.

So. Suggestions? Educate me about what how the bilge operates. Treat me as if I am an idiot on this, because I am. This is my first boat and I am learning while I go along....

Photos/Diagrams. Detailed explanations are ALL welcomed.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Joe11688]

I'm a little hazy when it comes to an O'Day 22 cockpit self bailing system. I've never really seen any diagrams on it but I'm sure someone who knows will chime in on this subject. All I can do is show you what the cockpit self bailing system looks like on my 1986 O'Day 222 and you can get and idea from that.

The cockpit floor or as it is called, the sole, is higher than the waterline and when water collects in the cockpit, it can run out via a thr-hull fitting with a hose in the bilge which is connected to another thr-hull fitting on the transom. It's possible that the hose or hoses could be plugged up and also be leaking water into the bilge. You may need to replace the hoses.
My boat came with a straight reinforced rubber hose bent very similar to an automotive radiator hose. It was almost kinked. One spring day, I poked my head inside the covered boat and smelled gasoline. Like a dumbbell I had left a metal fuel tank in the compartment and it rusted out. Gasoline ran into the cockpit and out the hose, eating a hole in the hose in the process.
I wound up replacing that rubber hose with two clear vinyl reinforced hoses, a nylon elbow connector, and four stainless steel hose clamps. This stuff can be bought at any hardware store, Lowe's or Home Depot. On my boat, the hose is located in the bilge near the transom and I had to cut a hole in the center of the inside transom for an 8" Beckson Deck Plate rather than try to get at the hose from the lazarett hatch in the cockpit. You're going to have to do some investigating to find out how and where to access the hose or hoses on you boat. I'm sure it's different that my boat. Also, check the thru-hull fittings to make sure they are OK.
If you have a lazarett hatch opening similar to mine you don't want to get stuck in it while trying to access the hose. It can be very scary, believe me.

The O'Day 22 is a fun little boat and I know you're going to have a blast on it. Check out my pics on the "Owner's Photo Albums" under "Trinkka" on this site for ideas on modifications. Once you start doing mods to these boats you'll enjoy personalizing your boat as much as you'll enjoy sailing her.
Good luck!
Joe

 

[ChattOday]

Excellent!

Your photo gave me a good idea of how mine works. I would imagine, from some worded descriptions from other sites, that is how mine works.

I bet it is clogged and leaking. I don't have "access" to it like you, so from other places, it seems I may need to cut a hole to get to it. Which is fine. I intend to repaint the entire boat, so using a sawzall to get at it, then epoxying and repairing it is not an issue. I can then re-do the entire cockpit and put some new anti-slip compound down.

That helps a lot! I figured that I shouldn't have water in that inner cabin compartment. It ins't bad, like there is NO mold and the water was fairly fresh. For all I know, the force of shoving the hose up in the back drain hole was what was popped a hose.

The cabin is dated and a little dirty, but dry. No mold that I can see and so seems in pretty good condition.

I will post elsewhere about other questions. I want to spend the winter, while it is too cold to paint the boat, doing some refurb on removable components. The teak rails, for example, none are broken but all are weathered and need love.

Any suggestions on that. I was going to oil them, paint and then cover with a lacquer.
Is that something you do with marine wood? I have no experience with boats, but a ton of general "know how" experience....
Jack of all trades that is moving to learn about boats.

I pulled the rudder to re-paint and play with some new color schemes for the boat.

Thank you!

 

[Joe11688]

Before you do any cutting, you may want to wait a while for someone who owns an O'Day 22 and has tackled this problem to chime in. He may have a better solution. For instance, he may be able to show you exactly where to cut in a permanent deck plate so that you can have access to the hose or be able to check it out from time to time.

If you're going to do any cutting wear a good canister type respirator. You don't want to breath in any of this dust. It's very carcinogenic.

Your boat should be dry as a bone after you find all the leaks and you're going to find them. I've found that the gunwale molding that goes around the boat is one of the biggest culprits. Toe rails and hand rails can leak. Check inside the cabin for wet spots first before removing toe rails or hand rails. They'll usually leak where there is a screw under a bung. A lot of times I've been able to just remove the bung and screw on a toe rail and wedge a putty knife under that portion to get at the screw hole with some 3-M 4000 or 4200 under it with a shaved thin Popsicle stick. Don't use silicone. You want an adhesive caulking. Your gunwale molding is probably Aluminum with a rubber strip and you would use 3-M 4200 or BoatLife Boat Caulk under that. Actually, the caulking under the gunwale strip is only good for about 10 years so you may want to re-caulk the whole thing. I removed half of the gunwale off one side at a time on my boat, cleaned the area, re-caulked it, and put it back. Then I did the other half the same way. This way, you don't have to remove the rubber all at once which makes it hard to get back in the same spot it was in.

There may be more screw holes in the gunwale molding than the number of screws that they used at the factory, so you may want to mark where all the screws came out.

Unless there is a seam where the two decks come together where water can enter, you only need to caulk over the screws and holes under the gunwale molding. As you insert the screw into the gunwale molding you should add a small amount of caulking to the threads before screwing them in.

I really should take care of my Teak but I haven't through the years. Teak has it's own oils and some guys use Teak cleaner and Teak oil. Some guys just wash the Teak by brushing it with soap and water. Some guy use Cetol on the Teak and get good results.
My friend Wayne has been removing his Teak and replacing it with StarBoard. He made is companionway drop boards out of Starboard and used a similar stuff for the hand rails.
I refinished my Teak plywood and all the Teak boards in my cabin a few years ago with a dark red Mahogany stain and spar varnished over that. It's easier to just remove everything out of the cabin to do a job like that. I took every stick of wood including all the bulkheads from the cabin. This is where disposable cellophane gloves come in handy.

 

[Daydreamer]

Put the sawzall and the silicon away!!

I can access the cockpit drain by crawling back through the port berth. It is set up similar to Trinkka. The hose on yours is probably kinked/ cracked. Mine drains very quickly. I don't have any picks at this time, but if you really need one I can get out there and snap some to post.

On the teak I have been using the Star Brite cleaner and teak oil
Did bottom paint last year with Pettits Hydrocoat since I keep the boat in the lake during the summer.

Planning to paint topsides (hull sides) with a two part epoxy like perfection since the one part paint the previous owner did looks terrible and is coming off. Used some hardware store stuff on the rudder as a quick fix and it didn't last a season.


I'm sure you will enjoy tour new boat, I sure have had fun with mine.

 

[Brian S]

ChattOday, you might want to consider re-bedding all of your deck and cabin fittings, just to be on the safe side, since you plan to paint the boat. You'd probably want to remove as much stuff as possible in order to do the paint job, so you'll be re-bedding anyway. Also, when you re-bed, you might want to take a look at the article from Maine Sail here on the forums (featured contributor section.) He will discuss his preference for butyl tape, and how to do it, and where to get it from him.

As for your teak, you need to decide what you want to do. There are those folks who like silvered weathered teak. Then there are folks like me, who come from a varnished mahogany background, who like the warmth of brightwork teak. I am considering re-doing my teak using Sikkens Cetol. I have heard of many people who have used it, and are very happy with the results, and who say it's much easier than my typical 8 coats of marine varnish over 2 coats of epoxy...

Brian

 

[petite misere]

Hi on my 22 the drain is a straight pipe from the depresion in the cockpit to the stern in front of the rudder aprox 3/4 in I.D.

Jean-marc

 

[Capt Strapfoots]

You know this might sound crazy but have you tried just using a plunger. I have a mac and while mine is just a straight hole I have had to plunge it before and it works great. I'm talking about the cockpit not the bilge.

Hi on my 22 the drain is a straight pipe from the depresion in the cockpit to the stern in front of the rudder aprox 3/4 in I.D.

Jean-marc

 

[Joe11688]

You know this might sound crazy but have you tried just using a plunger. I have a mac and while mine is just a straight hole I have had to plunge it before and it works great. I'm talking about the cockpit not the bilge.

No that's not crazy at all. The thru-hull fitting on my O'Day 222 is small enough to where I can stick my finger into it and use it similar to a plunger when the hose gets clogged while I'm flushing it out with a dock hose. Usually this method can develop enough suction to free it up and get water flowing freely again. With that said though, I think that his hose is leaking and should be replaced.

Daydreamer, I'm glad that you chimed in on this. If you could post a picture of this it would be great.

 

[ChattOday]

Thank you everyone. Today is my work on Sailboat day.

I want to thank everyone for the help. In regards to Daydreamer, you are saying I can access the drain tube (which the consensus is, is busted) by way of the interior cabin? And I do not need to actually cut anything?

I am going to go out and look. I will take some photos, some "before" so to speak and let everyone chime in on suggestions.

I will gladly take them. Look for a new thread titled "Here we go" or something like that.