New Way for Rain to get into the Bilge

[Aldo]

I have recently been getting water in the bilge in front of the battery on the port side of the bilge. I know that the classic place that water on the port side bilge comes from the keel locking bolt. I have sealed the locking bolt with silicone sealer and greased it with heavy grease stick and the compartment that contains the locking bolt is completely dry. I had my son pour water into the cockpit drains and found that one of the drains is leaking. (The hose clamps on the cockpit drains are not leaking). He used ice water from the cooler which really helped me locate the leak. It turns out that the funnel shaped part of the drain, under the cocpit, was rubbing against a hole that was cut into the liner that runs just under the cockpit. When someone moves around the cockpit, the floor moves up and down slightly, but enough to wear through the funnel, after 20 years of use. My questions are, has anyone else ever had a problem like this, and how did you increase the clearance hole around the funnel? I guess I'll drill a series of holes and connect the dots with a Dremel tool, but this sure won't be a lot of fun. I'll probably then fiberglass a patch onto the funnel. I'm open for suggestions from anyone who may have had a similar problem. Thanks, Aldo

 

[the Pirate of Sha-lin]

rainwater

Thank you Aldo for your article. I get rainwater in the exact same place. I'll check the place your talking about. Another place to check is the cockpit drains on the deck. The drain itself seem. to be loose from the tube attached to it at the cockpit. It has been suggested that I "glue" it back together with Marine Tex.

 

[Aldo]

I'm glad I help you, Pirate

Pirate: I'm glad this helped you. This past Monday, there wasn't any wind, so I drilled and used a Dremel tool and mirror to cut away the liner from around the port drain pipe. I did crawl down into the starboard bilge, feet first, with my head upward just below where the step normally is. Now I know what it feels like to be in a coffin. It was still difficult to see exactly where the water was coming in, but I did put plenty of marine silicone sealer all around the drain and around the pipe that the hose connects to. I would have liked to use fiberglass cloth and resin, but I wanted to get the job done before Hurricane Season. I had about an inch of water in the area just in front of the battery, before I made the repair. This should fix the problem, and the boat will be drier and smell better too. Again, I'm glad I helped you, that was my intention. Aldo