clues provided:
- water coming in the hole just above and to the right of the prop shaft drippless.
- I was able to stop the flow by moving everything out of my aft cabin, lazarette and emptying out the aft water tank.
- I did see some rusty water on the rudder shaft when inspected from the dock
Lacking pictures and further information, we have 3 clues present.
I set aside #3. It is outside the boat. It may be involved in something else but not pertinent to the issue of water in the bilge.
Water in the bilge can come from two potential sources.
A- water from outside the boat getting in
B- water already in the boat finding its way to the bilge.
We have no information about the hole in clue #1. Where it comes from or how it is connected to other parts of the boat. Will ignore it for now.
Water was stopped by the action of clue #2. This action either resulted in raising the boat’s water line above the level of the outside water (no more outside water leaking in) or the emptying of the tank removed stored interior water from reaching the bilge.
My guess agrees with
@shemandr. The potential of a failure at the water tank. That would be a reasoned place to investigate.
