What may lurk beneath your sole

Allan12210 · Jul 26, 2015

Good info Jon. Something else I need to look at. Is the last picture in the liner by the bilge pan? I see the brown wire that usually feeds a bilge pump. There seems to be a lot of other wires there too that I don't recognize. Maybe the bonding wire from the mast and keel bolts?

Never quite understood why those drain holes were so high, but the project cutting out the bottom of the sump solved that issue. Then the leaky coolant will turn up easily.

Allan

FastOlson · Jul 26, 2015

Given the age of your boat you are lucky that more of the old coolant hoses are not leaking and seeping.
**It's Past time to replace them all.

I helped a friend rerun some new hoses in a Hunter 31 of that vintage. We both had a lot of cuts from trying work around all the bored-out access holes left un-champhered by the builders. We did a lot of hand sanding and grinding to smooth up all the access holes with a Dremel tool.
If you get 20 leak-free years out of those hoses, you're are doing fine!

LB

splax · Jul 26, 2015

Jon,
That is the next project.

Allan12210 · Jul 26, 2015

PGIJon said:
Allan... Looking athwartship to starboard in the stringer that runs from under the navigation desk. The hoses are running from the engine on right (picture may need rotating) to the water heater under the aft dinette settee. The Red is the main to the panel. The both brown wires is to the bilge pump. There is also 2 120 lines that runs to the A/C and the water heater... I have to thell you that I'm not certain what the black one is... However, I should know this soon since I will be replacing the bilge lines.

Allan... how did you enlarge the holes?

FastOlson.. I've only owned the boat for about 3yrs now... So I'm not sure how old those hoses were.... I was once working on the boat over the weekend and had my annual physical the following Monday. My Dr. grilled me as to the reason my hands were bandaged so heavily!

-Jon

Jon,

Now I get it. That's really helpful to see under there. I have one of those flexible cameras too. Maybe I should use it.

I can see the white hose that I believe is the ice box drain headed towards the bilge. That is the only area I enlarged. You may have seen the discussion about cutting out the bottom of the sump (pan liner) so that the bilge pump is directly on the hull and there is no water trapped in between to slosh around and get stinky. Your photo somewhat illustrates that happened in the past as it looks kind of contaminated on the wires and hose from previous nasty water. It looks dry now fortunately. I can see that open hole in your picture which I think goes into the engine bay. Then I see the heater hoses for the water heater also of course penetrating the engine bay. I keep a rag stuffed in those as I don't want oil or diesel (should there be a leak) from getting under there as it will be really hard to clean out. I also keep absorbent pillows pushed right against the front of the engine bay as a de facto filter in case of an organic spill.

If the red wire is to the electrical panel, then I will guess that the black is the electrical panel ground. I thought my AC to the outlets on the starboard side was run forward and then through the beam over the compression post. I'll have to check on that one. I can understand the water heater AC routing that way.

Good stuff.

EDIT -- Oh, a little slow here....A/C...Air Conditioning. I'm not familiar with that term out here. We have to wait for summer to end so it's warm enough to sail comfortably. Mark Twain and his comment about this area.

Allan12210 · Jul 27, 2015

PGIJon said:
Splax... Seems like we're following each others projects... Next on my list is the Pex water lines.

Allan.. I recently cut out the false bilge and cleaned that out. Do you have a picture of how you cut your open holes to allow the everything to drain down to the bilge? Thanks..

-Jon

Don't forget the thermal mixing valve in your replumb

Actually, I may have been confusing. The only thing I cut out was the bottom of the false bilge. The interior liner is not completely bonded to the hull so anything in that gap eventually comes to the very bottom. Since I changed to a dripless packing system everything stays pretty dry. There was some water this winter from leaking ports that I think I resolved. Then every once in a while I take the water hose or my high pressure washer and stuff it in any and all limber holes or passages for water lines and really blast things out. I'm hoping it keeps that area clean and odor free. It seems that the water comes down into the bilge quickly in the gap at the edge of where I cut the liner bottom and is efficiently pumped out.

Allan

Allan12210 · Jul 27, 2015

Jon,

If you go back to your original post for this thread, mine was right below yours. My latest project was a thermal mixing valve. Its really great.

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=173481

Yes, I hosed out under the sole and in any opening I could find in the grid. That includes the holes in the engine bay, the big one under the shaft packing, where the head hoses go from the holding tank to the head. Under the sole includes where the water lines emerge in the settee next to the holding tank, as well as under the dinette table leg receiver. If there was ever water trapped between the liner and hull, it could come back out the limber holes and be trapped on top of the grid, but under the sole. Do it on a warm day and the wood will dry again quickly.

Allan

What may lurk beneath your sole

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