Where's the water draining?

[plenny7]

My wife and I bought our first boat in November, a '92 Hunter 33.5. It's a boat we had sailed on many times previously and when the prior owner decided to go bigger, we bought this. We're currently getting it ready for our first season of sailing and plan on having it in the water next week.

As I was cleaning out the bilges, I noticed something that to me seems odd. In the first picture below you see a shallow bilge on the right, towards the bow, and the main bilge towards the stern. When I started there was a little bit of water in each, which I vacuumed out.

In the second picture of forward bilge, you see a drain hole. I thought I'd pass a rag through there to get any remaining water and crud out of there, but to my surprise it does not drain into the main bilge. I can stick my finger in the drain and feel that there is quite a bit of water in there. Looking in the main bilge (3rd photo), you see that the drain hole doesn't pass through.

Any thoughts on how I would be able to get that water out and clean up the space?

 

[Benny17441]

It is common for sailboats to have gallons of water trapped in the stringers and under the sole liner. That water comes from rain leaks, wash downs, sea spray, packing gland, plumbing leaks and any other source. That is the reason why you may empty and dry the bilge only to come back a little later and find some more. You can take the boat out and put it through its paces and you may get a good a mount of water to dislodge and collect at the bilge but it will not be all and soon will be replaced by existing leaks or sources.The problem with that water is that being trapped it will spoil, stink and stain. Some have drilled holes to get below the liner and pump water out. I would think this might be an adequate solution if accompanied by curtailing the leaks and sources but if not all you may be doing is opening up a way for the smell to get into the cabin. Others go ahead and pour a chlorine solution inside the hull in the hope of killing bacteria and curtailing the smell. I personally do not have a problem with having a little standing water in the bilge as it seems to trap odors. You ask about drain holes in the bilge and adjacent compartments; I do not know about your configuration but it could be that the front compartment drains under the liner and the water goes around the bilge to enter through the back, or it could very well be that the assembler at Hunter covered or forgot to open a hole. Talk to the PO and see if he ever had any major issues it with this. Also check the archives as there are many past postings on this issue.

 

[Jackdaw]

As Benny notes this the the so-called 'water in the grid' issue.

If the water STAYS in the grid it is easy to get out. On some boats the passages between grid pockets are not sealed and it escapes into the open areas below the liner until it happens to slosh back into a hole.

Our First 36.7 has a keel-stepped mast that lets rainwater into the grid. Every time we race (or after a big rain) we break out a small 5 gallon shopvac that is on boat for just this purpose and suck it out from the known low-spot on the grid. Happily all our water stays in the grid so this is a 5 minutes job to get it all.

 

[plenny7]

It is common for sailboats to have gallons of water trapped in the stringers and under the sole liner. <<SNIP>> Also check the archives as there are many past postings on this issue.

Thanks for the reply! I had done a search on "bilge", but didn't find what I was looking for. I just did a search on "bilge" and "liner" and found several results. Then I saw a suggestion to search on "false bilge" and found even more. I've some reading to do.

In the meantime, I'll rig up a smaller diameter hose to our shop-vac and see how much more I can get out. The smell isn't bad at all now, I just trying to keep it that way.

 

[DSqr]

If your 92 is like my former 89 33.5, the forward bilge is the shower sump. The compression post sits between the two bilges. We had a wooden post that rotted from the water coming down through the conduit in the mast. You may want to look up where the post meets the ceiling to see if there's a sign of water ingress. I had bilge pumps mounted in both sumps to drain the water. Once the compression post was fixed, we had no water coming in at all.

 

[PThomas]

I have a Hunter 34 and have the same issue a small hole just on the front of the bilge I pump about a gallon of water out
my water seems to come from the AC its under the sink as I only find the water in the summer

 

[Amos Cape]

We jest got a new to us 1993 33.5 too. The area next to the stairs is the area that the ice box drains to. If you have leaks going to your shower sump then check the mast and the septic tank. Good luck. We are trying to get in the water on the 21st too.