R-23 Water in forward bilge

[forfun1960]

Have a 2017 R-23 love the boat which I have owned for about a year and use it a lot lives mostly on the trailer when not in use. Spent 2 weeks cruising Michigan lakes and upon returning home the front bilge pump starts running. I open by raising the step in the Vee berth and find about 1 1/2 gallon of water, with the bilge box having enough to run the pump but not enough to pump out. I never use the front Vee Birth shower area. I am wondering where this water could be coming from? Does anyone have any ideas or experience about a similar situation?

Also, what I call the Bilge box doesn't seem to have any openings to let water from the outside so not sure how that is supposed to work if you have water in the bilge and how it is supposed to pump out. Easy to see how the shower would drain into but stumped about water on the outside of the box get in so it can be pumped?

Look forward to any other thoughts, insides on design or experience.

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

If you have air conditioning, it may be the condensation drain.

Just to clarify, was all the water you saw inside the shower sump?


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[jagizzi]

Were you in any rough water? We get water in through the thru hull for the shower sump when waves hit on the port side. It drains into the shower sump box and then works its way out through the various fittings. If you haven't been in the habit of checking it it could be water from several episodes.

Alternatively, you could have a loose connection on the anchor locker drain fitting possibly.

 

[Capt’nKarl]

I have a 2018 R-23 but I don’t have a bilge pump in the forward area. I do have a shower sump pump under the step outside the head in the v-berth. I recently found water in this area after a trip. About a gallon or so and even after pumping out the water I noticed water coming in from the hull. We also keep our boat on a trailer. I first thought it was a leaking gasket from the bow thruster but it turned out to be a large crack where the bow thruster tube attaches to the hull. Once the boat was out of the water and dry you could see a white material on the surface of the bottom paint. The white substance was salt. A dremel grinder was used to remove the bottom paint to reveal a large 4-5 inch crack in the fiberglass at the point where the bow thruster tube is bonded to the hull. After the fiberglass cracked area was removed the area was refilled and strengthened. I had the boat back in the water the next day and so far no leak. (Picture in photo album)

 

[forfun1960]

Hi Jim, I think you hit the nail on the head.

Was boating over to Mackinac Island in what turned into 6 feet swells which was long period in the beginning not bad, but as I got close to the island get pretty rough with few waves nearly over the bow. Plus the box had water in it too. So that makes perfect sense as I have never seen this before. Thanks for taking the time to comment about it. I will give everything else a good look over. Makes me feel much better.

 

[scross]

A simple issue to check out is water leaking in from the anchor locker or the drain tube from the anchor locker. This is pretty common. If the hose or fittings are leaking then you may get water collecting where you are seeing it. Easy to check. The more you trailer, or are in heavy seas, the more this problem crops up.

 

[BB marine]

Things to check for water in the forward bilge.

Limber tubes clear running fore and aft forward area to rear bilge area?

If the shower sump is the issue then there is a need to repair pump and float switch. The sump pan should never get more than half full. The auto switch should activate the pump and pump the water out before it over flows and leaks. If the water is leaking past the hose connections then inspection of the hoses and clamps should be done.

If the water migrates into the sump from thru hull while in disturbed seas then I would change the hose run at the thru hull.The thru hull installation is to low and requires a loop in the hose run. You do not or should not have any thru hulls without valves that water can back flush into the boat. Check valves on thru hulls are not designed to protect from water intrusion.

The anchor locker drain hose and fitting is a known weak leak in the Fluid Motion build. I know of many owners of Tugs and Cuts that have experienced this issue. In my case C26 there was a plastic nut missing that holds the drain fitting in place at the bottom of the locker. The install consisted of the fitting installed with a large amount of sealant and no nut to hold the fitting in place. The sealant was used as an adhesive. Eventually this sealant/adhesive installation came loose and the anchor locker drained into the V berth area and into the bilge. I owned the boat for about 3 months when this happened. I also had another leak from the bow area. This leak was caused from a poor fit between the top deck and the hull. There was a 1/8" to 1/4" gap that allowed water in during trailering while raining or cruising in disturbed seas.
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I have a 2018 R-23 but I don’t have a bilge pump in the forward area. I do have a shower sump pump under the step outside the head in the v-berth. I recently found water in this area after a trip. About a gallon or so and even after pumping out the water I noticed water coming in from the hull. We also keep our boat on a trailer. I first thought it was a leaking gasket from the bow thruster but it turned out to be a large crack where the bow thruster tube attaches to the hull. Once the boat was out of the water and dry you could see a white material on the surface of the bottom paint. The white substance was salt. A dremel grinder was used to remove the bottom paint to reveal a large 4-5 inch crack in the fiberglass at the point where the bow thruster tube is bonded to the hull. After the fiberglass cracked area was removed the area was refilled and strengthened. I had the boat back in the water the next day and so far no leak. (Picture in photo album)

The crack from the pictures looks like it is further in from the tube bonding location. It appears that the tube may have cracked. I would assume that the repair was done on the inside of the boat and not at the outside area. I have seen tube cracks before. In fact I cracked a tube while installing a bow thruster in a Carver. The repair should be done on the OD of the tube for strength not the ID. I'm sure this was done but the photo just showed an ID repair.

 

[Capt’nKarl]

Thanks Brian for your response. The thruster tube was not cracked on the inside as far as the glass man could see. The repair was only made on the outside of the tube as shown in the picture. I haven’t had the boat back in the water, except in calm water for an hour, so I’ll keep a close look on it the next time we go out. Also I agree with you water should not enter the boat through the shower sump tube even when waves hit the port side. Even it it did the water would go into the shower sump and be pumped out again unless there’s a leak in the shower sump. I don’t think there are one way valves in any of the 3 discharge holes on the port side. I had to clear grass wasp nests out of all of these lines because they were blocked. I keep painters tape over every drain now while the boat is out of the water.
Cheers,
Karl