Saltwater in the bilge

[tdellaviola]

Hello all, wondering if anyone has had this problem. This is for a 2014 C30.
Came in from a morning of fishing today, once docked was surprised to see the bilge pump running. Popped the lid so that I could see the bilge and there was significant water. Ran the bilge pump until all the water was gone, then sponged the stringers so that no water was present. No new water.
So my assumption is that underway one of the thru-hall fitting is leaking as water gets pushed up against them as the forward ones are slightly above water line. I will investigate more tonight.
Has anyone else encountered a situation where sitting at the dock no water seepage, but underway significant water accumulates?

thanks

 

[Hydraulicjump]

Be sure to check your packing gland. If it gets loose it can put a lot of water into your bilge.

 

[BradOwens]

I agree that it sounds like the packing gland/shaft seal. To check, have someone drive the boat while you watch the shaft.

 

[Brian B]

Also check the sea strainer. If you have one with the plastic lid the lid could be cracked and it will leak water.

 

[tdellaviola]

Thanks for the feedback. Did some more debugging on the weekend but no solution yet.
Updates:
- Sitting - no water
- Trolling using kicker - no water
- Traveling on main engine at 6 knots - no water
- Traveling at 3000 RPM, approx. 15 knots - WATER

I had a buddy operate while I inspected, the water is coming thru one of the drainage holes. Its the one on the portside stern just below the stringer about even where the bilge pump is. I pushed about 4 ft of wire up the drain to try and see where it drains from, but could not see anything.. sigh.
I wonder if there is a schematic available from the factory on where those drain lines go?
So it seems that the force of the boat thru the water causes the leak, but there is no water coming in from the more forward of the engine drain holes, as I suspected the thru haul fitting of the galley or head area as they are underwater at 15 knots. But no water is coming thru the forward drains, assuming there is no other way for water in the bow to get to the stern.

 

[baz]

R u sure it's salt water ?

It could be some water is resident up front somewhere and when going at 15 knots the bow raises and causes the residual water in forward area to flow back to the stern and exit the drain/seep hole. The "sitting", "trolling" and "6 knots" will be with boat fairly level compared to 15 knots.

Has this issue JUST recently arisen ?

When going at 15 knots is any water splashing up onto the decking ?

 

[BB marine]

There are a few checks that I would look at. The port side has the exhaust thru hull and generator thru hull. There are also the Swim platform supports and thruster housing. All of these would seem to leak at rest or at speed. Water leaks can be tricky. If you know the water is coming in from the port aft section and water is draining out of a limber hole to the engine compartment bilge area. I would remove the aft seat and storage pan if equipped to get a look at what is going on back there when at speed. If you are noticing that much incoming water you will see it if the aft section is opened up for viewing.

 

[Kiorana]

I don't know if the C30 setup is at all like the R27 but I thought I would add another possibility that happened to us when we first got our 2013 R27. You might want to check the raw water washdown hose connection for leaks in the aft compartment.

Right after we got our 'new to us' R27 classic this year after our first night on the boat, we noticed that water was mysteriously being pumped out the side of the boat after we were taking a shower the following morning. We thought it was just the shower sump pump but it seemed to go on too long. When I opened the engine hatch I was astounded to see the bilge with seawater flowing in from the limber holes. A quick check of things and I noticed the light on the raw water washdown switch was on. I turned it off. The hose attachment valve was turned off and a cap was on it so there was no water coming out of the hose fitting into the cockpit. Removal of the rear seat and storage pan showed the problem. The hose attachment from the raw water pump had become detached from the fitting on the inside and was allowing the raw water pump to pump seawater into that area, which was then using the limber holes to drain into the engine bilge area. The hose had only been secured by a single hose clamp. For whatever reason, it had decided to pop off that morning. I reattached the hose, tightened it up, and put on another hose clamp to have it double clamped. I wondered why this hose to fitting only had a single clamp whereas most all of the other fluid fittings in the boat are double clamped (this may be due to the short portion of the fitting for the hose to fit on - there wasn't much room for a second clamp). Since then I have heard that I am not the only person this has happened to. I'm super thankful I was at the dock, was on the boat to observe the bilge pump discharge, and that my bilge water sensors were working and pumps were able to keep up until I noticed them. The bilge pumps when operating are very quiet by the way. The switch in the R27 is located where it is very easy to bump on accidentally, which must have happened when we were hooking up the electric cord or something in that area. I now keep a blown fuse in the raw water washdown switch fuseholder to keep that from happening again and replace it with a good fuse if I want to use the washdown. I haven't seen this problem (trying to sink the boat with the raw water washdown pump) mentioned on the board so I thought I would put it out there. It might be a good idea to check to see if your hose is attached there with one or two hose clamps also.

Brent and Cindy
Kiorana

 

[Red Raven]

I don't know if the C30 setup is at all like the R27 but I thought I would add another possibility that happened to us when we first got our 2013 R27. You might want to check the raw water washdown hose connection for leaks in the aft compartment.

Right after we got our 'new to us' R27 classic this year after our first night on the boat, we noticed that water was mysteriously being pumped out the side of the boat after we were taking a shower the following morning. We thought it was just the shower sump pump but it seemed to go on too long. When I opened the engine hatch I was astounded to see the bilge with seawater flowing in from the limber holes. A quick check of things and I noticed the light on the raw water washdown switch was on. I turned it off. The hose attachment valve was turned off and a cap was on it so there was no water coming out of the hose fitting into the cockpit. Removal of the rear seat and storage pan showed the problem. The hose attachment from the raw water pump had become detached from the fitting on the inside and was allowing the raw water pump to pump seawater into that area, which was then using the limber holes to drain into the engine bilge area. The hose had only been secured by a single hose clamp. For whatever reason, it had decided to pop off that morning. I reattached the hose, tightened it up, and put on another hose clamp to have it double clamped. I wondered why this hose to fitting only had a single clamp whereas most all of the other fluid fittings in the boat are double clamped (this may be due to the short portion of the fitting for the hose to fit on - there wasn't much room for a second clamp). Since then I have heard that I am not the only person this has happened to. I'm super thankful I was at the dock, was on the boat to observe the bilge pump discharge, and that my bilge water sensors were working and pumps were able to keep up until I noticed them. The bilge pumps when operating are very quiet by the way. The switch in the R27 is located where it is very easy to bump on accidentally, which must have happened when we were hooking up the electric cord or something in that area. I now keep a blown fuse in the raw water washdown switch fuseholder to keep that from happening again and replace it with a good fuse if I want to use the washdown. I haven't seen this problem (trying to sink the boat with the raw water washdown pump) mentioned on the board so I thought I would put it out there. It might be a good idea to check to see if your hose is attached there with one or two hose clamps also.

Brent and Cindy
Kiorana

I made a “key” out of a small piece of teak to prevent this potential disaster. The key slides in behind the switch such that the switch is prevented from closing and turning on the washdown pump. Whenever I want to turn on the pump I have to remove the key first. It works so well I made another for the cockpit light switch which also gets bumped often and left on.

It is a bit of a challenge to get the right shape. I had to glue up two separate pieces but it works!

Curt

 

[Brian B]

I don't know if the C30 setup is at all like the R27 but I thought I would add another possibility that happened to us when we first got our 2013 R27. You might want to check the raw water washdown hose connection for leaks in the aft compartment.

Right after we got our 'new to us' R27 classic this year after our first night on the boat, we noticed that water was mysteriously being pumped out the side of the boat after we were taking a shower the following morning. We thought it was just the shower sump pump but it seemed to go on too long. When I opened the engine hatch I was astounded to see the bilge with seawater flowing in from the limber holes. A quick check of things and I noticed the light on the raw water washdown switch was on. I turned it off. The hose attachment valve was turned off and a cap was on it so there was no water coming out of the hose fitting into the cockpit. Removal of the rear seat and storage pan showed the problem. The hose attachment from the raw water pump had become detached from the fitting on the inside and was allowing the raw water pump to pump seawater into that area, which was then using the limber holes to drain into the engine bilge area. The hose had only been secured by a single hose clamp. For whatever reason, it had decided to pop off that morning. I reattached the hose, tightened it up, and put on another hose clamp to have it double clamped. I wondered why this hose to fitting only had a single clamp whereas most all of the other fluid fittings in the boat are double clamped (this may be due to the short portion of the fitting for the hose to fit on - there wasn't much room for a second clamp). Since then I have heard that I am not the only person this has happened to. I'm super thankful I was at the dock, was on the boat to observe the bilge pump discharge, and that my bilge water sensors were working and pumps were able to keep up until I noticed them. The bilge pumps when operating are very quiet by the way. The switch in the R27 is located where it is very easy to bump on accidentally, which must have happened when we were hooking up the electric cord or something in that area. I now keep a blown fuse in the raw water washdown switch fuseholder to keep that from happening again and replace it with a good fuse if I want to use the washdown. I haven't seen this problem (trying to sink the boat with the raw water washdown pump) mentioned on the board so I thought I would put it out there. It might be a good idea to check to see if your hose is attached there with one or two hose clamps also.

Brent and Cindy
Kiorana

I made a “key” out of a small piece of teak to prevent this potential disaster. The key slides in behind the switch such that the switch is prevented from closing and turning on the washdown pump. Whenever I want to turn on the pump I have to remove the key first. It works so well I made another for the cockpit light switch which also gets bumped often and left on.

It is a bit of a challenge to get the right shape. I had to glue up two separate pieces but it works!

Curt

I did something similar but used starboard. I made a horseshoe shape about 3/16” thick, (it needs to slide behind the switch) drilled a hole through the starboard and the switch and attached it with fishing line so it doesn’t get lost.

 

[ixlr8]

I made a “key” out of a small piece of teak to prevent this potential disaster. The key slides in behind the switch such that the switch is prevented from closing and turning on the washdown pump. Whenever I want to turn on the pump I have to remove the key first. It works so well I made another for the cockpit light switch which also gets bumped often and left on.

It is a bit of a challenge to get the right shape. I had to glue up two separate pieces but it works!

Curt

I am going to have to look into this. I keep finding my wash down pump on and I have no idea when/how it gets switched on. Although I haven't heard it on in a while, I am beginning to suspect it might have been run dry too often and maybe is shot. I have never turned it on on purpose.

 

[Red Raven]

I made a “key” out of a small piece of teak to prevent this potential disaster. The key slides in behind the switch such that the switch is prevented from closing and turning on the washdown pump. Whenever I want to turn on the pump I have to remove the key first. It works so well I made another for the cockpit light switch which also gets bumped often and left on.

It is a bit of a challenge to get the right shape. I had to glue up two separate pieces but it works!

Curt

I am going to have to look into this. I keep finding my wash down pump on and I have no idea when/how it gets switched on. Although I haven't heard it on in a while, I am beginning to suspect it might have been run dry too often and maybe is shot. I have never turned it on on purpose.

Hi Jim,

Mine has a fuse in a holder next to the switch. If very often gets corroded with salt and opens the circuit. I have to often remove this fuse and clean and coat the contacts with dielectric grease to keep it functioning as I use it often for my anchor wash down I added in the anchor locker. I will try to remember to post a photo of my key when I get back to the boat.

Curt

 

[Red Raven]

Here are photos of the washdown pump switch key that I promised to post. This key can also be used for the deck light switch as well as the high water alarm switch so I made several. The switch cannot accidentally be activated with the key inserted. I’m sure other shapes would work as well but this is what I came up with. I used two small 1/8” thick pieces of teak glued together to form each key because I already had some strips of that thickness. Any material of the appropriate thickness would work. I set the key in a conspicuous place so I won’t forget to reinsert it.




Curt

 

[JMC]

Many good suggestions on this thread. I will add one more thing to look at since I also had salt water seepage from the same port side aft drainage hole upon initial launch of the boat. The origin was the underwater lights, the water followed the wire into the boat. The speed of the boat was not a factor in my case but nonetheless something to check. It was fixed with 3M Marine adhesive by the dealer.