Water consistently in aft bilge area...bilge red light on

[johnniethek]

Greetings one and all,
I have a problem that needs to be fixed, and I hope folks here can help.
Whenever I get on the boat, I have to use the manual switch for the aft bilge pump to remove excess water from that area. It usually takes a full minute to empty out that water. The last time I got on the boat the red light from the bilge pump switch at the helm was on. After turning on the switch for the aft bilge pump, the light went off and (after about 1.5 minutes) the water was removed.
But this keeps happening. There have been times when I am under way and the red light from the bilge pump comes on. I turn on the aft bilge pump and the light shortly goes off as water is removed.
Has anybody had something like this in their boat? I have a 2017 R-29S.
Where is this water coming from, and why doesn't the aft bilge pump automatically come on?
Thanks, in advance, for your help with this issue.
JtheK

 

[watson1987]

A similar thing happened to one of my bilge pumps - see viewtopic.php?f=5&t=22005

The short story is the automatic side part of your pump is bad, but the pump itself works, which is why manually turning it on works. Time to replace the float or automatic pump depending on what setup you have.

 

[Ralf H]

Hi Johnnie,

Watson is right. Most likely your sensor on the aft bilge pump is kaputt. (the small black box clipped onto the side of the pump) These are relatively easy to replace and can be found at any retailer who stocks Johnson SPX bilge pumps. (there are lots to choose from) For the leak, that would need a bit more diagnosis on your part. Check to see if any of the water is coming from forward of the engine through any of the limber holes on the stringer and such. Also check to see how much drip you are getting from the packing gland (you would have to get a lot for it to fill as much as you are indicating) and if any of your seals in the lazarette and engine hatches are allowing water to bypass. There are many places where water can come from and get into the bilge, but the first thing to check would be to do a literal taste test to see if it is salty or fresh. That will help get you started and will let you know if the issue is potentially more serious. (if it's salt water) Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Ralf

 

[johnniethek]

Thanks Ralf and Watson,
I am having the techs at Goldstar Marine look into this on Thursday and, if needed, Friday.
Although I haven't yet done a taste test, it does appear that the water leaving the boat after I turn the aft bilge pump on is clear and clean. Will ask them to look into the various seals, etc.
Johnnie the K

 

[Trisailor]

I had a similar situation a few months back. Turns out the shaft seal on the sea water pump on the Yanmar 4By2-180 had failed, allowing sea water to accumulate in the bilge. Algae/slime growth on the Johnson pump auto switch had stopped the pump from turning on. A quick scrub with a shop towel removed the slime and the pump worked again. The difficult part was rebuilding the sea water pump. I also now have a spare. And had to make the step cutout as others have on this forum on their R27's.

 

[johnniethek]

Faulty gasket in water pump was the culprit. Now fixed and everything looks and run great.
Thanks for the feedback about this issue. Work done by Goldstar Marine, a company I highly recommend.
JtheK

 

[johnniethek]

Also, sensor on aft bilge pump was kaput. Had it replaced and everything is working fine again.

 

[dbsea]

on top of the bilge pump issue, you could have an extra leaky stuffing box that might need adjustment. My aft bilge pump will run after a long cruise, because the stuffing box is intentionally dripping but it should not drip when the shaft is not turning.

 

[Toucan]

We had water leaking into the bilge constantly. I parked the trailered boat on a steep driveway and filled the aft end of the bilge with a hose. There was water leaking out of the bilge around the stern thruster installation and around the prop shaft sub-section-to-hull joint. It was easy to see where the leaks were on the dry hull. The bolts holding on the sub-section did not want to easily come loose and I did not want to break them. In stead of re-bidding the joint, I had the sub-section-to-hull joint glassed over and resealed the thruster unit on the transom. No more leaking after that.

Barry Thompson
TOUCAN, R-27 Classic