Light oily water in forward bilge grid at port seatee

I have had my 85 30+ for bit over yr and half..well cared for and almost bone dry bilges usually..i have two bilge acess panels between the double seatee and generally any oil or shaft drips would show in the aft bilge..the access lid just forward of that has a seperate sealed bilge so only water would come from forward...

I know the grid can migrate water as we heel but we have been out cruising for almost a month and this just started...it is still not much water and beyong the anchor drain hose i cant think of anything else forward to leak....any ideas....thx..

Hi Shaun,
On some E30+ boats the head sump drains into that area of the main bilge. Could it be shower residue or from some work done in the head?
Frank

Thx for all your help in the past frank...yes my shower does drain into it, tho i dont use the shower and the amount of water is fairly high....its not fast or horrible but suprized me to see it...it was bone dry the first 3 weeks and only noticed it yesterday...i will make sure its not fresh water tank also...the oil residue suprized me but that could have been a past residue that just came up with the water...

Now another question...just afrer i posted we sailed into a port,,we motor sailed the last hr...we pulled to full dock and when i tried to restart there was no click or anything...thoght dead battery or bad connection..tried jumper and redid batt terminals and wiggled all wires but no starter click..so we sailed into a guest slip...few hrs later,,after zero work or wire wiggling the engine started right up....almost like it was fine after sitting and cooling a bit...strange..

Misc. Ideas from up in the third balcony

Is there a "hidden" fuse in a wire that goes to the starter circuit or to/from the starter button?

Apropos of whatever, about five years ago, in a temporary fit of preventative maintenance, I carefully removed all of the wires on the engine panel (only one at a time), cleaned the contact surfaces and put them back on each post.
Twelve volts is not a lot of 'potential' in a circuit and just a little corrosion-caused resistance will stop or reduce the voltage in a connection.

Loren

Hi Shaun,
On our E30+ there is a small hole (called a limber hole, I think) at the base of each bilge compartment which allows some water through, so your forward bilge compartment may not be totally sealed from the aft bilge compartment; maybe yours is different or was sealed off by a previous owner but it may allow some water to pass through.

Regarding your engine start problem my only guess is a loose connection or some corrosion as Loren suggested. I can't imagine that it is related to heating or cooling of the engine or starter. I would suggest starting a separate post on that issue on this site in the hope that one of the mechanics or electrical gurus might have an idea about it.
Frank

The failed start sounds like possible ignition wire failure, the wire from the starter switch to the solenoid of the starter. There are several posts on the site regarding replacing that wire with the more robust one from the ammeter that was on many boats. The orininal wire is small and prone to intermittent failure.

>>>tried jumper and redid batt terminals and wiggled all wires but no starter click.

First thing to suspect is the starter buttons. If no start, jump the button terminals with a screwdriver to see if that works.

Overall, though, you'll need to go through and inspect all wire terminals for corrosion, or hanging by a thread, or just loose.

It's a bit tedious, but you'll probably find the issue, and it will return confidence that the engine will start.

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexc...Cockpit-Gauges[/I]

There is a spade type terminal on my starter solenoid that sometimes gives me grief. It is the wire from the starter switch and I squeezed the female end tighter with pliers and replaced it and there was some improvement to the status which had been either a click or nothing, but it was intermittent.