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Bilge filling!

exoduse35

Sustaining Member
My 35-2 has always been dry inside, I could go months without running the pump. 2 out of my last 3 weekly visits the bilge was filled to the sole. In between it was it had a bit but not too bad. we have had some rain but not anywhere enough to fill the bilge, and there is a muddy film forming inside. The boat does sit into the mud at low tide and has for several years now. I Have drained it and watched for a day or so and nothing then a few days later it is full. I am wondering if it might be coming from the shaft log as the mud pushes on the shaft or if there are other guesses. I shut all the through hulls and they don't appear to be leaking at the hull. However one does seem to have developed some corrosion and growth where it screws to the adapter and then hose. (all parts are bronze) Also as far as I can tell there are no tracks where water has come from higher and then run down to the bilge. Also it has no automatic pump, only a manually switched one...Is there a preferred place to add an automatic pump and switch ? ( the one that is there is behind the motor and almost imposable to access... the surveyor could not find it but heard it so figured it worked) Any thoughts appreciated and thanks in advance. Edd :esad:
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
All that I have is an uneducated guess...
but does the keel repeatedly settle into the bottom? Maybe a small crack has developed at the rear of the fin and water is coming in there. Internal ballast on that model, IIRC, so there may be a void right behind the ballast casting.
Other than that, is there any change in the stuffing box or shaft log that you can detect?

Loren
 
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exoduse35

Sustaining Member
Yes it settles into the bottom but has been in the same slip for years so there is a hole under the boat for it. and yes it has an internal ballast but as far as i know there is no void in the rear or the keel
 

Dan Morehouse

Member III
how about transducer holes?

Is it possible something is amiss with a transducer penetration? The muddy film does seem to indicate water from below the waterline, but I still also wonder if your boat has cockpit drains that discharge through a seacock inside the hull. Otherwise, I'd be suspicious of the shaft log. Maybe lower than average tides have the boat deeper in the mud, and that changes something enough to produce a leak there. Is Carquinez Strait fresh water or brackish? Fresh would make it difficult to tell if it was rainwater or bay water in your bilge.

Mine was showing bilge water like yours last year too, but it was coming in mostly through rainwater getting into the mast. The weep holes @ the step were plugged, and when I cleared them, water came out in a stream that reached clear across the sole! Must have been a couple of feet deep inside the mast!

Dan Morehouse
1981 E-38 "Next Exit"
 

Lucky Dog

Member III
FWIW

If there is silt from lake water I would think that the fiberglass in the keels would act as filter and only clean water would weep through to the bilge. Might be worth checking every day to see if it is proportional. Or maybe is gets to certain level after a few days and them really starts flowing. Maybe it a leak at the water line and once the loose fitting is below the water line the pressure increases. I have used ph test paper tape from a fish store to track a path of leak.

Sounds like a great mystery...when it on someone else's boat.
 

sailorman37

Member II
I have a 1980 E30+ with a bolted on keel that was dry until this last winter. It seems the low tides would ground the boat and tweak the hull just enough to leak at the bolts. It was difficult finding the leak because it would show up overnight with no evidence of leaking down the inside hull. I finally plugged each limber hole between the bilge grid and located the bolts that were leaking.
 

exoduse35

Sustaining Member
Finally found it I think...the prop shaft seal has started leaking on an as I feel like it basis. Got ot the bat Monday night and the bilge was empty after 5 days. Was installing an automatic bilge pump and it started gushing out on My arm then it quit again. resealed everything and now I have a new question:
The bilge is now filled with an oily gooey muck that is slimy and sticks to everything. Is there any good way to clean it out? there is some oil in it as it left a sheen when I tried to wash it off at the dock. The boat is only a couple hundred yards from where they offload for the refinery and the silt has the remnants of several spills over the years. this stuff is nasty and there is almost no access. Edd
 

Dan Morehouse

Member III
bilge cleaner

I just cleaned mine out a couple days ago. It too had a slimy film. Didn't seem like oil, but might have had some in it. Anyway, I used some West Marine labeled "bilge cleaner" that apparently had microbes to eat the oil & neutralize everything to sweetness and light. Used a couple ounces per gallon of bilge water, and after waiting all day, it did seem to reduce the nastiness quotient. Still had to wipe down the bilge to get stuff clinging to the surfaces, but it was much less unpleasant and tenacious. This cleaner had been left with the boat by the PO, no telling how old it was. But I'm sure there is still some equivalent being marketed at all the usual places.

Dan Morehouse
1981 E-38 "Next Exit"
 

exoduse35

Sustaining Member
If it worked for you I am willing to try it! This stuff does not look like oil either, it is the silty mud that is in the marina. When we first birthed there we were warned not to EVER touch the bottom as it is like quicksand, clings tenaciously and will suck you in. After someone tried to wade in it after getting stuck at low tide and needed a tow truck and wench to get him free I became a believer! It does not wash off for days and does leave the oily rainbow in the water. (we can also get that effect by stirring the bottom with a stick) All I know is that it makes working on the boat most unpleasant and I want it OFF MY SHIP! Edd
 
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