Leaky boat... Need a bit of guidance.

[Eurobound]

I noticed that my bilge pump would activate every 30 minutes or so for about 5 seconds or so and dump a good couple liters of water out. If I didn't have the wife and guests on the boat I would have opened her all up and investigated it.

I have the boat in the garage now and opened up around the engine as much as possible and my first suspicion is the depth sounder piece as it's very wet around it. Can anyone point me in the direction as to how to remove it, clean it, re-seal it and reinstall it?

The other potential culprit is a leaky front centre ballast bag and the ballast intakes... are the ballast water scoop intakes easy to take out, clean, put a new seal and reinstall? I'll do some research but I'd just like it if someone can point me in the right direction. ..

Back of the boat is very dry as well as the front of the boat. All the moisture seems to be coming from right around the engine.


Thank you!

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[roosm]

Hi,

The depth sounder does not use any kind of through hull. It is just mounted on the inside of the hull.
I would not suspect a leak there.
The mount is like a little bucket though so if you got water in your boat that mount will fill up with water and be very wet.

Shaft seal, any through hull, ballast bags etc.

As for the question on the through hull it should be sealed with marine silicone or similar. Sikaflex?

Mike

[Eurobound]

Thanks for the info. Didn't realize it didn't go through the hull... I'll look into the actual through hull items like you mentioned. Once I figure out the ballast system I'll rule that in/out as well.

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[scottschmitt]

Leaking like that is almost always the the shaft seal. It is designed to leak and as the stuffing dries out, it leaks more. Here is a good link on how to repack the stuffing box/shaft seal (http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box&page=1).

Other places that leak include the rudder, which has a similar stuffing box set up, and the transom. There are struts on the transom that support the swim deck and the wake plate. The fiberglass can leak there if it cracks. And then if you have a ballast system, that has myriad connections that can go bad.

[Eurobound]

Good info... is it possible to fix the transom area fibreglass? It does look very wet around there too...

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[SquamInboards]

Start with the stuffing box/shaft seal as Scott Schmidt mentioned above. That puts water in the bilge by design (read the link it's very enlightening) which then sloshes around all over the place, making it hard to pinpoint a leak after the fact. A little water in the bilge is normal; however, the only thing that should actively be leaking is the shaft seal, and not much.

[PBWolf]

Stuffing in shaft seal is the primary culprit as others have said.. a few drips a minute is normal. If it's an older boat, the exhaust flanges (or whatever they are called) where they exit thru the transom can also get super leaky.

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[Eurobound]

I just noticed some dark wet looking spot near one of the exhaust flanges. I'll look into that and the shaft seal on Saturday. Thanks for the advice guys.

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