[C320-list] Water in Bilge and Keel Bolts

[David Cardoza]

I used to have a similar problem.  It turned out that if the water heater
came up to hear (Usually from the motor) and the water pressure pump was on
I would loose most of my fresh water through the pressure relief valve on
the water heater (easily spotted through the small door on the back side of
the sink where you access the thru hull.  If this is the problem you can not
just replace it with one from home depot because they are designed to
release at a lower temp than the engine will heat the water to.  You will
need to get one from seaward I think it had a 190degFar release. 

Another problem I had when I first got the boat was that the cap on the
anti-siphon loop in the back of the locker on the deck was loose and would
drip water when the engine ran.  That one took a little longer to find
because the water would drip along the hose into the bilge. Also if you live
in an area where you have to winterize due to freezing check the hose to the
rear deck shower for cracks.

Just a few possibilities that I learned from experience over the past few
years. 

-----Original Message-----
From: C320-List-bounces at catalina320.com
[mailto:C320-List-bounces at catalina320.com] On Behalf Of
Orlando.Duran at AveryDennison.com
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:01 AM
To: Catalina 320 List
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Water in Bilge and Keel Bolts

If you think this might be the problem, put some food coloring into each
tank (different color of course) and just look to see which color fills up
your bilge...

cuba libre 2
--------------------------
Regards,
OD

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld



----- Original Message -----
From: C320-List-bounces
Sent: 06/01/2006 05:50 AM
To: C320-List <C320-List at catalina320.com>
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Water in Bilge and Keel Bolts

Have you eliminated the possibility that this is water from the water tanks.
Recently, I had a lot of water in the bilge and, to make a long story short,
finally discovered that this did not occur unless the water pressure switch
was on. In my case, the source was a loose connection on the cold water line
to the faucet in the head. This slow leak emptied both water tanks over the
course of a couple of days.
   Dave Sparks
   En Passant - # 933


On 5/31/06, Charles Greenwell <CGreenwell at sparusa.com> wrote:
>
> I have a 2000 model.  For years I pride myself for always having a dry
> bilge.  I went for a sail this weekend and upon returning noticed a lot of
> water in the bilge (about 8 inches).  The bilge pump was no pumping it
> out.  The pump would run but it was not pumping the water so, using a hose
I
> shot water into the line to prime the pump and behold.. It was now
> working.  I pumped all the water out and dried out the bilge.
>
> The next day I looked in the bilge and it had about 3 inches of water in
> it, just shy of the point where the float would turn the pump on.  I hit
the
> manual switch pump switch and pumped it out and dried it out again.  This
> time a made sure all of the sides flowing in to the bilge were also dry.
I
> removed the sole plates forward and aft of the bilge and also ensured they
> were dry.  This way I could find out where the water is coming from.
>
> Today, I have more water in the bilge.  I checked the forward and aft
> areas that feed it to see were it was coming from.  They are both
completely
> dry, from the speedo aft and the engine compartment forward.. I checked
the
> sides of the bilge under the sole and they too were dry.
>
> This means that the only way water could get into the bilge is from the
> keel. The boat was on the hard for the winter.  This was the first time it
> had been out of the water for that long of a period.  I saw no evidence of
> any cracks or other problems around the keel or bottom before it was
> launched.  The bilge stayed dry for the 2 weeks it was in the water after
> launching.
>
> Is it possible that the keel is leaking around the bolts?  Do these bolts
> ever need to be tightened?  Should I have checked them prior to launching
> the boat? Am I over looking another source of water?
>
> Randy
> Le Bijou - Hull 719
>
> --
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>
>


-- 
David Sparks
dlsparks at gmail.com
www.dbsparks.com


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