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Dirty Bilge water

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britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Initially Posted - 12/30/2013 : 20:03:19

Paula asked a question in another thread.

Paula, if you have dirty water in your bilge, it could possibly be from the ballast tank.

As many have stated in the past, water in the bilge can come from several sources.

Rain:
Fresh Water tank/piping:
Ballast Tank:
Ballast Tank valve stem:
Keel hoist pipe:

Rain has never been a problem for us. We have had minor amounts of rain water if the cabin top was open during rain.

Fresh Water Tank/piping has been an issue when over filling the water tank. But we have a 2nd tank and the leak is from the joint in the T connector in the filler hose. So it's only after filling the water tank. And that is clean water.

Ballast Tank is another issue: The seal between the tank and the hull is a potential problem, but not easy to detect. If the fresh water tank is left empty and then the boat is launched, water might come in through the center board hoist tube, and easily mistaken for ballast tank leaks.

If, like us, you keep Sweet Dreams on a trailer, then you should be able to better detect where the leak comes from.

If you put some paper towel down the top of the centerboard hoist tube prior to launching the boat, then you can detect if water came up that tube.

If the paper towel is dry after launch, and you still find dirty water in the bilge then it's down to either the ballast tank leaking or the ballast tank valve stem leaking.

The paper towel process can also detect if water is coming in via the valve stem.

In our case, we did have a leak at the valve stem. I rebuilt the top of the dome of the stem housing.

Having said all of that, the amount of water is an indication.

So, any idea of how much water is in the bilge. Is it there immediately after launch or after retrieval.

If it is really dirty water, then is the tank full before launch from a previous recovery?

We have always made an effort to drain the tank as the boat is recovered up the ramp. That can be by simply opening the water ballast valve and the air vent in the bow prior to pulling the boat out and allowing the boat to drain completely while still on the ramp.

In our efforts to ease the recovery process, we now pump out the ballast tank prior moving the boat onto the trailer. We do this with a Coleman 12v air pump (about $13 at wally world) held into the air vent with the ballast tank valve open. 15 minutes of low pressure air gets out most of the ballast tank water. But if your tank does have a leak, this is not the process to follow as it might force water into the bilge from the tank.

However, using this method, we now do not need to use any type of trailer extension for pulling the boat from the water.

Looking forward to how much and when you have water in the bilge.

Paul

Joint Decision. (Sold)
PO C250WB 2005 Sail # 841.

Moved up to C34 Eximius

Updated August 2015

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.