Ice in the bilge? Sad story. Or not?

[stormalong]

Is your boat stored mast up? Is it keel stepped? I get an amazing amount of water down the inside of the mast from rain. The garboard drain is a good solution. An automatic bilge pump with a battery left on board works until it is freezing. Frequent checks are needed based on rain activity.

I have had the same problem with boats on the hard stored mast up.

[Scubaseas]

What JPA Cate and other said. Wouldn't worry about it much but for when it freezes. Frozen bilge pump can fry the wires (even cause a fire) even when fused. They cn also kill your battery. I turn my electric bilge off and hand pump the boat after heavy rains. OR I leave an electric heater in the boat if I have power but still dectivate the electric pump (boat is on the hard).
You can add tennis balls or pool noodles to the bilge to prevent ice freeze damage. Foam boards work OK too if you can wedge them down into the water.

I've seen many a boat in the North East with a drain plug fitted to the bilge. Just make sure the plug (usually a pipe plug) goes back in before launching. On my boat I also take off the engine raw water hose and leave the valve open. This only allows about 3" of water to accumulate, tennis balls do the rest but I doubt it would work on all boats.

[Capt Y Knot]

Hello, welcome aboard! I have a Pearson 303 and have tackled nearly all deck leaks that allowed water to enter the bilge.

As others have suggested, being in the cabin during a rain storm will aid in the detective work.

Also, using a light sprinkle of talc powder on surfaces will leave a tell tale mark if water has passed by. This may help to generalize the leak location.

Silicone sealant around a mast boot will reduce water intrusion.

When you get to the deck hardware re bedding job a great source of information on doing the job correctly is https://marinehowto.com/

Use butyl tape for sealing. Don't use 3M 5200 on deck hardware!

Don't get discouraged...

Good luck

[jlcarreiro]

I had the same issue with water while on the hard. It turns out one of my cockpit drains had a crack in the 90 degree elbow.

[Scubaseas]

On my Pearson 323 set up like yours I can get two leaks. One from the cockpit drains. You can get snow melt freeze in the hose and either pop the hose off the deck fitting or crack the deck fitting. Tighten your stanchion bases for the life lines. If you have the original ones there is a rubber gasket that compresses and seems to shrink in cold weather. Other than some minor window leaks the only place my 1980 Pearson has leaked is from the stanchion bases.

An amazing amount to water can come down the mast sail track. Even with a good boot on it if the track is not well sealed (a good glop or silicone works fine) wind driven rain can out literally gallons of water in the bilge.

Unless your bilge is coated or sealed I would be cautious putting antifreeze in the bilge with a polyester resin boat like ours are. Vinylester or epoxy (or epoxy coated) no problem.

[Bawlmer]

Hello Diane. A dry erase marker from your local office supply store can help. Draw lines all around the bilge or areas that you think water may be coming from. The leaking water flow will dissolve the marker. Once you get a general idea where its coming from you can use the markers to zero in on the source. I got that method from another forum and it helped me find the source of a mystery leak. Best of luck!

[Paul Howard]

As previously mentioned, the water coming in might be because the boat is not setting flat. A slight tilt can cause water ingress that would not leak when in the water.
Leaves can cause water to run off in different directions and drains to clog, water to build up around vents and hatches, etc.

[peter loveridge]

I've seen very few boats that don't have some deck leaks, especially when they are on the hard ( the boat doesn't drain as well) They can be the very devil to find. Condensation . often from hatches can cause an awful lot of water in the bilge. I use salt rather than antifreeze. It is cheaper and doesn't smell. Any boat stored on the hard should have a drain plug, even in an area that doesn't freeze. Any storm that dumps 4 inches of rain overnight will find some crack somewhere. If you have a drain, and it's more the about 3/8 diameter, fill it with steel ( or bronze) wool so the mice don't find it. They can make a hell of a mess. Covers are nice , but be sure they can stand the expected wind. I live in western NS and 40+ knot winds are a weekly event. 60knots , and occasionally more can be expected several times every winter. Three winters ago, a storm destroyed the covers of every boat in our yard, and in most cases destroyed the framework too. Unless there is a lot of ice, it's unlikely to damage anything

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by peter loveridge

I use salt rather than antifreeze. It is cheaper and doesn't smell.

OK I'm gonna come right out and say: "do not do this!"

Sodium chloride is extremely corrosive. And even at about a 25% solution it will freeze around -10F.

RV antifreeze/propylene glycol isn't that expensive, and you can reuse/recycle it if you want.

[Mike Banks]

I usually kept a little bottle of silver nitrate in a dark box. If I wish to test water for salt, other than by tasting it, I would put some suspect water in a glass jar and add a little silver nitrate solution. A white precipitate indicates salt, especially as it turns grey-purple over time because silver chloride in photosensitive.

Your most likely culprit is probably a leaking freshwater tank or hose to it.

IN the absence of holes in the hull or damaged thru-hulls, what you have left has to be from three or four easily checkable sources.

The next to check is rainwater getting in through the anchor hawse or leaky hoses to cockpit drains leaking into the bilges.

Another is damaged hoses to thru-hulls and sea cocks.

All good so far? Try checking for a leaking engine cooling system, saltwater pump, heat exchanger hoses, or if the engine was not protected by anti-freeze--a popped frost plug, even worse would be a cracked engine block.

Whatever it is--you have to find it.

Anything letting in salt water indicates a sinking vessel. Rainwater is a different kind of damage. It accelerates rot. Over a longer period of time--but if not checked any leaks, undetected and un-repaired will eventually cause your vessel to founder.

[peter loveridge]

to Garyfdl. Used in every fishing boat in western NS. Not much to corrode in a deep sump on a long keeled boat, its a preservative when used on the decks of a wooden boat and its never as cold as -10F here, in fact +10F is rare

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by peter loveridge

to Garyfdl. Used in every fishing boat in western NS. Not much to corrode in a deep sump on a long keeled boat, its a preservative when used on the decks of a wooden boat and its never as cold as -10F here, in fact +10F is rare

Maybe so, and you're entitled to do what you want. But I stand by what I said, sodium chloride is extremely corrosive. The OP and others are not talking fishing boats - we're are talking, for the most part, 'recreational' sailboats, many of which have bolt-on and/or cast iron keels.

[JPA Cate]

I've been pondering this for a bit, and 5+ gallons is a fair wee bit of water. Maybe more than would be coming in via deck penetrations. So, maybe look first for things like hoses or cracked plumbing fittings --including the cockpit drains. If it is the latter, it may have left very little trace, as the snow melt was fairly slow, and if there were dust around, it would have washed into the bilge along with the water.

Djousset, I hope you are able to find the source soon, before there's more snow, and rain, or go ahead and drill your drain hole. You really do not want the water to get over the floor boards, very important to not allow to happen. (It will get into the layers of the plywood, and it will swell and freeze and ruin bulkhead and cabinetry.)

This is urgent to remediate or prevent.

Ann

[roland stockham]

Tarp sound good but shrink wrap may mean you cant get onboard the check things. I would not be happy with that. Presumably either your bilge pump or float switch was jammed with ice so could not clear the water? If it was it may have burnt out through being in a locked rotor situation. You say water was with 1/8 of the sole but only 5 gal??? or did you mean 50, 5 gal would barely flood the deck boards on a rowboat.

[RaymondR]

I'm not reading all the posts to see if someone has already suggested it but the first place to look is an anchor chain locker which drains into the bilge.