50+gallons of water pouring into boat..are we going to sink?

[sailingabe41ds]

This weekend halfway between Ventura and Santa Cruz Island (So Cal) high capacity bilge alarm the I installed (Rule 3600) goes off and to my surprise water inches deep under the cabin sole. It is a horrifying thing to see which I hope nobody ever has to experience.
First, I tasted it....fresh not salty...stress dropped 1000%. Shut off all the water tanks to the pressure pump. I noticed, but ignored, when I first went in that the light to the pressure pump was on...but all the faucets were off. I also noticed that over 50gals (I have a water meter coming out of both aft/forward water tanks) had been consumed.
Took me over an hour to clear the rest of water as the filter from useless little bilge pump from Jeanneau kept getting clogged with debris and the manual bilge pump did not pump.
When I turned the water pump back on I heard gushing water behind the cabinet in the forward head. It turned out that the one way valve the I installed between a T at the faucet and the head before the solenoid valve had split in half allowing the water to run free...all 50 gallons.
What I learned...
1. Taste the water
2. If you are going to put a one way valve to protect your water supply, put it after not before the solenoid valve.
3. Pay attention to everything else to isolate the problem...seeing that the meter displaced 50 gallons used and that the pressured water pump was on tells me the problem was after the pump and not a ruptured water tank on a line leading to the pump from the tank.
4. Install a good high capacity bilge pump....the little pump is USELESS.
5. Do not assume that your manual pump works. My boat is only 6 years old ...you assume the manual pump works. I never tested it when I bought the boat.
6. Stay calm and pray or you may be prey to a water critter.

I will say it again....looking at water under the cabin sole and seeing it flooding in the middle of water is a terrifying thing to see.

Abe

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by sailingabe41ds

Took me over an hour to clear the rest of water as the filter from useless little bilge pump from Jeanneau kept getting clogged with debris and the manual bilge pump did not pump.

5. Do not assume that your manual pump works. My boat is only 6 years old ...you assume the manual pump works. I never tested it when I bought the boat.

High capacity and WORKING MANUAL bilge pump 1st priority!

(Indeed, our boat has two high-capacity manual bilge pumps: one out in cockpit and the other down below in cabin. Both exercised (tested) regularly.)

Also have electric bilge pumps, but in an emergency, it would be the manual pump(s) that (hopefully) do the trick.

[JPA Cate]

It is, very, very scary. We have some friends who were young at the time that sailed the whole Australian Bight from west to east, with water over the cabin sole in their boat. Doing turns on the pump when not steering, just the two of them. ....And although they now have an apartment, they still go cruising (different boat).

Relative to debris in the bilge pump, yes, that is a common problem. Another one is that sometimes the manual bilge pump hose gets a hole chafed in it. Carefully check the hose, too.

You done good. You survived, with only fear: no injuries, and the confirmation that it was fresh water is a huge relief. Great you checked the meter. Without the meter, always taste.

Ann

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by sv_pelagia

High capacity and WORKING MANUAL bilge pump 1st priority!

(Indeed, our boat has two high-capacity manual bilge pumps: one out in cockpit and the other down below in cabin. Both exercised (tested) regularly.)

Also have electric bilge pumps, but in an emergency, it would be the manual pump(s) that (hopefully) do the trick.

Unless you sail with a large crew all the time, a manual pump goes at the bottom of my priority list. I'd much rather have multiple large electric pumps (of known real-world capacity) that can run while the small crew is working on resolving the flooding issue than lose a person to pumping (and at some point, they're going to get tired).

[Nicholson58]

We lost 280 gallons of fresh on a rough motor sail passage Bonaire to Puerto Rico. The engine thermostat progressively failed letting the glycol engine loop to the water heater overheat the hot water tank. The temperature-pressure relief on the hot water tank failed open. The auto bilge pump happily emptied all of our fresh water. The fresh water flush kept the engine cool so we didn’t notice the disaster. Once all water was gone, the engine temperature spiked. It was a dicey marina entry.

[Chotu]

Been there as well. With sea water.

Things felt a little sluggish for a time. Boat seemed to be slogging through the water. So I looked below and I saw cabin soles moving. Floating. Uh oh.

I had a bunch of people out on the boat and very calmly asked one to steer a minute while I went below.

Raw water pump hose blew out so the engine was both overheating and pouring out sea water at an alarming rate.

I jury rigged up a fix, used the bilge pump and kept everyone calm on deck.

The non boaters I had out had no idea how sketchy the situation was for a minute.

[Oeanda]

A scary sight to wake up to in the morn for sure, as we once also did. Somehow these events always make me feel happy to have had good luck and a fairly painless learning experience. Keep a spare diaphragm for the manual pump.

[Deep Blue Water]

Regarding debris that seems magnetically attracted to the bilge pump - no matter how many times you clean, it reappears.

I made a simple round chicken wire cage with a 1/4" (5mm) grid about the diameter of a large coffee can and held it in place with a few dabs of silicone. It worked really well keeping debris away from the bilge pump, got the idea from storm drain covers in wooded areas.

[wolfgal]

thanks Abe, for relating your experience and what you learned! others too.

this is certainly scary stuff. one must really know one's boat systems and be able to think clearly.

reading posts like these... more and more i find that i'm understanding these instances and the dynamics involved, which gives me a small, psychological boost as i strive (still at it guys) to get out there.

in any case, really appreciate the input here!

wolfie

[cottonsail]

I crewed on an Excaliber 26 racing sailboat. We had 3 headsail's, 2 chutes and a blooper. Once in a while we would get some salt water in the bilge after some hard racing. We never found the source but it was a constant concern. The boat owner took his girlfriend, her son and her mother out for a Sunday day sail. During the sail the girlfriend goes below and announces the "floor is covered with water"! The Capt is in full mayday mode until he looks into an empty bilge. The water drain to the cooler was left open.

[gonesail]

wow what an inopportune moment for a water valve to fail

[senormechanico]

That happened to us years ago, so I made a timer circuit with a relay, resistor, electrolytic capacitor and a 12 volt buzzer.

When the pump runs continuously for more than x time (depending on the resistor/capacitor selection) it shuts off the pump and causes the buzzer to alarm.


Simple fix.

[arthur.watson.1]

My newly installed water heater hoses burst (wrong type of hose) while under power, and the galley pressure pump duly pumped 100 gallons of fresh water into the bilge, where it was duly pumped out of the boat by the bilge pump, before anyone noticed.

Now it's my practice to turn off the pressure pump at the panel whenever under way, particularly when under power.

[Cpt Mark]

Came home one night and stepped down into the forward area of my boat. Splash. Wer'e talking water 3 inches deep. Crap. It's midnight and I'm looking up to find the new leak in my boat. It was a leaky teaky. After a minute I realized wait, it hasn't rained in days. Uh oh, that means it's coming from below. Back into the main cabin to lift the floor borad up to see the bilge. Yep. It's full and the water is almost to the engine. Not good. Worse was my bilge was 7 ' feet.There's a lot of water down there.

Pump the water out, all's good. Except it came back slowly. Pump it out again. Can't find the source. Some times I'd pump the water out and it came back so fast I could watch it, other times might take a day.

Somebody called the coast guard because they say an oil sheen coming from my boat. Coasties broke into my boat and shut off the bilge pumps. Called me at work. I ripped into them telling them the boat has been taking on water and is now in danger of sinking which will be worse, a lot worse. Nope. They didn't care.

10 days of this, not sleeping and constantly worried it was 4 am or so. I picked up a book my sister had given me for Christmas. Something like emergencies at sea. Small book. Opened it and started reading and watching the bilge. "If you have water rising in the bilge and can't locate the source of it, shut off the manual bilge pumps because they are back siphoning". Ok, I'll try that. Slept like a baby and she never took on water again.

[donradcliffe]

The reason to use a noisy bilge pump.

I only tested the Plastimo manual bilge pump in my Beneteau every couple of years. It failed to pump twice. The first time I fixed it and the second time I replaced it with a different brand.