Can someone identify where this mysterious water is coming from? (Photo)

[Clivevon]

Sounds like it would be worth hurrying to collect some of that water for possible later analysis to assist diagnosis ? Good luck.

[Clivevon]

I very much hope for you that the problem turns out to be less serious & is reasonably fixable, but if not, before parting with loads of money for a solution, take a look at this ad for a 1992 Beneteau First 265 up for sale at USD $8500. That seems to be the upper limit of your potential loss. Hope it turns out to be a lot less.

[Cheechako]

Boy that sounds like bad expensive news, must be a cored hull. Welcome to the world of poorly thought out cored hulls. No one should place a fitting through a cored area. ... ever.
I had one boat with a problem like that. The water had traveled about 10 ft along the hull core. It only cost $22k to fix in 1990.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by dad_n_Seattle

Hi, while my boat was on the hard for bottompaint, I was inspecting my salt-water inlet for the volvo penta diesel, and I noticed it had one small screw into the "grill" up into the hull. I unscrewed it (maybe 3/4" long) and water steadily flowed out of the hole. In fact, it was still trickling out (same steady volume) when I left tonight!

Inspecting the thru-hull seacock from the engine bay, I don't notice any holes or any indication of the screw whatsoever, so I don't think its from the bilge.

If anyone can solve this mystery, I'd appreciate it. I'm putting her back in the water in a day or so and I'd love to know why that screw hole is holding in so much water.

The link below opens the photo in google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UcRo12Ybii4sWZke7

Thanks!

If that scoop strainer is just the cover for the thru hull, remove it and look to see if the flow is residual water from the intake hose flowing because the intake valve isn't closed, i.e., coming from the thru hull, or from the screw hole.
It would be difficult to see if the water is migrating from the hull or the thruhull uptake.
If it's a one piece strainer thruhull, pull it and look at the hull for water ingress.
If water is from the cored hull, you can pull some of it out using a vaccume taped to the hole,and the inside blocked off.
This won't Compleatly dry it out, but may help for sealing it up.
SV Cloud Duster

[waterman46]

Ditto what Boatyarddog says, that was my first thought.



But then:

Originally Posted by Stewie12

I would take out the salt water inlet and see what is there. Then I would drill a hole on the lowest part of the hull to see if any water runs out. If it does let it completely dry out. That may take some time.

I doubt if removing any of the installed through-hulls would be worth the effort, which could be considerable.

Hopefully all he would see when removing the salt water inlet, if it comes out cleanly, is solid resin all around the inside surface where it passes through the hull. Certainly any boatbuilder will not leave unprotected core to be exposed at a through hull.

Didn't read anything from OP about whether, when he installed the latest "triducer" did he drill the hole larger than the fitting and pre-fill with epoxy or polyester before drilling the final hole to size of fitting.

[Mlp48]

Hoping for the best for you ! I have managed a high-end custom boat for years it was built with all the love and money one could imagine but it had a foam core hull in the name or promise of "sound deadening". The boat was used for many years without an issue but went up for sale, and a buyer's surveyor was brought in. The surveyor's moisture meter pegged and the prospect walked. We did our own prowling about with it and drilled holes and water poured out as described. We put vacuums on the holes drilled for weeks and also hired a thermal imaging surveyor. It became clear by way of the latter that a lot of the below water foam was saturated. We committed to an expensive fix of bottom at about $100k with a scope of replacing the core. The boat left the repairer's yard with a limited warranty and on its was South, the "repaired" transom had water pouring IN and PAST a hardware fastener on the Lazarette's interior. We thought it was just an oversight and because it was there, had a high quality yard in FL explore and then replace the transom. What they found was that the $100k fix was short-cutted. We then re-hired the same thermal imager who found on the 2nd look that the hull wasn't much better than it had been at 1st as it was very wet ! Some new expertise was hired via another yard and then a new epoxy mix was forced into a hole here and there and under pressure. This was a risk but it seemed to work with the mix pouring out of distant holes. All of the hull puncturing hardware was also re-addressed and redone. Whew... am NOT wishing this on anyone !

[taxwizz]

Maybe the screw was too long, and penetrated your water tank.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by dad_n_Seattle

Hi, while my boat was on the hard for bottompaint, I was inspecting my salt-water inlet for the volvo penta diesel, and I noticed it had one small screw into the "grill" up into the hull. I unscrewed it (maybe 3/4" long) and water steadily flowed out of the hole. In fact, it was still trickling out (same steady volume) when I left tonight!

Inspecting the thru-hull seacock from the engine bay, I don't notice any holes or any indication of the screw whatsoever, so I don't think its from the bilge.

If anyone can solve this mystery, I'd appreciate it. I'm putting her back in the water in a day or so and I'd love to know why that screw hole is holding in so much water.

The link below opens the photo in google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UcRo12Ybii4sWZke7

Thanks!

Is your hull cored?

[anacapaisland42]

it's not coming back down the hose is it???

Originally Posted by dad_n_Seattle

Hi, while my boat was on the hard for bottompaint, I was inspecting my salt-water inlet for the volvo penta diesel, and I noticed it had one small screw into the "grill" up into the hull. I unscrewed it (maybe 3/4" long) and water steadily flowed out of the hole. In fact, it was still trickling out (same steady volume) when I left tonight!

Inspecting the thru-hull seacock from the engine bay, I don't notice any holes or any indication of the screw whatsoever, so I don't think its from the bilge.

If anyone can solve this mystery, I'd appreciate it. I'm putting her back in the water in a day or so and I'd love to know why that screw hole is holding in so much water.

The link below opens the photo in google photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UcRo12Ybii4sWZke7

Thanks!

[dad_n_Seattle]

Thanks for all the replies. To answer some raised questions:

1. I did not seal off the new triducer hole with epoxy, just a ton of 3M 4200. Neither was the old speed sensor sealed off as well. Fortunately it did not leak. If I remove the new triducer and reinstall it in the centerline thru hull where the old transducer is, I will make sure the cored hole is epoxied off. I'll have to figure out how to "plug" the 2" hole where I installed the current triducer. Again, this is a completely unrelated problem.

2. I have not deteremined whether the leaking water is salt or fresh. When I go back today and its still leaking, i will taste a little to see and also try to catch it in a cup. Doesn't help that it rained last night!

3. Biggest unknown right now is not having a definitive answer as to if my boat has a cored hull using balsa. Spec data online seems to indicate the hull is not cored but, I (nor anyone else) has found 100% verified data yet. If its water trapped between the inner fiberglass liner and the outer hull, this could be nothing and I don't want to drill holes or start removing transducers if I can help it.

4. Good point about the possibility it is cooling water trapped in the hose that is coming back down, but given the volume of water that I saw streamed out yest. I'm skeptical. If I can find a way to verify this, it would be helpful.

5. Screw is 3/4 inch long and pretty thin, so should not be long enough to be a significant source of water intrusion. If I re-screw the screw in just a little bit, the water flow stopped. I originally assumed the water would flow for a minute or two and stop, assuming it was again, water trapped in the inlet hose.

6. I've inspected all through-hulls from inside the boat, I would've thought that if any of them went through rotted balsa, it would compromise the rigidity of the connection. I've tested all through hulls for movement and flex (they are SS on bronze fittings), and they won't budge.

7. I think my plan today is to remove the water inlet valve and strainer (one piece) and go from there. Seems to be less drastic than drilling a hole into the hull from inside near the engine to check the core.

8. I really wish I could get a hold of someone from Beneteau. It looks like the best I can do is email/call US-based Beneteau dealers to see if any will respond. If anyone can find definitive info on hull construction for this boat (92 Bene First 265), please share!

Thanks again.

[hpeer]

https://www.practical-sailor.com/sai...teau-first-265

Construction

Both boats utilize external bolt-on lead keels, suitably thick fiberglass lay-up schedules, solid glass hulls and balsa*cored decks, and reasonably strong hull-deck connections. Both have highly engineered force grids molded into their hull liners, of particular note since the shrouds in both boats lead not to traditional chainplates but to intermediate tie rods which in turn are joined to metal plates for the most part hidden behind interior liners. On both boats we would prefer better inspection ports to view these crucial joints.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by hpeer

https://www.practical-sailor.com/sai...teau-first-265

See post 11. I already googled this one for him but he seems to have drilled out a core for a transducer and hit balsa.

[Chotu]

#1 is a HUGE concern. I wouldn’t dismiss it so quickly calling it unrelated. Other than the screw into the core at the thru hull strainer, it’s the most likely cause.

Any tiny air bubble in the seal could let seawater into your core if not closed out properly after drilling.

Originally Posted by dad_n_Seattle

Thanks for all the replies. To answer some raised questions:

1. I did not seal off the new triducer hole with epoxy, just a ton of 3M 4200. Neither was the old speed sensor sealed off as well. Fortunately it did not leak. If I remove the new triducer and reinstall it in the centerline thru hull where the old transducer is, I will make sure the cored hole is epoxied off. I'll have to figure out how to "plug" the 2" hole where I installed the current triducer. Again, this is a completely unrelated problem.

2. I have not deteremined whether the leaking water is salt or fresh. When I go back today and its still leaking, i will taste a little to see and also try to catch it in a cup. Doesn't help that it rained last night!

3. Biggest unknown right now is not having a definitive answer as to if my boat has a cored hull using balsa. Spec data online seems to indicate the hull is not cored but, I (nor anyone else) has found 100% verified data yet. If its water trapped between the inner fiberglass liner and the outer hull, this could be nothing and I don't want to drill holes or start removing transducers if I can help it.

4. Good point about the possibility it is cooling water trapped in the hose that is coming back down, but given the volume of water that I saw streamed out yest. I'm skeptical. If I can find a way to verify this, it would be helpful.

5. Screw is 3/4 inch long and pretty thin, so should not be long enough to be a significant source of water intrusion. If I re-screw the screw in just a little bit, the water flow stopped. I originally assumed the water would flow for a minute or two and stop, assuming it was again, water trapped in the inlet hose.

6. I've inspected all through-hulls from inside the boat, I would've thought that if any of them went through rotted balsa, it would compromise the rigidity of the connection. I've tested all through hulls for movement and flex (they are SS on bronze fittings), and they won't budge.

7. I think my plan today is to remove the water inlet valve and strainer (one piece) and go from there. Seems to be less drastic than drilling a hole into the hull from inside near the engine to check the core.

8. I really wish I could get a hold of someone from Beneteau. It looks like the best I can do is email/call US-based Beneteau dealers to see if any will respond. If anyone can find definitive info on hull construction for this boat (92 Bene First 265), please share!

Thanks again.

[mitiempo]

I don't think the hull is cored. I do not know of any Beneteaus from that era having cored hulls.

But all Beneteaus have a full liner below the waterline. Could the water be between the inner hull and the liner?

[dad_n_Seattle]

Hi Chotu - I agree about the lack of epoxy lining of the thru hull and that is something I'm going to fix for sure. I say its unrelated as the boat hasn't been in the water yet since I replaced the transducer so the balsa or ply core at the transducer install area hasn't even had a chance to get wet yet. Swapping out the transducer to the centerline and fixing the hull is another item added to my laundry list.

Mitiempo - This is a possibility and if this is the case, and all that waster is just water that's been collecting between the liner and the hull, that would be the best case scenario. Although why wouldn't Bene design the liner and hull so that any water that collects has a way to drain out the bilge?? I wish I could get an answer from Beneteau on that one...