Water coming in the bilge. No idea where from

[Warlick]

Hello everyone!

I recently purchased an old fin keel Pandora 22ft and since the start I noticed that there was some water coming in the bilge. I wasn't very concerned at the start because I thought that it was caused by one of my windows leaking and letting rain water in (I'm in Ireland, it rais quite often), but it happened to me a couple times recently that the cabin floor over the keel got a bit flooded and I have no idea where this water is coming from.

It's strange because the keel bolt/cabin floor area and the bilge are not connected, but I don't think the water is leaking from a crack in the hull, as I only find water when it has rained (disregarding a bit of water over the keel bolts) and there is no difference in the water level when I go sailing and back to port.

I wonder if any experienced sailor can give me a hand with identifying what may be causing it or at least giving me a checklist of what to look for next time I hop aboard. My plan so far is getting my silicone gun, 3 tubes of marine sikaflex and seal everything (windows, around keel bolts, marine tolet hoses, bilge pump etc...) I hope this will put an end to it.

I leave here the link for a video and a pic of the cabin itself for reference:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ebh...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xEd...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/132X...usp=drive_link


Thanks a million in advance and may your winds be always favourable.

[GordMay]

Q1: Is the bilge water 'salt', or 'fresh'?

[tkeithlu]

Once you've answered Gord's question, consider the following procedure for finding mystery leaks.

Dry everything. Attach paper towel or toilet paper to all the surfaces water could be following. See what gets wet. Narrow the search and climb the stream until you get to the source.

Good luck with it. Can be frustrating, in my experience.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Warlick

.... as I only find water when it has rained (disregarding a bit of water over the keel bolts) and there is no difference in the water level when I go sailing and back to port. ...

Gord's question is a very good place to start.
Your statement (quoted) strongly suggests the water is coming from above but remember it is possible to have more than one source of entry e.g. slow ingress of sea water from say shaft packing gland or leaking keel junction or seacock etc plus rain water.

Rain water can be particularly difficult to track as there are so many possible entry points but tkeithlu's advice is a good way to start.

As a generalisation, rain entry is most annoying but sea entry is more likely to sink your boat.

BTW, That Van de Stadt 22 is a lovely boat to sail.

[Don C L]

A friend of mine has quite a bit of fresh and salt water come in through leaky stanchion bases. Two of my windows leak a little when it rains and it is really annoying because I thought I fixed them! It looks like your boat has a liner that can hide where water is entering too.

[lauriel]

Had a similar issue on my 30 year old, 30ft Beneteau. Fixed the stantion bases, window seals etc but still had fresh water accumulating in the bilge, especially when sailing.
Finally found the moulded plastic drinking water tank under the saloon bench seat had split. When the boat healed over, it was leaking.
I changed to a Plastimo bladder and left the tank for possible storage space as I found it impossible to repair and too hard to remove. Very hard to track down the problem.

[dfelsent]

I had random brackish water in an otherwise long time bone dry bilge. Tracked it down to a leaking holding tank bladder.

I had random fresh water in an otherwise dry bilge. Tracked it down to a failed mast boot.

I has random fresh water in an otherwise dry bilge. Tracked it down to a failed expansion tank on the hot water system that was causing a leak from the overpressure relief valve.

Had a random salt water leak in an otherwise dry bilge. Tracked it down to improperly sealed keel bolts. (Two different boats)

Had a salt water leak in an otherwise dry bilge. It was the rudder shaft packing when the crew would gather in the cockpit after a race.

I’ve had lots of other leaks over the years.

You get the idea now. The hot water tank took me over a year to figure out. The holding tank grossed me out when I realized WHY the bilge was brackish.

Take your time. Notes if you need to. Be patient and observant. You will find the leak.

And with all the inspection and observation I’ve gotten to know my boats and their systems much better!

[TrentePieds]

Leaks are insidious things. Invidious too! tkeithlu's paper trick is one I use both afloat and ashore. But remember that the point of Egress of wayward water is seldom also the point of INgress. The two gresses may be quite a distance apart :-)

Maybe we need to clarify the sailor jargon a bit. The wooden board (plywood I assume) down the centre of you cabin is called a "sole". There are no "floors" in a boat like yours. The boat has a "liner" which is a one-piece GRP moulding that forms a good deal of the furniture in the cabin. The space under the sole is called the Bilge. That's where you find the keel boats. Your's is a shallow bilge, so get on you hands and knees and sop up all the water in the bilge with a sponge until there is no water there at all. Then dry the entire bilge PARTICULARLY around the keel bolt nuts and washers by wiping with paper towels until the toweling comes away dry. Then swathe each keel bolt nut with dry paper toweling. Then have a beer or two and go home. The next day inspect the bilge. If any one of the keelboats is weeping its swaddling will be wet, and you've found a problem. It may, however, be only one of several. You're in Cork, I see, so if the water comes in through the keelboats it will DEFINITELY taste salty.

If the water just tastes dirty, it'll be fresh water and you can begin to find the source(s) of it. But duty calls. I'll continue tomorrow.

Slán go fóill!

TrentePieds

[Warlick]

Wow thanks a lot for the support evsrhbody. I'll see if I can locate the leaks with the toilet paper trick and get sealing. I think most of it comes from one of the windows because I just noticed that whenever I find water in the bilge the upholstery under the window is soaking wet. Anyways, I'll keep you updated

[TrentePieds]

Oho! Happens to us all. Now lessee if we can help you fix it :-)

On the Pandora I would suspect that the glazing which is probably perspex is set in a rubber moulding that fit on the edges of the cutout in the fibreglass.

This rubber moulding is commonly available from auto supply stores. I don't know if there is one in Cork, but is hard to believe that there wouldn't be :-)!

Don't rip anything apart until you've located a source of an appropriate moulding. Better a small leak than a big one :-)!

TP