Forward bilge area always has some water ??

[Duty Free]

Okay, I am new to the forum and needed to ask this question of the seasoned owners of Marlin 30's
I have a 1996 Marlin that get water all the time in the forward bilge area..
not very much, maybe an inch or so. I cannot get to them all that great, but it appears that the two valves for the outlet and inlet of the shower and toilet are sound and not leaking. Can you help me determine other areas where this may be leaking?? Water never goes to the far rear bilge, even under high speed movement. Love this boat, but really starting to be worried as to why this water is always present....
Any help will be appreciated.

 

[GTOMAN]

Isn't there a seacock where you draw in water to flush the John? If that is open when you are running, will water come up into and out the John. Don't drink the water!

 

[Duty Free]

Yes, there is and it is open but no water enters the jonh while underway...
toilet works well but don't understand the water in this bilge...

 

[ElyseM]

do you use the shower or a/c when it happens? could be overflowing the sump. look for leaks also: freshwater etc. check if limber holes are gunked up to the rear. there will be some water since the larger boats don't generally sit bow high. ron

 

[Gary M]

Mine does the same thing............. That's why it's important to occasionally check your bilge pump and float......

I'd guess that some of the water gets in through the anchor locker. That drains into the bilge if I'm not mistaken.......

Occasionally, get a few adults up near the bow and with one on the pulpit and then listen.................... a good chance that your fwd bilge pump will kick on and dump most of that water overboard. This checks the float and the pump!

 

[richie rich]

the water probably hangs around because the drain tube is likely sticking out proud of the bulkhead by several inches.....that means water has to reach that level before it can drain back....otherwise the small amount always sits there.

 

[ocnslr]

It may be due to the distribution of weight, but our forward bilge has always been 'lower' than the aft bilge flat.

Water collects in the forward section, and is pumped out automatically as necessary. I pump it manually once in a while.

Water comes from the anchor locker and from the cup holder drains. No water leaks from any valves, fittings or thru-hulls.

When I wash down the aft bilge area, or when I wash the top of the fuel tank, the water always ends up in the forward bilge.

Brian

 

[ahill]

On my Sailfish the shower sump pump wiring had corroded to the point it fell apart. Fixed that.
I still get water in the bilge, I think it's coming from pie plates although I put new gaskets in not long ago.

 

[30marlin]

The previous owner of my boat has a post on this forum about water getting into the front bilge. He thought the side drawer at the walk around step was leaking.

After a heavy rain I can get 3 to 6 gallons of water in the front. Looking behind the holding tank I confirmed the water was not coming from the back.

Only checked for leaks once a rain storm. I pulled up all covers and pulled out the refrigerator. I confirmed the leak was not coming from anything off to the sides or any internal plumbing. I ran a drain camera through every open area that I could.

The rope locker at least for my model with the bow thruster has a drain tube that runs to the area under the cabin floor. So you will get water from the anchor line if you do a lot of anchoring. I could not see this good enough to see if water was dripping from the tube. I did find the area under the windlass to be wet but I could not see water dripping down. The support plate that runs fore and aft that supports the door has a large gap under it that water will enter. Also the gutter channel was notched out to fit the windless. Water may spill over the channel if it can not drain out fast enough to the sides.

I need to check this out further and seal the gap and pour water over the windless and see what happens.

 

[Hoghunter]

I had a Marlin and now have a 305 Express. They both get water in the forward bilge area at times. The first time I seen it in my Marlin I got concerned I had water hose leaks. Never found any leaks and never heard the water pump cycling which would indicate a leak.

In my opinion the water gets there from a couple of places. First the anchor locker drain and second can be the shower sump if you forget to turn on the pump when showering. The other way I think it can get there is if you have water in your rear bilge and then come to a sudden stop I think it can run forward into that area. Same thing holds when in heavy seas it will run forward.

Whatever it is it's obviously not from leaks of seawater etc. One thing I do if I want it outta there is just run the boat with the motors trimmed out and no tabs. That gets it to the back bilge rather quickly.

 

[saltypup]

There are numerous threads on this issue. Good Luck!
Copied from another thread

I'm having a very laborious time chasing a water leak also. Here's what I've come up with so far. Water is in forward bilge area which makes sense because that is the lowest part of the boat. I've identified the water entering from stern side of lower berth. (drain tube/bulkhead between lower berth and fuel tank). That's as far as I can chase it. Water seems to be freshwater and is worse after rain and wash. It seems to take a while to work its way down there though which is making it difficult to find. It's not like you can just wash an area and say "oh, it's coming from there." Sometimes it takes a day to rear its ugly head. I'm getting obsessed.

All obvious areas have been delt with
1. Cup holders drained to deck.
2. Deck plates recaulked and new o-rings.
2A. Deck covers recaulked
3. Freshwater hose fittings all checked(pump does not cycle).
4. Water heater
5. Cabin windows
6. Windlass area(some water will always get in here during washing and rain)
7. Drawers on step to cockpit from walkaround
8. Tackle box drawers and box itself.
9. Scuppers
10. Searched history on GG for other areas

Next attack will be rub rail. There are three possibilities here:

1. Cap to hull seam
2. Rivets and srews for cap to hull
3. Screws for rub rail to hull.
So far it seams that cap to hull screws and rivets have sealant and cap to hull seam is well sealed but it seams that there is no sealant in the screws that attach the rub rail to hull.(remove round insert in rub rail to see these). I think the water may settle at that low point on the rub rail at about the point where gunnel settles with the cockpit and gets in through the rub rail screws

Bow rail after that if needed. The bow rail does have bolts in areas that are NOT accessable. According to Grady, you would have to cut a hole and put a deck plate or if your able to get the bolts out then you could use some toggles for new bolts.

Any more ideas would be appreciated

Chris

 

[hangman1176]

Speedometer working properly? I had a leak which was traced down to the speedo tube. Broken near the bulkhead and leaking water in the forward bilge.

 

[BobP]

Is the FW water tank leaking down ?

Did you ever see the forward bilge pump sending out water via thru hull ?
How often and when?

When you are leaving the inlet and drop the hammers and the bow lifts, are you saying the water in the stern bilge does not rise? Have someone look while bow is raised before boat planes. If so, this has to be fixed.

Water should move all the way back freely to stern bilge (and visa versa).

You never can have all water dry in forward bilge since pump sits on raised pad, and float has to rise a bit to engage, otherwise it will go on and off constantly. So it may be much less than you think. What matters if pumps run to drain it then it is building.

If anyone has looked into their rear bige and has seen absolutely no water, it's only because it moved forwad, look again while bow rises on acceleration, it will rush in and be there, and the pump will go on and pump much of it out until boat starts to level.
What's left moves moves forward and looks like the rear bigle was hand dryed.

If you have any plastic thru hulls near or about water line, those are known culprits that crack and leak, before parting completely at the tube just inside the outer flange. Easy to spot in inspection, now that you know where to look!

Good luck.