Full Bilge This Weekend CD32

[Brad Meilink]

After a fantastic sail across the bay in 20+ kts on Saturday I checked the bilge for any surprises. Boy was I surprised! The bilge was about 2/3 full. That had never happened before. I pumped it out and kept an eye on it the rest of the weekend. No more water.

I've been stewing on this for a couple of days now and have only one guess (at this point) of where this water came from. Magdelana is a CD32 with water tankage overflow directed into the bilge. Yes, I topped of the tanks the time I was out. Sound plausible?

The only thing throwing a wrench into my theory is that my #1 battery was dead after leaving it 'on' so the bilge pump would have power in my absence. My theory there is that I have a 'real' problem un-related to the bilge, but connected to a short to ground somewhere letting the battery drain over the 3 weeks I was absent.

Anyone else have another guess? Had similiar problems? I'm new to the fleet and can use all the help you all willing to give!

Thanks,

Brad



bmeilink@shentel.net

[Jon Larson]

Brad, I had a friend who had a tartan that would develop a siphon through the bilge pump. It is quite possible that the pump came on for whatever reason, once the pump and hoses were filled, and while you were sailing with the bilge pump outlet submerged, water flowed in through sipon action, and was pumped out while the battery lasted, and then siponed back in once the battery was exhausted.

Jon Larson
Cape Dory 30 PERI
San Francisco Bay

After a fantastic sail across the bay in 20+ kts on Saturday I checked the bilge for any surprises. Boy was I surprised! The bilge was about 2/3 full. That had never happened before. I pumped it out and kept an eye on it the rest of the weekend. No more water.

I've been stewing on this for a couple of days now and have only one guess (at this point) of where this water came from. Magdelana is a CD32 with water tankage overflow directed into the bilge. Yes, I topped of the tanks the time I was out. Sound plausible?

The only thing throwing a wrench into my theory is that my #1 battery was dead after leaving it 'on' so the bilge pump would have power in my absence. My theory there is that I have a 'real' problem un-related to the bilge, but connected to a short to ground somewhere letting the battery drain over the 3 weeks I was absent.

Anyone else have another guess? Had similiar problems? I'm new to the fleet and can use all the help you all willing to give!

Thanks,

Brad

jon9@ix.netcom.com

[Ed Haley]

The water in the bilge could have came from a number of places: a siphon was suggested from the bilge pump, maybe a siphon from the head if you've got an plugged antisiphon valve or if you leave the head lever in the up position, transmission in neutral while sailing can cause the prop to turn and the stuffing box to leak, leaking plumbing from water fill lines to fresh water tanks. Best guess is to go sailing again repeating everything and watch for water.




eghaley@dreamscape.com

[Derek Hillen]

Brad,

Was the water in your bilge fresh or salt? I had the same problem when I bought Galileo, a CD33. Turned out the water had leaked out of the V-berth water tank which had a crack in it. 24 gals of water in the bilge was a surprise to me also. I tasted it (really) but the bilge was so dirty I couldn't tell if it was fresh water, salt water or horse blood. I keep my bilge clean now!

Good luck.

Derek
"Galileo"

After a fantastic sail across the bay in 20+ kts on Saturday I checked the bilge for any surprises. Boy was I surprised! The bilge was about 2/3 full. That had never happened before. I pumped it out and kept an eye on it the rest of the weekend. No more water.

I've been stewing on this for a couple of days now and have only one guess (at this point) of where this water came from. Magdelana is a CD32 with water tankage overflow directed into the bilge. Yes, I topped of the tanks the time I was out. Sound plausible?

The only thing throwing a wrench into my theory is that my #1 battery was dead after leaving it 'on' so the bilge pump would have power in my absence. My theory there is that I have a 'real' problem un-related to the bilge, but connected to a short to ground somewhere letting the battery drain over the 3 weeks I was absent.

Anyone else have another guess? Had similiar problems? I'm new to the fleet and can use all the help you all willing to give!

Thanks,

Brad

galileo98@hotmail.com

[Catherine Monaghan]

Brad,

The bow tank in our CD32 also leaks but it has never completely emptied into the bilge. It has only added a couple of inches of water to the bilge. It's not really the tank the leaks on REALIZATION, but the fitting -- not the overflow, the outlet. It's not really sealed, the copper tubing pretty much just sticks through the tank. My husband is trying to figure out how to seal it.

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 Realization
Raritan Bay

After a fantastic sail across the bay in 20+ kts on Saturday I checked the bilge for any surprises. Boy was I surprised! The bilge was about 2/3 full. That had never happened before. I pumped it out and kept an eye on it the rest of the weekend. No more water.

I've been stewing on this for a couple of days now and have only one guess (at this point) of where this water came from. Magdelana is a CD32 with water tankage overflow directed into the bilge. Yes, I topped of the tanks the time I was out. Sound plausible?

The only thing throwing a wrench into my theory is that my #1 battery was dead after leaving it 'on' so the bilge pump would have power in my absence. My theory there is that I have a 'real' problem un-related to the bilge, but connected to a short to ground somewhere letting the battery drain over the 3 weeks I was absent.

Anyone else have another guess? Had similiar problems? I'm new to the fleet and can use all the help you all willing to give!

Thanks,

Brad

catherine_monaghan@merck.com

[Jonathan Erb]

I had practically the identical symptoms on my Cape Dory 31. Except, its not the head because my thrull hull was closed. It has never happened before and I have heeled over plenty.

Was your holding tank very full? My holding tank might have been. It is connected to the same discharge as my bilge pump. I think maybe I heeled over and then it backflowed into the bilge, created a suction and siphoned the tank into the bilge. Or else, there was a suction with the bilge pump discharge and it backflowed, which is worrisome. I will look into a check valve. Good luck.



jhe@slip.net