Leaking Through-hulls for engine cooling

mhandley · Post by **mhandley** » Sat May 21, 2011 12:13 am

I just bought a 1985 10meter convertible and she's real nice.

I need a tip on two things though:

1) The through hulls for the engine cooling, or maybe the transducers are leaking. These are the areas outboard of the stringers in the engine bay.

I noticed a lot of bilge in there, so I thought it was just trapped, and the bottom has yucky stuff on it from the water. So I used a bilge pump i bought a Walmart to pump out each side into te bilge. Then I noticed that the holding tank is full of water. Pumped that out too.

It has become apparant that the through hulls leak slowly, and the water overflowed into the holding tank. Had it gotten any worse it would have gone into the bilge, so I'm not worried about her sinking just yet.

I'm asking for suggestions, tips on this problem. I am thinking that temporarily I'll put a bilge pump in each side and empty the water into the bilge for the main pump to send out the bilge pump scupper.

If this isn't a big deal, I can wait til November to get it fixed. Its obviously been a problem for a while.

Any hints where to go with this?

Also, should I replace the Mansfield level sensor, or just put a cap with a window on that hatch in the holding tank? If replace - where can I get one?

pk · Post by pk » Sat May 21, 2011 4:16 am

Hi! The best thing is to take her out of water, and fix the problem from there. But is it the valve leaking in the flange trough hull, or is it the valve itself leaking? You know you can stop leaking valves just with retighten them.....

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sat May 21, 2011 6:53 am

"It has become apparent that the through hulls leak slowly, and the water overflowed into the holding tank. Had it gotten any worse it would have gone into the bilge, so I'm not worried about her sinking just yet. "

What your saying is the valve for pumping out the tank won't close and the the holding tank fills up ? if thats the case the valve should be replaced or repaired. you could plug the line as a temporary fix . remember its illegal to pump out over board anyway unless you off shore in the ocean .

How is the waste getting in to the bilge ? it should not is the valve leaking externally also ? if the thank was just over flowing it should not go in to the bilge it should go out the vent .

Or ?

rereading your post your post are you saying the engine thru hulls are leaking filling the engine area and over flowing into the holding tank ?
1) you may plugged up scuppers in the engine area
2) you need to fix the leaks
3) it should be imposable to fill the holding tank this way unless to has a opening in it and that needs to be fixed ASAP

There is no way I could use a boat with a leaking holding tank .

If it was mine I would address all the issues right away

k9th · Post by **k9th** » Sat May 21, 2011 6:59 am

Welcome to the forum

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Sat May 21, 2011 10:24 am

Welcome to the forum, I agree with prowlerfish, I recommend pulling the boat right away and fixing these problems. Any leaking thru-hull could get worse at any time, when you least expect it.

Torcan · Post by **Torcan** » Sat May 21, 2011 10:37 am

wowzer52 wrote:Welcome to the forum, I agree with prowlerfish, I recommend pulling the boat right away and fixing these problems. Any leaking thru-hull could get worse at any time, when you least expect it.

I agree
enough pressure and Kapow, full fledged torrent out in the middle of a Lake would not be good.
I believe that the reason this one sank at our club was a through hull that gave way, and it wasn't even out on the water
If this pic doesn't convince you, nothing will
And BTW
Welcome to the forum!!

davescarrs · Post by **davescarrs** » Sat May 21, 2011 1:17 pm

Not sure what you are referring to in regards of the holding tank filling up from water leaking into the bilge.. etc. However, i had an ongoing problem with water appearing in bilge from an unknown source. After much fretting and inspecting and many hypothesis (fresh water tank leak, etc) I found a small slow leak in the strut area where the backing plate rested against the interior side of the hull. I pulled boat, refastened with fresh application of 3M 4200 and no more leak.

pk · Post by pk » Sat May 21, 2011 4:05 pm

I discovered a leak yesterday. I was filling up my freshwater tank. After five hours I found the bilge aft in the boat was flooding.

Funny.... But boat is safe on the hard, no water outside the hull. A quick inspection discovered a leak in the outlet from the freshwater tank. I had just changed the pipe / hose leading to freshwater pump, without discover the bad outlet. Now itÂ´s fixed.......

mhandley · Post by **mhandley** » Tue May 31, 2011 5:26 pm

Thanks for your words of advice.

But...

The guy I bought the boat from told me the bilge under the engines was from leaky through hulls.

Actually, he did not have any seal around the gunwhale. It seems that rain water was weeping in and collecting in the bilges!!

Pretty unbelievable but true. We have had a hell of a rainy spring so far this year.

Anyhow, now that the gunwhale is sealed, the bilges are dry as a bone on one side, and pretty dang dry on the other. I have some more stuff to seal up - I'm sure its just rain water coming in.

Thanks again...

Trojan Boat Forum

Leaking Through-hulls for engine cooling

Leaking Through-hulls for engine cooling

Thanks but...