Bulkhead Sealing

[Svend]

I have a 1976 Trojan F30 Express

I almost had a sinking the other day

I noticed I have leaks down low in the BULKHEAD between the cabin and engine compartment ...
this let water that came into the engine compartment flow into cabin area that assisted sinking...

Should I seal this bulkhead 100% so that this flow can't happen...
Interested to get opinions from boaters with lots of boating experience on what they think and would do

Thanks in advance!

Svend

[prowlersfish]

At rest any water comes in flows forward to the front where the front bilge pump is . So no the bulk head is not sealed and has ways for water to flow. The question is how did the waster come in ? A leak ? Heavy rain ? Is the auto pump working ?

Hope there was little damage .

[Svend]

thanks for your thoughts...

the boat went down low enough to cover both engines!
the water went high into the cabin - ServePro Cleaners did a great job drying and cleaning inside... smells better than before! lol

After draining boat, and getting boat back to normal level at dock, I focused on engines. drained oil both engines, drained velvet drives, pulled plugs, dried out all ignition items, etc. Then cranked engines to get water out. lots came out (fresh water lake BTW!)

after several days, got both engines running!

so... what caused this... rubber hose off of SB engine got a 1" hole in it, pouring water into engine compartment while I was out on lake. Did not notice, and put back to dock. Next day, small amounts of water added to what was there, plus I had filled both gas tanks to top, creating more weight at rear. Then it lowered enough to let more water in, and then it really started sinking fast. Friend saw, and added some extra pumps in bilge. (my pump failed)

Not a fun experience, but as always, a great learning experience, and a chance to upgrade systems and add redundancy systems to lesson chances of it happening. (added a water level alarm, 110 DB. Added wifi enabled water level alarms that will text me if level goes to high. Added a brand new bilge pump with higher capacity, sealed off all places water can get in boat that are above water line, but low enough to cause an issue if boat level goes too low. etc...etc...)

Getting back to your reply... as far as I know, my boat has only had one bilge pump at the very back of boat, and all water seems to flow there per the design of the boat. If I poured a gallon of water on floor up near front of boat, it would flow down to boat stringers and make its way to stern and bilge pump.

My thought on bulk head was if i sealed it really well, any water in bilge (which i assume is most likely place to have incoming water) would stay back in engine compartment (and with pump), and boat would stay afloat longer since front of boat would have buoyancy ?!

Thoughts

[RWS]

On the International, the lowest point in the boat AT REST is the forward bilge, forward of the cabin bulkhead.

While on plane, it clearly is the aft bilge.

The engine room bilge is isolated

The keel allows water to flow from the forward bilge, back to the aft bilge, and vice-versa.

It is possible that the F series has that same keel flow characteristic.

There are many places for water to come in.

I located a small drip that must have been there for years at the shaft log.

NOT the shaft log tube, or the PYI dripless seal, but at the shaft log fiberglass to plate itself.

Another drip - or rather a seepage was found at a trim tab screw.

The detective work was done after adding a BILGE PUMP COUNTER to the forward bilge.

This was a valuable tool in determining WHERE the water was coming from - rainwater, seawater & process of elimination.

When she's not on the lift, with that BILGE PUMP COUNTER in place I can check the boat in the water - if there is no rain, that bilge pump counter says ZERO.

This is my confirmation that she has ZERO SEAWATER COMING IN.

If she is in the water for a few days, I always check that counter.

Looks like this:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bilge-Pump-C ... gK5dPD_BwE

Hope you are able to track down that leak(s) quickly

BEST !

RWS

[prowlersfish]

There should be a forward pump and water should flow forward as far as I know , the 10 meters engine room is lot different design then your F30

[BeaconMarineBob]

In 1976 there is a good change she had only one electric bilge pump. There would also be a hand bilge pump in the hanging locker.

We would suggest you put another electric automatic bilge pump in center of the boat use the hand bilge pump thru Hull for the plumbing of the water out.

She should have had two bilge pumps, but Trojan was just meeting the USCG requirement for that year which required only one.

I believe the next year there were two plus the hand pump.

Bob
Beacon Marine

[Svend]

great ideas... thanks for the various inputs and suggestions.

thanks as always to our great Trojan community

[prowlersfish]

X2 on adding a second pump or even 3 . Also when adding the Second pump put it on the other battery . I am surprised they may have only put 1 pump on some boats Dam Bean counters I would put it forward myself in the cabin I think mine was just a few feet shy of the v berth if I recall. When you lift the floor you will figure or the best spot .

[Svend]

thanks!! a second pump it is!!!

you guys are the best

happy fall 2020

[P-Dogg]

On my tricabin (which has pumps forward, middle and aft), there are "emergency" breakers at the bottom of the panel. If you turn off the DC mains, these will stay on. If you have those, that is where you should connect any new (or all of your) bilge pumps. Good luck!

Note also that I have my mid (engine room) pump switch wired to an external alarm. At rest, any water in the bilge runs forward, underway, physics takes over. Thus, my engine room pump should never turn on. If it does, there is a problem. I've seen tricabins with high-water alarms wired above the engine room stringers!