F-32, Water forward of engine room bulkhead

[62jpod]

Has anyone encountered water which gets trapped in this area below the galley floor? There is no hole in the engine room bulkhead for the water to pass to stern. The bow never gets low enough for it to bilge there. If so, how have you dealt with it? (other than a wet vac

[mikeandanne]

A question---- do you not have a forward bilge pump under the floor in the v berth?---as our old 78 has one forward and aft , with all the bilges connected together from the factory and the boat at rest sits with the forward bilge down---- so not sure about the 88, does your boat sit stern low? ----- Mike

[captainmaniac]

F32s tend to sit 'bow down', so water tends to flow forward. You r forward bilge pump should be able to deal with that (lift the hatch in the step before the V-berth to find the forward pump). Having said that, there should be a limber hole in the main bulkhead between the engine compartment and forward cabin. If it is there and clogged, unclog it. If a PO had sealed it up, re-open it. Water should be free to flow forward and aft. When sitting at rest, the F32 is bow down and the forward pump will get rid of whatever comes in. When underway, water should flow aft and the aft bilge pump should get rid of it.

[prowlersfish]

Capt M is 100% correct

[62jpod]

Thanks to all of you!
Yes, I have the three bilge pump set up as you all mentioned and it should suffice. However, when at rest, the bow bilge will only pump out so much. It will leave a layer of water that stretches from just rear of that bilge to the engine room bulkhead. If I jump into the v-birth, water rushes forward of course and more pumps out ... but there is always a few gallons left. When underway I think the water backs up against the ER bulkhead and doesn't make it out the rear pump. It then seeps rearward at rest and she is always wet amidships.

The ER bulkhead looks original and I do not see a cut out such as those in the bulkheads forward of that. I was thinking of cutting a hole to let the water pass rearward if needed, but how to protect the wood from rot once I cut ... use a fairing of some kind? I was also thinking of a 4th bilge pump but I want to keep this simple. I could also create a hatch and just wet vac

I could post pics for you to see if I knew how to do it. I've got the floor torn up for replacement right now so I have many options. The floor rotted due to this water problem I'm sure. I'm going to bleach out the mold, paint the bilge and put down a new floor but I need to solve this problem first.
Thanks
John

[mikeandanne]

Just a thought---- our forward pump will only pump it down so far as well , but what is left is more forward than yours by the sounds of things---- maybe you could build up the level of the bilge sloping from bulkhead forward with fairing compound leaving it lower around the pump if you get my drift---- that might help, I believe there are some pumps that are designed to pump from the vee in the bilge better--- just some ideas---- Mike

[comodave]

First, why is there water in the forward section if the engine room bulkhead is closed off? That would be the first thing to look at. I would find the source of the water and stop it. Then you do not have much of a problem with pumping the occasional water out of the forward area. Most of the bilge water in my boat comes from the shuffing boxes. I glassed my engine room bulkhead closed for that reason. When I bought the boat it had sludge all the way forward to the vee berth area. Any oil leak will flow all the way forward and be much more of a mess with a limber hole in the engine room bulkhead. That is why they generally do not put limber holes in the engine room bulkheads anymore. Not only will oil flow forward, but if you have a gas leak the gas will flow forward also. Had that happen on my day's boat. It was brutal cleaning up the spilled gas. There are no blowers to ventilate the area forward of the engine room bulkhead. I would rather have any mess contained in the engine room and just have to clean up that area.

By having the limber hole closed up it does require at least 3 bilge pumps. But I like to have lots of pumping capacity. I will actually have 4 pumps in my 32. Also, if I were to have catastrophic flooding, having the limber hole in the engine room bulkhead closed will stop the spread of water at least for a while so that I can work the issue.

Does your bulkhead look like it came that way from the factory? My limber holes were not actually a hole, but rather an arch type of opening that was about 6" wide and about 1 to 2" high. Maybe Trojan changed the way they built the boat over time. Most boats now do not have open bilges from the engine room due to pollution concerns.

The water forward might be coming up from the hollow keel... That is another issue.

[62jpod]

Yes, I was concerned about oily / fuel water moving forward of the bulkhead as well. Yes the limber holes are there as you describe forward of and except for the ER bulkhead ... which looks like it is original (paint / condition etc...)

There are thru hull fittings for the old macerator pump out and HVAC seacocks in the forward bilge area. Perhaps hey are leaking. I will need to trace this (somehow?). I am not familiar with the hollow keel issue. I do not see the top of my keel open to the bilge if that is what you mean. It is glassed over.

If I were to try the fairing compound idea it looks like I would need to build up with about 3 inches at the bulkhead and smooth it forward. I am hoping there is a simpler solution but that could work.

[comodave]

There has been lots of discussion on the hollow keel topic. Do a search on it and you will find lots of opinions.

[mikeandanne]

Yea a build up of three inches would be a bit much-----I was only thinking in the area of 1/2" at the bulkhead----- nothing it seems is ever easy with these old boats,probably leaking from those fittings you mentioned----- Good luck

[Commissionpoint]

The water in the forward compartment will never all go away due to the nature of bilge pumps in general, but I agree that if you have water all the way back to the bulkhead after pumping something better could probably be arranged. Stock pump for that design is a Lovett 900. I am not sure if the design of that model was selected because it works best in that situation or not, but its worth checking into I think. I get left with about an inch and a half of water after pumping the forward compartment. It certainly does not extend back much farther than the v-berth area due to the mentioned forward cant of these boats at rest. I am not sure how many degrees forward it actually sits at rest, but if somebody had that figure, you could compare to your own situation.

Is your forward pump not flush with the bottom of the hull? Do you have a whole bunch of heavy gear stored under the cockpit deck? Not enough beer stored under the v-berth???

[captainmaniac]

Is your forward pump not flush with the bottom of the hull? Do you have a whole bunch of heavy gear stored under the cockpit deck? Not enough beer stored under the v-berth???

Because of the "V" shape forward, there is often a small pad installed like a 'bridge' (with gap under it for water to flow), to provide a flat surface to mount the pump and float switch. Because of this, the pump actually sits about an inch above the actual bottom. I have some pics of my setup, but they don't really show the pad that well. This one is probably the best I have. The edge of the pad is more visible at the top of the picture, where the un-glassed forward end of the wood is exposed...

Fwd Bilge Pump 3.jpg (146.77 KiB) Viewed 7715 times

[Commissionpoint]

I see your little wood 'ledge' there CM. I am sure I have something like that as well. Can't really recall off the top of my head though what exactly it looks like. I really have no problems in this department, so I generally just take a quick look at things once in awhile just to make sure nothing looks out of whack. I know Nancy had the original Lovett sent out to the factory for a rebuild, so I would imagine my setup is still close to bone stock.

I can snap some pics too I suppose. I hauled last week, and have to go over this week to reblock and cover. Another thing to consider is that its still very hard to get every drop of water out of the hull on the hard because of the way the drain plug is positioned in that area. The keel plug installed by the PO really helps me in that department, and thats why I reblock after a week or so of having it nose down when I haul.

[captainmaniac]

When the marina hauls mine they get most of the water out when they lift it - the purposely lift it bow down and as they are lifting the bilge pump kicks in.

Once it is blocked up I just use a $5 siphon to get the reset out of the hollow keel - I have to add a few feet of hose to the stock siphon 6' hose, but basically stick the hose up through the forward drain plug, run the hose aft into an opening in the hollow keel, give the bellows a few pumps, and a few minutes later its as dry as it needs to be for winter.

[Commissionpoint]

Cool way to get it done CM. I get hauled up a ramp on a hydraulic trailer and set on blocks, so the time from haul to blocks is literally minutes, thats why I ask them to block it forward until I can get over there to cover it. The handy keel plug takes care of the rest.