Help finding a small leak

[Alan]

I am a little frustrated these days.  As a new B43 owner, I've found two leaks that have resulted in a small amount of water in my bilge.  The first leak was easily found at the transom shower hand held nossel.  The repair amounted to just tightening the attachment hose nut that attaches to the shower nossel. Unfortunately, this did not stop the water in my bilge.   I later discovered the aft shower sump leak and I completely re-bedded the sump and it stopped leaking fresh water into my bilge.  Now I have a trickle of water coming from the aft of the boat and ending up in my bilge (about 1 cup).  I have looked everywhere but cannot determine the cause of the water leak.  It is definitely coming from the aft of the boat as you can see the wet path from the first compartment of the bilge in front of the stairwell leads to the second compartment where the bilge pump is located.  The water definitely does not come from any area forward of the bilge.

 

Unfortunately, you can't see the bottom of the boat once you remove the floor boards around the stairwell in the galley area as these are considered cool storage areas.  I have checked under the galley sink and the area under the settee that holds the water tank and related water lines.  I've checked in and under the aft head sink area and the lines and fittings are dry. 

 

 I don't need to be using any of the water systems on board ,run the engine or be underway to have the water trickle down and eventually find it's way into the bilge. This happens tied up at dockside. So it must be leaking from some fitting somewhere.  I have checked the aft lazzerette and it is dry.   The engine compartment is dry and the prop shaft area directly under where the prop shaft exits the boat is dry.  I've tried to look at the aft water tank but it is impossible to see anything under the tank but the fittings look to be ok.  The fridge and freezer are turned off and dry.  The only thing that I can think of is a water leak from one of the deck fittings ---any other ideas?

 

I think my next step is to get one of those small cameras on a pole

 

cheers

Alan 

[foster]

Hello,

Is it salt or fresh water ?

 

Denis

[Gavin White]

Greetings

I found a gap in the joint sealant between the deck and the hull on my boat in the aft quarter, so it might be worth having a close inspection of this detail on your boat.

Regards

Gavin

[James Taylor]

I too had a leak from the rear of our B43. Our boat has a condensate pump and filter for the rear heat pump. Condensate on our boat drains from the pan, down through a line, into the filter, then is pumped overboard by the external condensate pump. The filter housing had cracked over the winter and condensate was draining into the bilge at the filter housing. Replaced filter and housing and now have dry bilge. Hope this helps. Some B43's have condensate pumps in the pan but I would still check the rear condensate pump,filters' and discharge lines for leaks. This may explain why it only leaks at the dock, you are running you heat/ac system and creating condensate.

[James Taylor]

Tasting bilge water is not a good idea. Condensate is nasty stuff and ingesting condensate could make you very ill.

[Mike Brown]

Check the plumbing in the cabinet in the aft head. Water from under the cabinet can migrate to that area. I don't think it's your water tank as we had to have ours replaced and the water ran into the battery compartment but never made it to the bilge. Also consider using water colored with food dye to help isolate the problem. Selectively run the colored water through each source until you find the problem. The 43 has so many water systems that it can take some time to find the leak. Plus the hull liner hides much of it and can take some time for all of it to work it's way out. Don't be surprised that you don't find another leak and that eventually you clean it all up. Good luck.

[Alan]

Thank-you Gents,

 

I know this is more trial and error than any quick fix.   I appreciate your ideas and will look into the your suggestions.  

 

I do not know if it is saltwater or fresh for certain.   I don't have any other way to tell other than taste it.  Is there an easy test? 

[James Taylor]

I tasted mine, so far no disease (lol)!! It seems a lot of these boats salon shower base's require rebedding. Most of the plumbing piping is well put together and does not leak. if the leak is from above (deck) you should be able to see it when it rains or the boat is washed?. If it only leaks when at dock look at piping systems that are run only when you are at dock, ie ac system. If it leaks from rear, look at rear systems and deck fittings. There is a lot of piping that runs down the starboard side of the boat to the thru hulls at the rear of the boat (both showers and bilge in 1inch line, and rear deck hot and cold shower supply lines, but, you mentioned you only see the leak while at dock so I doubt if they are leaking. I agree with Mike, if you don't see water in battery compartment it's probably not the rear water tank leaking.

Good luck and trust me you will find it!

[Mark and Karen]

We have the same leak on our B43 too, ours is fresh water and we have not been able to trace it yet either. Looked in all the obvious places and water joints which are all dry.

Well puzzled

[foster]

Hello,

 

I have seen fresh water leaks that came from the water tank only when it was full by one of the plates or plumbing. They are hard to localize.

 

Denis

[Paul O' Kirwan]

Hi

 

I often have small amounts of water in the Bilge and have so far traced it to the following on the boat.

• Condensation from the A/C units.  Will often be in the drip tray and will only get to the bilge when the boat is heeled over when sailing.
• Overflow from the water tanks. If you fill right up to deck level it seems to escape through the top of the tank.
• Runoff from the fridge
• Small amounts from the stern gland on the propshaft.  (Mine has a seacock to shut this down if I am not using for long periods)

Regards

Paul

[Mike Brown]

Paul, you're right on the money with your list of water sources. Here's some comments from my experience.

The AC condensation hose is routed to the sump just forward of the bilge area and as you noted the water only makes it way to the sump if you heel or otherwise change the angle of the boat. I bought an extension hose and double ended nipple and now have the condensate routed directly into the sump. I ran the extra length of hose through the limber hole between the two compartments and have it sitting just above the sump. So far so good.

 

If your water tanks leak when you fill them to the top you need to have them replace your tank, it's leaking and shouldn't. Beneteau knows that some of the tanks were problematic and should replace under warranty as they did with my aft tank. I have also heard that some of the forward tanks leaked as well.

 

The fridge has a pump that will drain the water overboard. The switch is on the side panel to the right of the stove/oven. It's a chromed round push button. Any time we defrost the fridge we make sure we remember to run the pump.

 

My packing gland doesn't leak other than just after launch. I always make sure I burp any water out of it once we're launched in the spring and also lube the rubber bellows using the red plastic tool that was supplied with the boat. Failure to lube the bellows can cause it to wear and then eventually leak.

 

Mike

[Mark and Karen]

I was wondering about the fridge and/or cool box. I'm intending changing the cool box into a small freezer and this will mean removing the fridge to put in extra insulation so I will be able to check then.

Assuming I can take the fridge out and they haven't built the boat around it!!