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 

[David]

Hi  Just one more place to check for hard to find leaks:

Look at rear water tank, behind batteries and examine the small gap at the corner between plastic tank and white hull grid (the gap is only small but should be dry to bottom).

I had two leaks that showed up here.

a) Rear tank cracked around tied down but not visible.  It only leaked when tank filled to top of filler at deck level.  So only leaked while tank actually being filled to top.

b) Beneteau replaced rear tank, but new pipe fittings were sealed with grease (not sealant as per original fittings) and there was a small drip from outlet elbow.

If I had not, by chance, looked at the gap at the side of tank and seen water, I would never have known about the second leak, as it was small and drained to the stern gland area.

All leaks are now fixed - dry boat

I installed a Guest galvanic isolator which is, I think, a worth while addition if you use shore power. 

[James Taylor]

Alan you should also check the area under the main water manifold in the salon. I had a small leak there on the main water pump that required a little attention. There is a bilge area that feeds directly into the main bilge and there is an isolated bilge that will only feed into the main bilge when it over flows. To inspect, remove the salon seat cover  where hot water heater is located and use a flashlight to make sure both bilge's are dry.

We also had a leak in the rear of our B43 that came from a cracked external condensate pump filter for our rear heat/ac system. Check all around your heat/ac system to insure there are no leaks and try not to ingest condensate. Nasty stuff.

Did you give yourself enough time to allow all the water from the leaking nozzle to drain to the bilge? After fixing a leak that far from the main bilge it takes water in bilge quite some time to fully drain and dry.

James