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 

[Mike Brown]

You should be able to remove the fridge without too much trouble. Hopefully the freon tubing from the fridge to the compressor has enough flex to allow you to pull the unit out without disconnecting it from the unit. If you do you'll need to have someone with the proper tools and freon recharge it. Otherwise from what I've looked at it shouldn't be too much trouble.

[sam]

The fridge comes loose and can slide forward out of the mounting area (at least on my 2 cabin B43 model). There was sufficient length of piping that no fittings had to be removed.We did that when we needed to access the area around the freezer to add much insulation. We added over 20 cans of expandable foam. Drilled additional access holes on the forwrad panel behind the stove to gain access to the hull side of the freezer compartment. Now the freezer runs at 0 to 4 degrees F.

[sam]

I too have a leak , much as commented on here. I have finally tracked it down to the water heater. It seems to be leaking (not from a hose, seems to be a leak within the cover), so it is likely a true heater damage  leak. The water seeps along the bottom of the shell and finds its way across the wood to the top of the thwartship stringer in the pan immediately in front of the companionway steps. It pool,s then from there it weeps through the limber hole to the central sump area.

Kuuma / force 10 recommends a galvanic isolator, which I had not installed, so I now probably will. Should have sooner. Has anyone added galvanic isolator(s) to the shore-power feeds? If so, brands or recommendations?

So, looking to replace the water heater, and add isolation.

Sam

LONGHAWK hull #9, 2008

[Mike Brown]

Sam, do I understand you to say there's no water collecting in the bilge under the water heater? Instead it runs across the stinger and into the bilge at the bottom of the steps? BTW I have not installed an isolator. I'd be curious to see what you end up doing.

Mike

[Alan]

It appears that I have found my problem water leak.   After practically looking into every available space, I finally found a very small leak from the pressurized side of the fresh water system.  The leak was a drip from one of the clamps that would leak very slowly and only when the system was under pressure.  It did not leak when the pump was turned off or not enough to notice any problems.  To further complicate the discovery, when the hose leaked it was very slow and the water would drip into a gap.  The only way I managed to discover the leak was to follow the hose with my hand until I felt the hose and noticed a very slight wet spot on one of my fingers.   In this case the drip fell into a crack that separated the stringer and the wood that finished off the bottom of the settee next to the storage compartment behind the salon settee.   This was a tough one to find.  I'm not as limber as I use to be!

 

The boat is now dry and I hope this is the last of the small things that I need to deal with on a new boat.

 

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions

 

Alan

 

 

[Mike Brown]

Alan, glad to hear you found your leak. With all the plumbing and systems on board it can be tough to find the source. Good luck and have fun with her, she's a great boat.

Mike

[James Taylor]

Sam

Why do you think your water tank a victim of galvanic corrosion? Was your tank properly winterized during the winter months? Is winterizing necessary in your area? We had a leak in the area of the tank but it was one of the lines on the main water pump. The in-take hose was not properly seated in the pump and the "C:" clamp was not properly installed. Reset hose and "C" clamp, problem resolved.

James B43 #19 "RaJean"

[sam]

Happily, we live on the Gulf Coast and no winterizing  is needed.

At this point I am postulating corrosion, and have yet to confirm it. However, I have not been able to find any leak on or around any hose or connection. The water system hoses and equipment are all dry.

I will keep all posted as I learn / confirm.

I have decided to add a galvanic isolator in any case, as it seems prudent. It was standard on my previous boat.

Sam

LONGHAWK, B43, Hull #9

[Aquamarine]

Sam, I installed a PROSAFE FS60 GALVANIC ISOLATOR. It did make a huge difference in the amount of sacrificial zinc left at the end of the season….

.

[Mark and Karen]

No sure why galvanic action would have caused the leak,  but it is odd and I'm going to check ours as this is something I have not looked at.I think our leak is somewhere on the pressurized side of the system too.

I installed a GI which is not a hard job, have a look here http://www.yachtconosur.com/galvanic_isolator.html for what we did.

[sam]

Looks like a good choice. I have selected this one also.

As stated earlier, I am not yet sure what the cause is, but this seems like a prudent thing to do.

Sam

LONGHAWK,#9

[sam]

OK, I found the source of the leak on the water heater. After removing the unit from the boat I drilled out all of the pop rivets holding the external cover on to get to the the bits and pieces.The engine coolant enters and exits the water heater through what is essentially a tube. The tube is sealed against the barrel or vessel of the water heater somehow. It was leaking where the tube entered the water heater. Perhaps an amount of JB Weld or some super epoxy may have handled it, but I had already procured a replacement water heater so installed the new one. No leaks now. I have a bunch of fittings and heater element as spares now.

By the way, it is very hard to find an exact replacement for the water heater as most now do not have the temperature control valve. I wanted the temp control as I believe it is a safety thing to moderate the water temp.

I also went ahead and installed the 60 amp ProMariner failsafe isolator. Simple to do.