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Message board > Care & maintenance > Bilge water mystery

Message 19 of 19
Posted by member Tim on Monday 21 June 2010

Graham Green - No. 2331 Graham, I have a similar problem with my Hardy 24 wherein the bulkhead between the anchor well and the cabin has rotted (GRP scratched and broken) and sea water coming in the drainage hole leaked into the cabin. Did you replace the entire bulkhead or did you just patch?

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Message 18 of 19
Posted by member Dominic And Nicola Gribbin on Sunday 26 April 2009

Only on very wet & bumpy passages our 1993 Pilot does accumulate a little water in the bilge/voids beneath both the wheel house and cabin (stub keel areas). They are all connected to the transom end of the vessel by small drain holes linking all the sub-cabin/wheelhouse sole moulding. If water is getting in via the transom lockers it will happily migrate to the voids that all the above contributers have been mentioning. The solution: An automatic bilge pump eg. Whale. Simple installation in the stub keel bilge (beneath inpection hatch). Its the lowest centre of gravity point and water will naturally settle here. Our pump although having to do very little pumping, has nonetheless been 100% reliable. Hope this helps.

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Message 17 of 19
Posted by member Dave on Friday 24 April 2009

I too am concerned as to where water is settling in the boat, bilges, as such, seem too have been forgotten in "modern" deign. There seems to be hidden voids between hull and internal mouldings, the Pilothouse is easy, everything drains into the well ubder the splashwell. The cabin is different, all under seat lockers are supposed to be draining back, foerpeak on mine is a seperate entity, forward cabin sole is full of bags of north sea sand (ballast)and everything drains to aft cabin well, but through the laminate? or, are the voids full! and overflowing with ingress of water, can I drill through the lowest point in the cabin, install a bilge pump and meet stagnant fresh water, or the hull and fresh air! please help, first Hardy, love her dearly, don't want the relationship to become expensive. Ragards dave

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Message 16 of 19
Posted by member William Abbott on Wednesday 22 August 2007

My 1995 Navigator has a similar problem, though not so badly. I think it is rainwater (tastes fresh) under the cockpit sole, and I remove it with a sponge. The 3 bungs in the well don't let any water out, but I don't know what they actually drain? Does anyone have access to a cross-sectional drawing of the Hardy hull which would possibly clarify the matter?

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Message 15 of 19
Posted by member Ken Colvin on Sunday 19 August 2007

A few years ago when I bought my 1990 Hardy Family Pilot, she use to let rainwater in, during the winter month everything down below was aways wet, just like Bill & Angus's vessels. I sealed up the window rubbers, stantions, fender ties, bow anchor roller, anchor locker, and the fender rope ties. and still the rain water would end up inside. I spoke to Hardy asking for advice but had allready done everthing they suggested, so the only thing left was the thick black rubber rubbing strip, (which Hardy told me 'very doubtfull if this was the cause') during the winter I removed the rubber strip, and found the filler between the hull to deck joint was in an awful state, mostly missing presumed rotted and what filler was left was soaking wet, some areas I could see light through. after a good clean and filler replacement, the rubbing strip replaced using large stainless selftappers, I now have a dry boat, not even damp during winter. Problem Solved.

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Message 14 of 19
Posted by member Greg Harvey on Thursday 26 July 2007

I own what i think is a Hardy 18 (that indecision is a bad start! Have only had it a year and am confused by the various type descriptions I've seen listed). In response to John, I have once allowed rain water to overfill the cockpit and enter the cabin, Having bailed it out there remained a very slow, but constant, creep of water from where the raised section of cabin sole (the step up between the berths). I eventually decided that water had entered that cabin sole boxed in area via the circular fitting (I think for a table leg - but don't have one). Having removed the fitting I have discovereed the boxed in area seems to be full of ballast (sand?). To speed the drying out/drainage, I have drilled a drain hole in the vertical wall of that section and, after giving it a few weeks to virtually stop flowing have now fitted a drain plug. I have also discovered that the centre under cockpit section, as you describe all three under cockpit sections have drain plugs into the stern sump,also appears to be full of what seems like sand. Ballast? I was initially taken a back by that (had somehow assumed it was a buoyancy space)and thought that the substance coming out of the drain with the water was broken down buoyancy material, but I guess that in the absence of any weighted keel that some form of ballast was needed? Or has this been added? Greg

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Message 13 of 19
Posted by member John Lancaster on Monday 23 July 2007

I have similar problems with my Hardy 18. Water appears in the central well of the cabin and runs in through the laminate at the bottom of the starboard cupboard fitment. The inside of the cupboard is dry, so there must be a void between the cupboard and the hull, but doesn't seem to have any outlet to a drainable bilge. The cockpit deck drains into a stern sump with 3 bilge inlets to it, central, port & starboard and I have an automatic bilge pump in the sump, but none of those bilge drain outlets drain the area under the cupboard, I think they must only drain bilges under the cockpit floor. There seems no rhyme or reason to how and when water gets into the central cabin well, as I have checked for all obvious above deck leaks. Once it's emptied I can get more water to run out through the laminate by healing the boat to starboard and several more pints can run out that way, so I assume it's somehow getting under the cabin section where the table mount is located, but I can't remove the table mount to check. If anybody can help with the layout of bilges in the vessel I would be truly grateful. Regards John

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Message 12 of 19
Posted by member Graham Green on Saturday 5 May 2007

I have traced my water leak to the Anchor well, water lying on the lid lip seeps under the deck and is then absorbed by the forward bulkhead (which had eventually broken down between the GRP laminates on either side of the bulkhead and then found its way into the bilge. I have also discovered that the window rubber insert contracts in winter allowing water ingress which can be absorbed by foam back linings and distributed to other parts of the vessel. Regards Graham G

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Message 11 of 19
Posted by member Dominic And Nicola Gribbin on Monday 30 April 2007

Have you checked the rubber window seals adjacent to the bunk? Look for stains on upholstery especially and taste the water to see if its fresh or salt? It may be slowly filling from a weeping seal. We had such a problem with mystery water filling the cubby hole beneath the port seat. Failing that, any leaking window seal could be quietly causing such a problem. Regards Dominic and Nicola

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Message 10 of 19
Posted by member Bill Wallace on Saturday 28 April 2007

I have a navigator and every winter under the starboard side bunk fills with fresh water. I have tried to trace it and have failed. It seems to come from the back of the sink unit (but not from water in the sink). The Navigator has no stanchons but would seem to have the same problem as the Pilot. I pump manually every 2 to 3 weeks during the winter months. I have no problems in the summer. The boat is berthed in the same pontoon summer nad winter. Pump seems to be the answer.

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Message 9 of 19
Posted by member Brian Bartlett on Tuesday 20 March 2007

When I had a Navigator and then a Pilot I found that each of three floor sections had a small bung at the aft end of the cockpt floor. The inspection hatch - say 6'' dia - and a mirror on a stick from the auto gadgets shop plus a torch is a good routine.

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Message 8 of 19
Posted by member Angus Cameron on Saturday 13 January 2007

Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to write. Much appreciated. I will have a go at fitting the bilge pump and examining the stanchion fittings on the bulwarks, now I know what they are :)

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Message 7 of 19
Posted by member Angus Geddes on Thursday 11 January 2007

we Angus's must stick together as a rare breed. Aonghas's are even rarer. My Pilot 1992 model has a keel and i have an 4'' access hatch at the aft end just in front of the 'well' in the stern. that is where i put the pump, but useing a mirror i discovered that the entire keel is hollow under the cabin floor and so could concievably hold a fair few gallons. The hull itself is only accessable under the cabin bunks as far as the bunk sides, thus the cabin has a false floor with a void under it. ie a bilge. the space under the cockpit floor is also part of this space. I think there are some limber holes somewhere which must be how the water gets down into the bilge. The pump and float switch just fits in the keel. I think there is a thread somewhere on the website with more about this.

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Message 6 of 19
Posted by member Stephen Pickthall on Wednesday 10 January 2007

Try the anchor locker as well . These can be prone to allowing water to come in. Other than that am afraid it is trial and error and you may need to lift the boat out of the water and try the process in reverse to find the point where the water is coming in. I.e fill the bilges with water and see if it flows out anywhere

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Message 5 of 19
Posted by member Angus Cameon on Wednesday 10 January 2007

Just wanted to Thank John and Angus (good choice of name by the way). My thoughts are that the bilges are in discrete sections so I'm not sure how water would get from the stern to the mid section bilges? Is this possible? I have now bought a pump. The canopy does not fit very well but wont this just affect the back of the boat? Again there seems to be no connection between the open cabin and the fore cabin? Just to demonstrate complete ignorance, whats a stanchion and when I Googled bulwarks, I wasnt any clearer on where they were either?

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Message 4 of 19
Posted by member John on Wednesday 10 January 2007

Well bulwarks is a name for the raised section around the edge of the deck. The stanchions are the usually stainless steel poles holding up the guard wires or rails. On some Hardy's they are attached using a metal plate by two bolts through the top of the bulwarks, with the nuts on the inside of the hull. If the stachions have been strained the plate can lift a little and let water in through the bolt holes. The amount may not not be very much, but it did happen on my boat and took a little while to find. Just loosen and reseal with silicon.

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Message 3 of 19
Posted by member Angus Geddes on Tuesday 9 January 2007

you should fit a bilge pump with auto switch in the keel section which would seem to be important on your pilot at the moment. Water may be getting in through the canopy, especially in heavy windy rainy weather, clearly it is important to sort out where it comes from. Rain can ingress through the zipped sections or indeed if the canopy is even slighty misalined in heavy rain some will get in,. On my boat it tends to pool at the point the canopy is poppered onto the side deck. I assume that the bung in the stern is OK?

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Message 2 of 19
Posted by member Angus Cameron on Monday 8 January 2007

Hi, I have a 20 foot family pilot moored on the Thames. The bilges get very full of water and overflow, especially the large middle section, though the front section does too. I have deluged the outside with water but cant see anything obvious through the raisable hatch, windows, sun roof or canopy. It does seem to have just happened since the rainy weather, and the hull hasnt had any trauma. I cant see where on earth it is coming in, head and side linings are dryish (Its very damp inside now with the bilges overflowing) and there are no water tracks. The carpet in the canopied rear cabin is also wet. My question is...any ideas where the water is coming from? has anyone else had this? what about fitting a bilge pump? I read about keel bolts? where are they? is this a problem? is there a natural porosity of fibreglass or is this a distinct solveable problem. The boat is 20 years old. Thanks for any help!

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Message 1 of 19
Posted by member John on Monday 8 January 2007

Do you have stanchions bolted through the edge of the bulwarks. If they are not properly sealed water can get under these and thence into the hull.

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