Cabin Bilge water issue

mrsrobinson said:
I don't know where I am in your cabin in this pic, the large box is your shower/AC and sometimes sink sump box. Is the bilge pump closer to bow or aft?
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IN the pic below pic 1 is looking toward the bow. The one furthest up front is where the bow thruster is. Then there 2 of them that the hoses run thru and excess water but rarely does water go thru there unless I am driving to boat and water comes from the one the bow thruster is in.
Now in pic 3 you are looking to the back of the boat. First you see the sump pump and then drops down and there is a bilge and float switch That one is nearest the rear of the boat.
So pic 1 is looking to the bow. Pic 2 and 3 I am in the center of the salon looking back toward the aft bedroom. So in pic 3 you see how it drops down. That is where the water is coming in from 2 side holes. Or one of the side holes.
 

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You say after you shop vac 3 gallons of water out it fills back up quickly. Have you sat there to watch to see where it's coming from? Starboard, Port, Aft? Or put a camera there and video it then watch the video later?
 
mrsrobinson said:
You say after you shop vac 3 gallons of water out it fills back up quickly. Have you sat there to watch to see where it's coming from? Starboard, Port, Aft? Or put a camera there and video it then watch the video later?
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Yes once I dump the 3 gallons and get back it has filled up about an inch. So Now I will reach back with my hand and feel where those holes are as they have to be coming from there. I just now saw them. Very hard to see but reached back and felt a hole on the port side near the back. So i will use camera phone and my hand to reach back. Instead of dumping right away I will watch it happen. OR when wife gets back let her help me out
 
Stpetelsu64 said:
I will look at that. But right now every DC breaker is turned off . I even have all the breakers turned off right now.
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It's the AUTO function you're looking at disabling. On some boats, the AUTO function of a bilge pump is via a fuse off one of the batteries. I'm not sure on your boat. Follow the wires off the batteries - the fuse will be close by (if it's there).
 
Just for clarity, those bilge areas sit on a floor of 3/4” marine plywood. The plywood covers a compartment that is inaccessible and usually has construction foam in it. The problem on older SRs is the inaccessible compartment fills with water to the point it starts leaking around the floor of the compartment or at a lower point. Once the foam is wet it acts like a sponge and it takes forever for water to leave the foam. That is why you continually have to vacuum it.

As to where the water is coming from…..that is always the hard part. Everything is in play from deck hatches to waterline fittings.
 
Again, I don't know your boat. Is your head/shower on the port side of the boat right there? Anything else system wise on the port side in that area, sinks, refrig, pumps, etc.? To rule out your fresh water system you can drain the system and turn your pump off at the panel. I can't think of any thru hull fittings that would be in that area.
 
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PlayDate said:
Just for clarity, those bilge areas sit on a floor of 3/4” marine plywood. The plywood covers a compartment that is inaccessible and usually has construction foam in it. The problem on older SRs is the inaccessible compartment fills with water to the point it starts leaking around the floor of the compartment or at a lower point. Once the foam is wet it acts like a sponge and it takes forever for water to leave the foam. That is why you continually have to vacuum it.

As to where the water is coming from…..that is always the hard part. Everything is in play from deck hatches to waterline fittings.
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Well as an answer to a few questions. I have attached a snapshot of a video. I leaned ov
PlayDate said:
Just for clarity, those bilge areas sit on a floor of 3/4” marine plywood. The plywood covers a compartment that is inaccessible and usually has construction foam in it. The problem on older SRs is the inaccessible compartment fills with water to the point it starts leaking around the floor of the compartment or at a lower point. Once the foam is wet it acts like a sponge and it takes forever for water to leave the foam. That is why you continually have to vacuum it.

As to where the water is coming from…..that is always the hard part. Everything is in play from deck hatches to waterline fittings.
Click to expand...

This may be the answer. I attached another pic with me leaning over looking toward the front of the boat. It is a snapshot of a video which wouldnt load. Anyway if you look to the left of this pic that is the starboard side. There is a hole above the "white " part you see. On the port side there is also a hole. I cant see water coming down from either. Where I do see water is right around the white in the photo. I am not sure if the white is torn fiberglass as I have found strands of fiberglass that has torn off. But that is a 2 inch by 2 inch or so size piece of intertwined fiberglass or maybe foam like you said. It seems the water is coming UP from that spot as I see movement right at that exact spot. But it stops after it gets to a 1.25 inches. However it seems to be loading slower now with water. I will keep wet vacing it out and see what happens

I am upside down looking toward the front of the boat making this video/pic. But it for sure seems to be bubbling up from that white spot
 

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mrsrobinson said:
Again, I don't know your boat. Is your head/shower on the port side of the boat right there? Anything else system wise on the port side in that area, sinks, refrig, pumps, etc.? To rule out your fresh water system you can drain the system and turn your pump off at the panel. I can't think of any thru hull fittings that would be in that area.
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That is going to have to be my next step. I am running out of time as far as the boat goes in for the battery charger replacements. The one for the regular starting and house batteries and the 24 volt for the bow thruster.

Now on the bow thruster compartment the paper towels so far tell me it is either coming from the bottom of maybe a hold in the tube the bow thruster it is in. STill working on it
 
Stpetelsu64 said:
Great idea and I cant tell you how many times I could have used it. Thx
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For a little more money they have one with a screen built in. For the few times I've use mine already I found if I had a good phone stand it would have helped to allow the use of both hands to manipulate the camera.
 
Little Ducky said:
For a little more money they have one with a screen built in. For the few times I've use mine already I found if I had a good phone stand it would have helped to allow the use of both hands to manipulate the camera.
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i like the one on the phone better, you can take videos or snapshots very easy. Phone stands are cheap enough...
 
The 2 new pics attached are of the white stringy fiberglass on the bottom of the pic I sent way back in the back of that bilge. I pulled it forward with a stick. Seems to be white on one side and brown on the other. Apparently it was the bottom part of the tray. But as you can see the white is just painted fiberglass. You can see the stringy like material which is hard like fiberglass. Once I get the camera I will see but it now looks like the water is running down the back part of this compartment. Hell I have no clue at this point where it is coming from

I laid it on top of the granite in the boat. So back to square one as to where it could be coming from
 

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Stpetelsu64 said:
The 2 new pics attached are of the white stringy fiberglass on the bottom of the pic I sent way back in the back of that bilge. I pulled it forward with a stick. Seems to be white on one side and brown on the other. Apparently it was the bottom part of the tray. But as you can see the white is just painted fiberglass. You can see the stringy like material which is hard like fiberglass. Once I get the camera I will see but it now looks like the water is running down the back part of this compartment. Hell I have no clue at this point where it is coming from

I laid it on top of the granite in the boat. So back to square one as to where it could be coming from
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Oh no! You did not pull that out!!!

I am kidding, I think that is typical and probably unrelated.
 
mrsrobinson said:
Oh no! You did not pull that out!!!

I am kidding, I think that is typical and probably unrelated.
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LOL no it came out when I pulled the stick back. I almost freaked out. But it was just coming off. It sure seams the water is running down the back wall. But it is an illusion probably. The water tank may be butted up agaisnt the back wall but cant say for sure. This section of the bilge is directly below the dash board area but below the seating area
 
Little Ducky said:
For a little more money they have one with a screen built in. For the few times I've use mine already I found if I had a good phone stand it would have helped to allow the use of both hands to manipulate the camera.
Click to expand...
Shaps said:
i like the one on the phone better, you can take videos or snapshots very easy. Phone stands are cheap enough...
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Plus the one posted is pretty high quality and also works with tablets for a much larger picture.
 
techmitch said:
Plus the one posted is pretty high quality and also works with tablets for a much larger picture.
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I just purchased it. It wont be here until I get back in town and pick up boat. But an update on the boat. After 3 more times wet vaccing the water out it is now sitting at a .5 inch. It has only been an hour but usually it rises quicker than that. The only thing different is I turned the seacock on my AC input. Tomorrow if it is still at half inch I will continue to vacuum out and it may be zero sooner or later. That would at least get it figured out although not solving the problem. But knowing what it is is better when I bring it in. Thanks to all who have helped so far. Not over yet but maybe maybe getting somewhere.
 
Stpetelsu64 said:
Well as an answer to a few questions. I have attached a snapshot of a video. I leaned ov


This may be the answer. I attached another pic with me leaning over looking toward the front of the boat. It is a snapshot of a video which wouldnt load. Anyway if you look to the left of this pic that is the starboard side. There is a hole above the "white " part you see. On the port side there is also a hole. I cant see water coming down from either. Where I do see water is right around the white in the photo. I am not sure if the white is torn fiberglass as I have found strands of fiberglass that has torn off. But that is a 2 inch by 2 inch or so size piece of intertwined fiberglass or maybe foam like you said. It seems the water is coming UP from that spot as I see movement right at that exact spot. But it stops after it gets to a 1.25 inches. However it seems to be loading slower now with water. I will keep wet vacing it out and see what happens

I am upside down looking toward the front of the boat making this video/pic. But it for sure seems to be bubbling up from that white spot
Click to expand...
Check out the floor access hole in this link http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/420-44-db-owners-club.39333/page-87#post-1101894
I did this on my 07 44 sedan and shop vacuumed nearly 30 gallons out
 
NorCalRobert said:
Check out the floor access hole in this link http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/420-44-db-owners-club.39333/page-87#post-1101894
I did this on my 07 44 sedan and shop vacuumed nearly 30 gallons out
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Wow that is crazy! I am vacuuming about 3-4 gallons and dumping it and then wait an hour or a day and it will be 3-4 more gallons. No matter how long I leave it I get 3-4 gallons.
Well just ran outside with my flashlight. And the water has not gotten above a little over a half inch now in the last 4 hours. Over the past 4 weeks it has been non stop several times a day doing the wet vac. Didnt matter if I did it or not the water stayed at 1.25 inches exactly. Well the only thing I have done different was one of the suggestions someone made about closing the AC seacock which I did. Even tho I had turned the AC off and breakers off he mentioned water could still come thru there. And I knew it was salt water.

So tomorrow I will wet vac over and over during the day and if what I see is any indication the problem may be solved. If so tho then there is a leak between the strainer and the AC. BEcause I have not used the AC

I am interested in reading thru the whole thread you sent. I saw the pic and wow is all I can say. I am pretty much a rookie mechanic wise. I can do only the basics. This forum has helped me so much as well as another one on cummins engines. Thanks for responding!
 
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