Water in bilge??

J

jetlag

New Member
Jul 16, 2008
70
Seabrook, TX
Boat Info
44DB 2007
Engines
Cummins 425hp
I'm looking for someone that has had this experience. I have an '07 44DB that recently started having water in the cabin bilge. Thought it was a freshwater leak but found out today that it is seeping in through the rib that runs across the hull just under and near the aft of the freshwater holding tank. The thought is that it is taking on seawater in one of the many through hulls and migrating to this point before finding a place to seep into the bilge. We are in brackish water and I'm told that by the time it seeps through the fiberglass most of the salt is removed so it really has no salty taste. I know that I should test it with a chlorine strip and probably will if I need to. We filled the holding tank and marked the air bubbles up top so tomorrow I will know if anything came out of the holding tank or not. Not impressive I know but I'm wondering if anybody has dealt with this and what are the concerns. It is an '07 model that I bought new just less than 2 years ago. I don't have any reason to believe that Marine Max and/or Sea Ray won't stand behind this but I'm worried about long-term concerns. We are not in a freezing environment but I've read horror stories over the years about blisters, etc. causing saturation of the hull and delamination. I had her hauled about a month ago, pressure washed, and new zincs installed. She weighed in at the same 31,500 lbs as last year. Shortly after that is when I started noticing the water. Any help here?? I don't mind listening to opinions and suggestions from anybody but what I'm really looking for is somebody that has shared my experience personally. Thanks in advance.

Frank S.
2007 Sea Ray 44DB
 
i have a 2005 390 sundancer and had something similar happen. the cabin bilge filled with water . it turned out to be from the shower which drains into a box in the cabin bilge. when the box fills up the pump is supposed to come on and pump the shower drain water up and out of the side of the boat. however, my drain hose out of the boat became clogged and that kept the pump running until the fuse blew and then every time the shower came on it drained into the cabin bilge. i cleaned out the hose, tripped the fuse and got the pump working and all is fine.
 
Frank,
I just had my 2007 44DB in at MarineMax service for this exact problem. Turned out to be the rudders. Needed repacking.
 
Wow! Thanks. How long did she have to stay on the hard in order to drain the water? Or...did it just go into the aft bilge area from the rudder shafts? See, mine is entering into the actual hull, between the layers of fiberglass, and migrating through until it finds a pin hole in the resin and is able to empty into the bilge. In this case it is the mid-cabin bilge just in front of the washer/dryer unit. I'm not thrilled about this. The current thought is that one of the studs that the transome zinc mounts on may have turned a bit (during replacement at the haulout) and broke a seal allowing water to enter at that point. Thanks again.
 
I'm not an expert, but I'm thinking if this is coming "thru the actual hull, between the layers of fiberglass"...for your sake I hope not. There is no way in my mind that it could be the transome studs. Has the daler you bought from looked at your boat? If it was coming from the rudder posts, you would easily SEE the water coming out the top, so it can't be that.
 
So you're saying that a thorough visual inspection of all seacocks, rudders, shaft seals, and thru-hull transducers - all hull penetrations- shows no signs of leakage- all dry?
 
That is exactly right. No water entering through or around any of the through hulls. All are dry and any sawdust around any of these areas (which I'm sure SeaRay leaves here intentionally as a moisture indicator :smt001) shows no sign of ever being wet. The thought is that it is entering through one of the through hulls but not all the way into the bilge. Rather it is getting in between the layers and migrating around until it finds an exit point. In this case there is a pin hole in the mid cabin. I guess if it did not find a place to exit it would just fill every void until the boat either sank or it ran out of air pockets to fill. Anyway, I was hoping somebody else has seen this same thing. I'm quite sure it is very rare. Lucky me.
 
Yeah, see my post of today. It appears to be exactly that. The dealer, Marine Max, is working on it and planning to haul her next week. I have no reason to believe that either MM or SeaRay would not take care of it. I'm just concerned about long-term issues.
Thanks
 
Did you notice; is the water brown/discolored?

Does your hull have a balsa cored bottom?

If the answer to those questions is "yes", there would be justification to your concern about long term issues. If it's a cored bottom, and you've had moisture enter the core, you'll want to hire an independent surveyor to inspect and supervise repairs to protect your investment.
 
Does anybody know if Sea Ray is still using a balso core? My last two Carvers had no wood below the water line...supposedly. I guess it is important to know that because the balsa can swell up and damage the hull.
Thanks,
Jet Lag :smt013
 
Now am in salt water so it is a little easier to ascertain but it could be as simple as a fresh water line conection..... I have had leaks in the salon and in the e.r.
 
Definitely salt water. No freshwater leaks. Could not haul out today due to low water in the lake. Strong north winds last couple of days left a lot of our water out in the Gulf of Mexico. At any rate, a highly qualified and thorough surveyor spent about 8 hours with her today and is pretty sure that the water is getting into the port side main stringer from the bow thruster cross pipe. Not a big deal at all if this is the case. All the hull, stringers, stiffeners, etc. are dry with the exception of the forward section of that one and the hull area directly under the water tank where it appears to be seeping from the stringer into the bilge. Thanks for the help to all of you. After we haul and confirm, I'll post a follow up.
Jet Lag
 
For all of you that read and/or responded to this thread... we have found the culprit. The transducer was leaking due to a bad sealing at the factory. Water was migrating (not all the way through to the bilge) into the engine room bulkhead and port inner stringer then finding a weep hole and draining into the bilge. When the transducer was removed today water drained for about 20 minutes.
Thanks to everyone.

Jet Lag
 
OK! This is my final post on this subject. After removing and reinstalling 6 thru hulls and the trim tab mounting plates along with the transom zinc I still had water coming in. During the most recent haul out the techs noticed a soft, damp area at the bottom of the transom between the port side trim tab and prop. It turns out that underneath the bottom paint, so as to not be visible, there was a crack in the gelcoat. After further inspection it was determined that there was an air bubble between the gelcoat and the fiberglass hull. Apparently the gelcoat did not adhere to the hull during construction. Possibly due to poor prepping. At any rate, after running the boat for a couple of years a crack developed in the gelcoat which was allowing seawater to enter the hull and migrate throughout until it found entrance into the bilge area where it was again pumped out by the bilge pumps. This was only about a quart per day but was a real headache to locate. The area was dried for a couple of weeks, re-glassed, gelcoat and bottom paint applied and splashed. After a week I can safely say that all bilge areas are powder dry and it appears the problem has been resolved. Marine Max of Seabrook, TX and Sea Ray were outstanding throughout this project. A couple of pictures are attached.
Thanks to all,
Jet Lag
 

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