Water under aft cabin/bilge

L

leezard99

New Member
Aug 4, 2010
6
Ontario
Boat Info
300 Sundancer 1988
Engines
Twin 5.7 Mercs w/ Alpha I Drives
Hi Folks,

Hope you might have a few ideas/suggestions.

We launched our (new to us) 1988 Sea Ray Sundancer 300 last weekend. We purchased last fall and the boat had been in storage for 4 years, as the owner that had since 1991 was ill. We had a full survey done and everything came back great. I had bellows, shift cables, water pumps, and a number of other things replaced before it hit the water this year. I noticed this weekend that the bilge pump ran a few times and did not think much of it ( it was towed up to Lake Simcoe, Ontario, in the rain and sat for a few days on land, again in the rain, before going in) but the pumps kept running once or twice a day over the long weekend. I noticed that there was a small trickle of water under the aft cabin bed and we were using the water system for the first time too. Maybe an inch or two in the back bilge with engines.

With recent work and the fact that we have not even started the boat, sits in covered slip, I am thinking that it must be the water system. I believe I saw a post on here months ago that water under the aft was likely due to water tank - is that accurate? Any suggestions of how to validate this (food coluring?)?

Thanks very much for any suggestions you might have.

Lee
 
leezard99 said:
Hi Folks,

Hope you might have a few ideas/suggestions.

We launched our (new to us) 1988 Sea Ray Sundancer 300 last weekend. We purchased last fall and the boat had been in storage for 4 years, as the owner that had since 1991 was ill. We had a full survey done and everything came back great. I had bellows, shift cables, water pumps, and a number of other things replaced before it hit the water this year. I noticed this weekend that the bilge pump ran a few times and did not think much of it ( it was towed up to Lake Simcoe, Ontario, in the rain and sat for a few days on land, again in the rain, before going in) but the pumps kept running once or twice a day over the long weekend. I noticed that there was a small trickle of water under the aft cabin bed and we were using the water system for the first time too. Maybe an inch or two in the back bilge with engines.

With recent work and the fact that we have not even started the boat, sits in covered slip, I am thinking that it must be the water system. I believe I saw a post on here months ago that water under the aft was likely due to water tank - is that accurate? Any suggestions of how to validate this (food coluring?)?

Thanks very much for any suggestions you might have.

Lee
Click to expand...

Another vintage 300 on Lake Simcoe, nice. I am at Lake Simcoe Marina, it's on the west side, where are you?

Being in a covered slip and water in the bilge in the aft cabin could be from the water system or the sea cocks for the head or the AC. The sea cock for the head is under the cushion on the starboard side, that valve has a lever and a Tee handle at one end and a drain plug. You have to loosen the Tee handle to turn the lever to adjust the amount of water you want fed to the head. If you don't tighten the Tee handle you will get a slight leak from the valve. I took my valve apart 2 years ago as I though something was wrong with the valve but that is the design. The valve in the engine bay for the generator is the same design. If the water tank is leaking you would see water under the cushion on the port side in the aft cabin.

Ken
 
I have had issues with rain leaking in my windows, especially in the head. It runs down the wall and out thru the drain and into the cabin bilge. I had enough in it when i connected my bats. this spring to run my pump for about a minute. Rain can and does run into the main bilge thru the vents on the gunwale. A little baby powder dusted on the hull when its dry will reveal a trail to help you back trace a water leak.
 
Thanks, Ken! We are located at Lefroy.

I checked the sea cocks, but they both seemed to be fine and the water almost seemed to be coming from further forward as it was coming through the channel towards the bow. I will have a closer look this weekend to see if I can figure it out.

Have a great weekend.
 
leezard99 said:
Thanks, Ken! We are located at Lefroy.

I checked the sea cocks, but they both seemed to be fine and the water almost seemed to be coming from further forward as it was coming through the channel towards the bow. I will have a closer look this weekend to see if I can figure it out.

Have a great weekend.
Click to expand...

There are no underwater thru hulls towards the bow on your boat. If the bow sticks out past the roof then rain could be getting into the anchor locker and if it can't get out it will enter the front bow compartment and drain down the keel channel. The mirror at the head of the bed is screwed on by 2 screws the head of the screws are in the anchor locker (not very bright of someone).
How did they get your boat from the lift at the fuel dock to your slip without starting the boat? Did you boat sit at the fuel dock in the rain for any period of time? We have had a lot of rain. My future son-in-law use to work at your marina, he now works at the one I am at, just a mile away. They also lived in the house beside the office, was great in the summer but living there in the winter was different, rather secluded for them.

Ken

Ken
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I used a drill pump to drain out most of the water this weekend, just to see if it would fill back up. Unfortunately, we had to leave shortly after I got it done, so perhaps a repeat will be necessary this weekend. I will also definitely check the anchor locker - the front is out a little bit, but not sure if the rain would hit it. If I pulled the cushions from the v berth, I should be able see if its running in from there right? They did move the boat from the slip to the dock, not sure if it did sit out in the rain as I know they were trying to get it in quickly for me, but definitely a possibility, as it was really raining when we brought it up and the next few days were full of rain.

When I drove over to the gas docks this weekend, I noticed that the pump ran again, when I got back to the dock. It was my first time out with the boat ever - moving up to a 30 footer and running twins is quite different than the 21 footer we had before :) . I will try running this weekend when I get up again and if same thing happens will have to have them take a look as something must be leaking in the cooling system.

Thanks again for all the info, will be sure to keep you all updated.

Lee
 
Sorry Ken, forgot to mention the marina. We are really enjoying Lefroy so far, seems like great place with lots of friendly people. I saw the signs this past weekend as I was driving into Barrie for Lake Simcoe Marina... will have to drive by one of these days to check it out. Thanks again!
 
We don't have gas at our marina so we have to go to either Monta Reno or Lefroy. Today we headed over to Lefroy to got gas, Ryan and I talked about your boat, he said they did drive it to your slip when it arrived. The pool at your marina is being inspected tomorrow so it should be opened right after. I also have a very slight water leak that causes the bilge pump to come on for 2 seconds every so often. I will find this water leak in the next month if it kills me. I do have a underwater camera with a 200' cable that I will use in the bilge to help locate the leak, it could very well be rain water as my boat is in an open slip. If you are up this weekend call "Be Happy 2" on channel 16, if we are at the boat I will get back to you.

Ken
 
I just found what I belive is a Y pipe leaking behind the port motor. It was leaking last season, so when I had the drives off this year, we did bellows, gimbal bearing and a shift cable, thinking maybe the bellows was leaking. It looked like there may have been some water intrusion, but not bad. The transom assy is clean and tight , and the steering shaft does not apear to be leaking. I think I will pull it out of the water next week and pull the motor and have a look. My 268 had the same problem. When I pulled the engine on that, I found three of the bolts that hold the Y pipe to the transom assy had backed out quite a bit. I put in a new gasket and tightened everything up, and the problem was solved.
 
WOW Dave, are you ever going to get to use your boat this year? What will you use to pull the engine? I know it can be done in a few hours with the right equip. but having it where you need it can be a problem.
 
I just put the boat in Friday. We did get a great 4 day weekend, spent 3 nights on the boat rafted up to 6 other friends boats. I have the use of a really nice hydraulic trailer when needed. It is actually still sitting in my driveway! I also use a friends big garage which has a huge overhead gantry hoist that he uses for heavy excavating equipment maint. I am lucky, all of this equipment is only ten minutes away. Oh yea....The gennie quit at the end of the trip too. I pulled the electric fuel pump, bench tested it, and found it was bad. I ordered a replacement today, and it will be here by Friday. These old girls really kep ya busy!
 
Well it sounds like you have your bases covered on the maint. end so that should get you back in the water in short order. Good luck, hope its an easy fix.
 
Lee...I don't know if you've found the problem or not, but I had the same issue with water under the mid cabin. I found 2 problems. My water pump had a very fine
leak from around the diaphragm. I found the design of the water pump to be very poor, as it only has 2 screws that hold the diaphragm cover in place, allowing the water pressure to push the diaphragm out the side. Needs 2 more screws. The other problem was a leaky sea strainer located next to the sea cock. Rebuilt it and all is fine.
 
Lee, another design problem with the 80s 300 is when you hose off the deck in the aft cockpit, the water trickles in the hatch that is next to the helm seat in the port side deck. There is a drain in the channel, but if you spray it with the hose, it will go up under the hatch and leak into the locker, which then leaks down beside the water tank which is under there. Then it leaks down the side of the port side aft cabin wall, and then gets the corner of the aft cabin port cushion wet, and then down into the small bilge area. Most people with these, cant figure out the leakn because it is carpeted down in that storage locker and you would think it would be tight, but I had mine all apart and made a new floor section and painted it. Now when it leaks, there is no carpet to soak up the water and hide it. I can watch it leak plain as day. I am trying to come up with a way to gasket it somehow. Crappy design.
 
Thanks very much - I will take a closer look when I run the water to see if that is the culprit.
 
Hey Guys...

Thanks again for all the ideas, we're still trying to figure it out, but slowly and surly I am eliminating things. Another question, has anyone installed a table in in the cockpit, back at the bench seat? Have have the euro lounger, but have not put it in, just too big I think, but there is a small bench at the back and I think a table would be nice back there. I found a couple US suppliers, hoping to find something here in Canada to avoid duty, and I would really like to find something in teak to fit with the age of the boat. I was thinking it could be mounted on one of the engine hatches, but perhaps one with just 4 legs would be best.

Lee
 
88dancer300 said:
Lee, another design problem with the 80s 300 is when you hose off the deck in the aft cockpit, the water trickles in the hatch that is next to the helm seat in the port side deck. There is a drain in the channel, but if you spray it with the hose, it will go up under the hatch and leak into the locker, which then leaks down beside the water tank which is under there. Then it leaks down the side of the port side aft cabin wall, and then gets the corner of the aft cabin port cushion wet, and then down into the small bilge area. Most people with these, cant figure out the leakn because it is carpeted down in that storage locker and you would think it would be tight, but I had mine all apart and made a new floor section and painted it. Now when it leaks, there is no carpet to soak up the water and hide it. I can watch it leak plain as day. I am trying to come up with a way to gasket it somehow. Crappy design.
Click to expand...

So I was just on the boat today taking apart the wall in my aft cabin to find why the cushions are wet and I'm having the same issue with the hatch. Have you or anyone else found a solution to this problem?

Thanks,

Brian
 
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