Leak?

[flyn2001]

Ok...here is the situation that has me baffled right now.

I just changed the packing on my boat.  Seems that everthing is working fine.  I have checked it on a few occassions and I have no drip!  For the most part, I can't even back off the jam nut and make it leak (is this bad?).  I followed the instructions to a "T" and really didn't have any road blocks during the maintenance, I thought I was supposed to get like 1 drip/5 sec.  Anyhow, I have noticed that my bilge is coming on quite a bit lately!  This led me to believe my packing needed to be tightened, but upon inspection, no drip!  I did notice a very small stream off water on the bottom of the boat.  (I couldn't even tell it was moving until I put a tiny piece of carpet fiber in it and saw it move from the back of the boat towards the front.)  If I had to guess, I would say the water APPEARS to be coming from even further in the back of the boat.  Is there anything back there that I should check?  The drain plug is on tight!  I think I will check my ballast bag (X22) in the back to be sure it isn't leaking or something.  Could there be another point of interest? i.e. Rudder area or exhaust area?  Thanks for any help.

[bullet1w]

I had a similar issue and discovered that one of the water hoses running to the engine was not on tight.  I couldn't see anything unusual unless the motor was running.  With the engine running I could see water flowing out at the end of the hose.  I reseated the hose and tightened the hose clamp and problem solved.  It might be worth checking out before looking into other possibilities.

[flyn2001]

Will do.  My boat is a DD and it seems that the water is coming from the back of the boat, then towards the motor .  Although, maybe the water was being drawn towards the bilge pump and not flowing towards it.  Good point though, I will inspect!

[epic_toy]

Do you have a shower? I found out early on if I leave the valves open on it, a lot of water will come out when the engine is running at speed, even with the electric switch off. That goes for any of the hoses. Inspect them all with the engine at cruising rpm since the pressure goes up.

Other thought, have you looked at the shaft packing while underway or just in neutral?

[phenom_1819]

Flyn, are you still running your stock ballast bag?  We have the exact same boat from the same year (heck, even the same color).  I chased the source of the exact same leak you just described for the entire summer of '06.  Mine was combination of the dealership not reconnecting the shower hoses at the control unit after they removed and re-installed my fuel tank, and (more importantly) my ballast sack had several VERY small tears in it that were probably caused by frequent over-filling.  Examining by eye, I could not see the tears.  I took the ballast sack out, duct-taped all the valves except for one, and inflated the sack with an air-mattress air pump.  It was immediately clear where the water was coming from.

If you find out this is the cause of your leak, send me a PM and I'll give you my full name so you can call Barefoot International and reference the custom replacement sack I had made for my boat that I've been very happy with.

This is post #601 for me.  In my best Rick James voice, "It's a celebration, beeotches... bwaah haah ha..."

[flyn2001]

Those are exactly the kind of responses I was hoping to get.  I will check those things out and see if I can locate the source.  Out of curiosity, how much was your custom bag and how much will it hold (weight).  Also, is it hard to access the control unit where the shower hoses connect?  Thanks guys. 

Oh...and I did try to examine with the boat underway but still saw no leaks at the shaft packing.  I think VillageIdiot is pointing me in a good direction.

[phenom_1819]

Since you are already taking apart your ballast, getting to the shower hoses will be very easy. 

To take apart the ballast, all you need are a standard flathead and phillips screwdriver.  There are three hoses that go into the ballast sack -- the fill valve (on the left/port side of the boat), the drain valve (about 4" to the left of center at the bottom of the bag), and the overflow valve (in plain site at the top right/starboard side of the bag).  Each of these is connected with a screw-on clamp that uses a flathead screwdriver.  Then you need to unscrew the fabric cover -- just two phillips screws towards the front of the trunk compartment. 

Once the ballast is out, on my boat there are two large thumb-screws in the floor.  Unscrew those and pull from the bottom, and you will have access to the hoses for the shower.  Red is hot, blue is cold, white (or black?) is the shower outlet.  If I remember right...

My ballast sack was about $275.  But well worth it and much nicer quality than the stock bag, and it will never have to be replaced again.  It is made out of river raft material so no cover is needed and it will not expand like the stock would.  When it's full, it's full.

Good luck and let me know if I can help with anything else.

[phenom_1819]

Oh, and the replacement I had made fills the entire trunk to the brim, with just enough room for a few lifejackets and wetsuits on top.  I have pictures on here somewhere that I posted about a month ago.  By doing some math and some guessing, I believe I added about 200 lbs of ballast from stock.  But they can make them whatever size you like. 

[flyn2001]

Does your replacement bag for the back connect to the original hoses?  Or do you have to manually fill it?  Thanks.

[phenom_1819]

It uses all stock hoses with their adaptors -- all of which are on file from the one I ordered my boat.

[boneil]

When you pull the ballast (I'm' assuming it's in your stern locker) there should be a small removable plate in the floor board.  Take a look at the drain plug opening and the rudder post.  There is only a small o-ring and grease preventing water from entering there.  Also if the plate is lose you can get lots of water through it.  If you've ever bumped something in the water then this is a possibility.  If you have a loose rudder plate don't overtighten.

B

[cyclone]

Other places to look for leaks, no particular order:

Swim Platform Mounts
Speedo tubes (behind panels in trunk, mounted to hull on both sides) gold metal tubes about 1' long, 1" dia. They crack if they freeze with water in them. I used JB weld to patch mine on my old boat, worked fine)
Cracked ballast pump They can crack and seep if they freeze as well. They still work but can have priming problems. Common on Rule pumps.
Heater core, under dash Heater hoses from block.
SHower
Ballast bag/connections
Paddle wheel (if Perfect Pass installed)