tonight we went on a small cruise i noticed the bilge was running more than normal. Checked the engine room and water was squirting from beneath the stbd fuel tank towards the rear of tank just about sunk made it back to harbor to be lifted. Had about an inch of water in the rear stateroom does anyone have any input?

[AMG]

Hi, what boat and year is it you have? Does no water coming out after you lifted it?

[Pascal]

That much water should be easy to trace... Start with shaft stuffing box, rudders, strut bolts and sea cocks. Does the bilge under the aft cabin open to the engine room? If it is not, then the leak was somewhere aft. If it is open, a big flaw, then the leak could be in the ER and just migrated aft

Just curious, how many and what size bilge pumps do you have? If your pumps couldn't keep up either the leak was massive or you need to upgrade them. Most smaller boats have those tiny bitty things that are completly inadequate.

[NYCAP123]

You had that much water coming in and just ran for shore without looking for the source? You're very lucky you didn't end up swimming. Pascal gave you some good possible sources, but you'd have probably saved trouble-shooting $ if you had narrowed in down at the time. It may have even been something so simple as a hose coming lose or a lose clamp that you could have fixed without any additional damage. Lesson learned for the future I hope. Good luck.

[Kafue]

Originally Posted by Pascal

That much water should be easy to trace... Start with shaft stuffing box, rudders, strut bolts and sea cocks. Does the bilge under the aft cabin open to the engine room? If it is not, then the leak was somewhere aft. If it is open, a big flaw, then the leak could be in the ER and just migrated aft

Just curious, how many and what size bilge pumps do you have? If your pumps couldn't keep up either the leak was massive or you need to upgrade them. Most smaller boats have those tiny bitty things that are completly inadequate.

Also, check the float switches.
I usually check mine every few trips and lately found a NEW float switch not working after only two months since it replaced the old mercury switch that came with the boat and was not reliable.
Maybe they make them in China now!

[Pascal]

Yes it s AMAzing how many boats don't have adequate bilge pumps and how many boaters don't test their pump regularly. I usually do the rounds every month and whenever possible have someone monitoring the warning lights to make sure these works too

[Marmot]

Originally Posted by NYCAP123

You had that much water coming in and just ran for shore without looking for the source? You're very lucky you didn't end up swimming.

It sounds like a person who didn't have the troubleshooting experience or enough familiarity with the boat to quickly locate the source of flooding and correct it (if even possible) made a very good decision and headed for shore (and or assistance) before sinking rather than watch the water rise until those options were no longer available.

[NYCAP123]

Originally Posted by Marmot

It sounds like a person who didn't have the troubleshooting experience or enough familiarity with the boat to quickly locate the source of flooding and correct it (if even possible) made a very good decision and headed for shore (and or assistance) before sinking rather than watch the water rise until those options were no longer available.

Agreed. However.....