Fresh water leak

[BillyK]

I have a 1977 Chris Craft MY or Flush Deck with the dock water inlets on either side near the electric hook up. I had an issue with the forward sump pump that has now been resolved. The leak is not coming in from forward of the engine room bulkhead, I can see the hull from every angle. The water creeps into the forward bilge from the engine room side of the bulkhead only when the dock water is on. All plumbing in the engine room is dry. The engine room and aft bilges are dry. The only place I cannot see is underneath the holding tank that is just aft of the bulk head and under the the water heater that is just forward of the bulk head (but what I can see is dry). What could be under the holding tank that leaks?

Thanks,

Billy K.

 

[Shake n Bake]

I had a pin hole [and mean REALLY tiny] leak that baffled me for a long time. The water sprayed from a great distance but was so small that it couldn't be seen. I added green food coloring to the fresh water tank and was finally able to see the leak. Leaks on boats can be frustrating.

 

[BillyK]

So I took my shop vac and hose on the blower side and pushed it in the hole the water was coming out. The other side was under the batteries, in between the sea strainers and under the racors. Long story short, the leak is coming from the aft side of the engine room. Too late to start aft, tomorrow is another day.

Billy K.

 

[Billylll]

quote:

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Originally posted by Shake n Bake

I had a pin hole [and mean REALLY tiny] leak that baffled me for a long time. The water sprayed from a great distance but was so small that it couldn't be seen. I added green food coloring to the fresh water tank and was finally able to see the leak. Leaks on boats can be frustrating.

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Food dye works wonders.
Bill

 

[BillyK]

I was thinking what a good idea the food dye idea was and I opened the aft head bilge hatch and found this.

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Which now looks like this.

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No cover and that is a hose clamp holding the drain hose from the shower from coming out of the box. I cleaned up the mess and bought all the parts I would need including a shower drain nut which was also broken. Now I'm trying to dry everything up and water is still coming through between the floor and the stringer. I thought it was because the area had been saturated, so I did some other things that needed to be done. Later I came back to see the area is still wet. I pulled up carpeting the find another hatch. Under it was the water tank sending unit and it was leaking from the gasket. I shut off the dock water and ran the tank down and the leak stopped. I dried everything up again and no more water creeping into the forward bilge. The valves in the engine room were not shut off tight enough and the dock water was filling up the water tank and pressurizing it out of the top of the tank. Crazy but true. I figured I would share this even though it is long winded so maybe it would save someone else 15 hours of vacuuming out water and crawling around the bilges of their boat.

Billy K.

 

[stmbtwle]

Seems to me those are a couple pretty good reasons NOT to use "shore water".
A major failure would be a lot more than an annoyance.

 

[rawidman]

quote:

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Originally posted by stmbtwle

Seems to me those are a couple pretty good reasons NOT to use "shore water".
A major failure would be a lot more than an annoyance.

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There are many good reasons not to use "shore water" but it's provided for on many boats and is viewed as a "feature".

I have no shore water connection, only two 44 gallon potable water tanks which I fill. When they are low or empty, I fill them again. A complete failure of a hose or fitting would allow 88 gallons of water in my bilge.

A failure with a city water connection would easily sink my boat.

If you have a city water connection and really want to use it, you should disconnect the hose when leaving the boat. Don't just turn it off, someone might come by and turn it back on by accident.