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Old 02-20-2021, 04:24 PM   #1
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1985 KK 42 Water Tank Leaking Problem

Hoping someone here can tell me what I’m up against here. I have a port and starboard deck water fill which I assume means I have two water tanks. According to the survey I have 350 gal water capacity. When I add water to the tanks (I slowly add water, remove caps from deck fills on both sides, and alternate tanks every 50 gals) I reach a point around 180 to 200 gals where I get water trickling into the bilge to where the auto bilge pump kicks on for a few seconds every 8 - 10 minutes. At some point the water level reaches a point where there is no more trickling into the bilge. I have looked at all the connector points that I can access and don’t see any water leakage. The only place I can find some water leakage is a small hairline crack on the top of the tank where the small floor access hatch is in the hallway where you step up into the forward stateroom. That is not enough leakage to explain what I’m seeing in the bilge area so my guess is there is another problem somewhere else that is not visible. Any ideas, insight, woes, guidance, pity from someone who has dealt with similar problem would be appreciated. And worse case if we are talking water tank replacement what are my recommended options, potential expense, and interior destruction am I in for. Thanks so much for any input for this boat owner of 7 months. PS we are suppose to be leaving from Ensenada to La Paz next Friday.
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Old 02-20-2021, 05:37 PM   #2
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Two Guesses..

It may not be a leak at all. The addition of nearly a ton of water will effect the balance of your boat. The water your bilge pump is dealing with may be simply be water which was forward or aft of the pump until the stance of your boat changed due to the added weight of the water.

Or,

You probably have a crossover hose or tube connecting the two tanks. It may have a bad connection or some other type of leak situation.

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Old 02-20-2021, 06:53 PM   #3
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I would use a food colorant of your choice in one tank at a time and observe any leaks!
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Old 02-20-2021, 08:41 PM   #4
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Those are good guesses. But based on a data point of one KK 42 the tanks have no cross connection. And they are very near center fore and aft, so won't change trim much. And they appear to be skin tanks so no bilge flow fore to aft past the tanks.
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Two Guesses..

It may not be a leak at all. The addition of nearly a ton of water will effect the balance of your boat. The water your bilge pump is dealing with may be simply be water which was forward or aft of the pump until the stance of your boat changed due to the added weight of the water.

Or,

You probably have a crossover hose or tube connecting the two tanks. It may have a bad connection or some other type of leak situation.

pete
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Old 02-20-2021, 08:55 PM   #5
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"And worse case if we are talking water tank replacement what are my recommended options, potential expense, and interior destruction am I in for. Thanks so much for any input for this boat owner of 7 months. PS we are suppose to be leaving from Ensenada to La Paz next Friday."

As I said in my previous. Based on a data point of one KK 42. I think you're in for some big interior destruction.

Depending on the layout of the engine room you may have space aft of the fuel tanks for bladders, temporary tanks or even permanent tanks.

Hopefully some KK 42 owners will chime in.
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Old 02-21-2021, 06:54 AM   #6
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You may also have tank access in the hanging locker floor in guest stateroom under a panel for the starboard tank. At the bottom of the companion way stairs, there should also be a panel for the port tank. Under each panel is about a 6” screw on inspection port. Both inspection ports have small vent holes in them. These ports are also in the area where the outlets for the water lines are.

On a side note our tank capacity for our 1987 is 150 gallons each or 300 total. Some drawings indicate as much as 400 gallons. But as they say, “if you’ve seen one Krogen 42, you’ve seen one Krogen 42”.

Keep us posted on what you find.
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Old 02-21-2021, 07:23 AM   #7
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OP if you've got the inspection ports Larry M talks about try opening them to observe the level as you fill the tanks. You may be over filling the tanks.
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Old 02-21-2021, 08:21 AM   #8
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OP if you've got the inspection ports Larry M talks about try opening them to observe the level as you fill the tanks. You may be over filling the tanks.
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Old 02-22-2021, 01:07 AM   #9
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Water Tank Update

Thanks Larry M, you were right on the access areas in the hang8ng guest room locker under the floor and under the steps going down. We will be doing some inspections of the tanks once we reach La Paz. Ivan carry 180 gals of water before I start seeing a little going into the bilge so we will load up on some bottled store water for backup during our 7 day trip down the Baja. I’m pretty sure I’m not over filling. I purposely ran the tanks dry, then using a water meter measured the gals of water I added and somewhere between 180 - 200 gals I started getting water coming into the bilge. I put 50 gals in starboard tank then switch and put 50 gals in port tank, then 20 gals in starboard doing the balancing act. If the information passed on to me from the previous owner was correct I have a capacity of 350 gals. I was no where near that before I would start to get water in the bilge. I will let the group know as we started peeling back the banana. Thanks for all the input. Larry M, you helped me a lot in the location of the tank access points. I would never have found that one in the floor of the hanging guest room locker.
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Old 02-22-2021, 06:40 AM   #10
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Glad you found them.

I know of a KK42 that had leaking water tanks. They removed some of the teak parquet in the hallway and guest stateroom. The found where the floor joists were by the nail pattern in the plywood sub floor. They cut out a section of the plywood between the floor joists, then reached into the tanks and repaired them from the inside. It's all just wood and fiberglass.

Before I'd go that far though, I’d clean the inside of the tanks using a hose with a good nozzle. The insides are finished with off-white gelcoat. Light the inside up and use an inspection camera.

The crack or leak if there is one, could be in the aft end of the tank where the deepest end is at about 16”. Also, there are no baffles in the tanks. Repairs maybe be able made through the aft inspection ports.
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Old 02-22-2021, 10:23 AM   #11
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1984 #61 150 x 2 for 300 gallons, but can only fit about 270. Mine initially leaked at inspection flanges when tanks were full or in a larger sea. They also shared 1 vent for both tanks exiting stbd aft end of master stateroom next to holding tank vent. I added a vent so each tank vents separately. I have also observed with all valves open and filling very slowly the tanks will equalize even w/o an “equalizing line”
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Old 03-20-2021, 12:33 PM   #12
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1985 KK 42 Water Tank Leaking Problem

We've got hull 94, a 1986 KK42. The information provided in the ad and at purchase survey time said ours has twin 180 gallon tanks, but I've never verified the volume. On our Krogen, the pump pickup for each tank has a shutoff gate valve accessible via the access panel Larry M mentioned under floor panel in the guest stateroom hanging locker. There's a short section of hose running between the valves, upstream of the copper line running to the pump in the engine room. That allows the pump to pull from both tanks if both valves are open, or one if only one is open.

Regarding cleaning the tanks, my sink faucet aerators had some "sand" in them. I removed the access plates on both tanks and used a hose along with a 4" chimney brush in a drill (came with flexible fiberglass extension rods from Home Despot) and a water & bleach based cleaning solution. A wet/dry vac is a useful tool during the fun. If you do remove the access plates, put a magic marker or other alignment mark on the plate & tank before you pull them. Made the replacement effort easier the 2nd time, since my screws were not exactly evenly spaced. Besides the screws, mine had some pretty tenacious sealant on them. Kept me out of trouble for the day .
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