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06-28-2011, 11:35 AM
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#1
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Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 42
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bilge water - salt or fresh ?
I have water seeping into my bilge.
How do I deternine if it's salt or fresh without tasting it ?
This will determine where and how I look for the source.
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06-28-2011, 11:41 AM
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#2
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Guru
City: Cary, NC
Vessel Name: Skinny Dippin'
Vessel Model: Navigator 4200 Classic
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,841
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Boil it and see if salt crystals remain? (High school science flashback)
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06-28-2011, 11:45 AM
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#3
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Guru
City: New Bern NC
Vessel Name: Stella Di Mare
Vessel Model: Mainship 34t
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,702
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Quote:
surveyor1 wrote:
I have water seeping into my bilge.
How do I deternine if it's salt or fresh without tasting it ?
This will determine where and how I look for the source.
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*Unless you are worried it is from the holding tank, why not taste it.* Don't drink it just a bit on your finger.
If you suspect the holding tank I would eliminate that first.* But smell plays a part here as well as where in the boat it is.
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06-28-2011, 12:23 PM
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#4
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Guru
City: Atlanta
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4550 Pilothouse
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,630
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Man up and taste it!
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06-28-2011, 12:25 PM
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#5
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Guru
City: Thibodaux, Louisiana
Vessel Name: Gumbo
Vessel Model: 2003 Monk 36
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,882
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
I taste it as JD mentioned, finger tip. Once it was shower drain water, kind of gross but I lived to tell the tale here.
Steve W.
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06-28-2011, 01:07 PM
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#6
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Guru
City: Cary, NC
Vessel Name: Skinny Dippin'
Vessel Model: Navigator 4200 Classic
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 5,841
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Would you really want to ingest fuel and oil and shower water? Like, ewwwwwww. Gag me with a spoon. Totally ;-)
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06-28-2011, 01:48 PM
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#7
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Guru
City: Atlanta
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4550 Pilothouse
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,630
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bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Quote:
GonzoF1 wrote:
Would you really want to ingest fuel and oil and shower water? Like, ewwwwwww. Gag me with a spoon. Totally ;-)
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* Afraid to taste bilge water and yet you call yourself a moderator!!!*
(i'm obviously joking BTW!)
-- Edited by Woodsong on Tuesday 28th of June 2011 02:49:06 PM
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06-28-2011, 01:52 PM
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#8
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Guru
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 519
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
That which doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.* A little diesel never hurt nobody.* Have you never siphoned a gas tank?* Old mechanics can tell by taste if a automatic transmission has been hot.
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06-28-2011, 01:56 PM
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#9
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Guru
City: New Bern NC
Vessel Name: Stella Di Mare
Vessel Model: Mainship 34t
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,702
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Quote:
GonzoF1 wrote:
Would you really want to ingest fuel and oil and shower water? Like, ewwwwwww. Gag me with a spoon. Totally ;-)
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*The operative word is taste, not drink.* Have you never siphoned gas or diesel fuel.* You can do that with out getting a mouthful at some point.* It won't hurt you.
I would check to make sure it wan't from the holding tank just to be on the safe side.
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06-28-2011, 02:32 PM
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#10
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Guru
City: Missourah
Vessel Name: M/V Scout
Vessel Model: Sundowner Tug 30'
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 645
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Taste followed by a couple of tequila shots....you'll be fine.
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06-28-2011, 02:34 PM
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#11
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Guru
City: Atlanta
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4550 Pilothouse
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,630
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Actually, we could just toss Chip, AKA "Anode" down in said offending water and see if he eventually starts to corrode??
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06-28-2011, 02:49 PM
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#12
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Guru
City: Missourah
Vessel Name: M/V Scout
Vessel Model: Sundowner Tug 30'
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 645
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Me and my trawlerdog.
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06-28-2011, 03:07 PM
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#13
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Guru
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 622
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
here is a better advise..
have someone else taste it, didnt say admiral but that is one option.
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06-28-2011, 04:07 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 158
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
We are asked from time to time to determine if the water we are removing from fuel tanks is fresh water or salt water. The approach I have taken to without any question is to prove to the mechanic, the owner, the insurance adjuster, the judge, etc that the water is A)fresh water or B)salt water.
So what I have done, is gone to a pet store and purchased a hydrometer for fish tanks!
Good Luck to all*you whimps.... and to the captains that stick their finger in there, Cheers
*
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06-28-2011, 04:36 PM
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#15
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Guru
City: Vallejo, California
Vessel Name: Mahalo Moi
Vessel Model: 1986 Grand Banks 42 Classic
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,093
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Salt water is about 9.0 pounds per gallon and fresh water is 8.33 pounds per gallon. Pass me another beer, will ya'!
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06-28-2011, 04:52 PM
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#16
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El Capitan
City: North Myrtle Beach, SC
Vessel Name: Avalon
Vessel Model: Chung Hwa 46 LRC
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 907
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Rocket Science**
or
an improvement on the boiling suggestion
put some of the offending fluid in saucer and leave it out in the sun,*see what's left behind after evaporation (kinda like the salt farms).***
If there is salt, then you could use it for your shot of tequila, or give it to your pooch and you will have a* *---*** salty dog!********************** KJ
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06-28-2011, 05:38 PM
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#17
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Guru
City: Hailing Port: Charleston, SC
Vessel Name: Moonstruck
Vessel Model: Sabre 42 Hardtop Express
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,276
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Not to infer that the economy is bad or anything like that, but I am thinking about adding a bilge water tasting element to my Slop Jockey, Inc. business.* Many people lose valuable objects such as rings, watches, and other jewlery down the toilet.* Our slop jockey service dives the septic tanks and retrieves them.* Bilge water tasting should be easy money..
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06-28-2011, 06:00 PM
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#18
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Senior Member
City: California Bay Area
Vessel Name: BOOSTER
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 37
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 362
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
Stick some bilge water in the freezer along with some fresh water. if the bilge water doesn't freeze as fast as the fresh water, it has something in it - probably salt.
dvd
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06-28-2011, 06:04 PM
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#19
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Grand Vizier
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 3,815
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RE: bilge water - salt or fresh ?
If you live in the NW, drop a slug in it. *If it dissolves, it's salt water. *If it does a backstroke, it's fresh.
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06-28-2011, 08:04 PM
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#20
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Guru
City: Whittier AK
Vessel Name: Apache II
Vessel Model: 1974 Donald Jones
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 3,147
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bilge water - salt or fresh ?
What makes you think it could be sal****er?
Got a hole in your boat?
One thats not supposed to be there.
It could be fresh. Does it rain much where you are?
Salt. Could be waves and spray.
Could be*your topside or deck hinge is leaking.
Check all the thruhulls. Like now.
All boats leak.
SD
*
*
-- Edited by GonzoF1 on Wednesday 29th of June 2011 04:50:48 AM
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