I FOUND MY LEAK!.....now what???

Finally! I've had this annoying leak that I haven't been able to find. I've vacuumed out gallons of water over the past month trying to find the source. I've worked my way upstream, aft, under the battery boxes, under the engine drip pan and couldn't find the damned source. Yesterday, I got to checking under the aft cabin sole and found about three gallons of water in the bilge there. I vacuumed it out and sat and watched for awhile and finally found a small stream. YES!!!! I went back forward and vacuumed out about four gallons of water from the engine room bilge (3 weeks worth of accumulation) and held my breath. Today, I checked the aft bilge and, as figured, have about 1/4 gallon of water. Went forward and checked there and found just a trace. THIS IS IT!!!

So, now what!

I've attached a couple pics of the area. I believe this is the tail end of my shaft log. Is this stoppable with a "dollop" of 5200 with further inspection at next haul out or do I have a bigger issue at hand? I'm really hoping for the 5200.

Um, pics didn't come through.

No pictures.

Beacon WiFi SUCKS!! Leaving the marina so I can find a decent feed. Pics to follow. They are resized on my laptop and this is coming from my tablet.

We are here to help if we can as soon as we have visual LOL

we'll try again

The pencil is pointing to the leak???

On pic #1, what is the box to the left with all the screws in the top?

5200 can't hurt. But look at where it's coming from. Once you haul the boat you will find it. Make sure you consider water damage under the gel coat. Just my opinion.

If it were my boat, I would spend a few bucks for a knowledgeable diver to check it out under the hull. The word "knowledgeable" should be underlined there. Anyone can put on a scuba tank and go down, but you need someone who can look at it and give you an educated opinion. Going to cost more than a run of the mill diver, but cheap at the price. Far less than a boat dollar, more than likely.

SIngle engine or twin?

If like many single engine TTs, the hollow keel will fill with water if the shaft log is leaking. If there is a tiny hole/crack into the bilge area...you may get a weep into the boat. I had one from where the bilge pump was screwed down...but then moved.

If it is like the typical leak...a diver or yard will never figure it out till you check the hollow keel and pull the shaft to inspect the shaft log.

She is a single engine FL120. Not exactly sure what the plate covers....packing gland???...still learning. The weep is forward of the pencil about an inch, right at the base of the log where it meets the hull. I have a couple of old holes in the forward bilge from where it looks like the float switch was once mounted. Should I vacuum those dry and fill? Not planning on a haul out until spring. I'll ask the diver that does all the work for AYC about this when I see him tomorrow. Not sure how long this has been going on (years?) but do you think I would sustain any real damage as long as I stop the leak now and monitor until spring?

Sorry for the delays...I'm trying to run errands before work. that J.O.B. gets in the W.A.Y. of me getting stuff done.....such is life.

Soulshine said:

. Not sure how long this has been going on (years?) but do you think I would sustain any real damage as long as I stop the leak now and monitor until spring?

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Well . . . to be honest . . . no one here can tell you whether you would sustain any real damage or not, and would be irresponsible if they did. Your call, based upon the information that you already have and are going to get. You have our best wishes, but only you can make a decision on it.

That said, with all the proper legalistic caveats, I can tell you what I would do if it were my boat. I would have a knowledgeable diver check it under the hull (actually, I would check it myself), and if no red flags then I would stop the leak now and continue to monitor until Spring. And I most definitely would not take a long vacation and depend on my bilge pump. (grin).

Soulshine said:

She is a single engine FL120. Not exactly sure what the plate covers....packing gland???...still learning. The weep is forward of the pencil about an inch, right at the base of the log where it meets the hull. I have a couple of old holes in the forward bilge from where it looks like the float switch was once mounted. Should I vacuum those dry and fill? Not planning on a haul out until spring. I'll ask the diver that does all the work for AYC about this when I see him tomorrow. Not sure how long this has been going on (years?) but do you think I would sustain any real damage as long as I stop the leak now and monitor until spring?

Sorry for the delays...I'm trying to run errands before work. that J.O.B. gets in the W.A.Y. of me getting stuff done.....such is life.

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Ok ...single with keel as I suspected.

If the shaft log was stainless like many of the older trawlers had...it could be compromised like mine and others here who have reported similar symptoms and even went ahead with various types of repairs.

If it is a compromised shaft log and your keel is full...it is what it is...no real damage going on other than saturation of the hull from inside and out. If your hull is basically sound...a few years of being wet inside and out doesn't seem to have been the downfall of any older trawlers yet.

I sealed the holes for the first couple years by replacing screws with sealant.. Later on a haul out when things were more dry, I was able to epoxy over them.

I suspect my shaft log may still be leaking into the hollow keel...just haven't had a haul out long enough to get to it. But for the next 5 years...ain't to worried about it...will get to it in time.

thanks again for all of the quick responses and insight. I will talk the driver tomorrow and decide what kind of a game plan I want to put together. I am fairly confident this issue has been ongoing for sometime as I recall some of my conversations with the previous owner. As for any long vacation trips, unfortunately that job thing precludes any of that this season :-( but there is hope for next year thanks again and if I find something interesting I'll update this thread.

As psneeld said a lot of TTs had hollow keels that over time fill with water. On our last haul out I found this to be the case with ours. The problem is that over the years the water in the keel causes blisters from the inside out. I drilled two inch holes every 4' in the plate that covers the hollow area of the keel and then once dry filled it with closed cell expanding foam. I then fiberglassed over the holes to seal it up again. I then moved our shower sump over a foot to where it would be under the driveshaft so the drip from the shaft would fall into the sump. We now have a dry bilge. This should have been done when it was new.

Here are some pics of the inside of the keel and the process.

Soulshine said:

Beacon WiFi SUCKS!! Leaving the marina so I can find a decent feed.

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Sorry. You hit a huge sore spot.

I now return you to the thread topic.

Amateur forums can speculate on these kinds of things forever and get you no closer to the correct diagnosis and solution than you were when you posted your question. If it was our boat that had this kind of problem we'd have already been on the phone with the best yard in the area and made an appointment to have the boat thoroughly checked out by people who figure out and fix these kinds of things for a living. If that means hauling it out for a comprehensive going over, so be it.

Problems like this don't go away on their own. They either stay the same or they get worse. But regardless, the whole idea of a hull is to keep water outside of it. If that attribute has been compromised, particularly if the source is a "mysterious weep" that has no readily apparent cause, the cost of a haulout and proper inspection, diagnoses and repair is, in my opinion, dirt cheap in the overall scheme of things.

I have found nowadays with the internet, half a brain and the will to learn...it is easy to know a lot more than the average "expert" out there except for specialists in the area of your concern.

While many consider me an expert in search and rescue...I am not an expert on every piece of rescue gear, planning software...etc...etc... Expert is becoming as "cloudy" as a word as trawler these days.....

So any advice from a yard has to be vetted as well as suggestions from the internet.


Now the POs problem may not be the same as where I have headed with suggestions...that only he can decide...but I would be amazed if something different with all the history of similar symtoms being leaks into the hull from the log shaft finding their way in.

Here a shot of my keel...seven months of research, dozens of calls to yards that have actually done this kind of work and a little trial and error on my part gave me WAY more insight than many of the "yards" I spoke with, surveyors that never found these issues...etc...etc... Yes there are a few people that have dealt with the issue of leaking log shafts, hollow keels, and weeping into the boat...and it seems to be as many boat owners that I have read about on the internet as anyone. And much of their advice is the same as each other....the differences in repairs are what is all over the map...even "expert" yards doing the same job. Some of it is boat specific...some of it is just how the owner/yard wants to fix the issue.

Grind it out a little bit, but some 5200 over it and go boating. Then deal with it at your next haul out. Or not.

Based on the messy glass work in the picture it may just be a void in the glass that has opened up over time and is now weeping.

I seriously doubt it's the end of the world.

Now open that SS plate so we can see what surprises lurk beneath that!

Capt.Bill11 said:

Now open that SS plate so we can see what surprises lurk beneath that!

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Yeah, get the EPA to breach the underground dam and see what happens.

Until its repaired I would not store the boat ashore in a freezing area.

I owned a lobster boat that had a water ballasted keel. I know nothing about this boat but just asking, does it have a water ballasted keel?

Old deckhand said:

I owned a lobster boat that had a water ballasted keel. I know nothing about this boat but just asking, does it have a water ballasted keel?

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Was your keel open to the water around it?

Capt.Bill11 said:

Was your keel open to the water around it?

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Yes, used the water it was in. Not too different than sailboats that have water ballasted keels.

Thanks again guys for your input. I'm a full time live aboard working 60 hrs per week so we can make this happen now instead of "some day". We dialed back our budget to do this and I'm trying to do all repairs/upgrades myself. I'm very confident in my abilities but this boat thing challenges my basis of knowledge at times. Thus, you guys. I appreciate your wisdom and input. I know these things aren't rocket science and I want to make sure I do things "right" the first time and be proud to know that when the day comes that I sell Mollie, the new owners will think well of me and my efforts. She is a great boat and fit perfectly into our "let's do this now" budget. I'm pretty anal about stuff and have a list a mile long of things to do, both must do and need to do. You guys will surely being getting more questions.
My next thread will be of a water damage/delam issue that I've been working on around a port light in the forward head. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. Pics and info to follow.
I appreciate everyone's input and quickness in responding. I hope that other newbies like me will also be able to gleen new info for their expanding basis of knowledge in everything boat.

PS.....I'm hoping it is Jimmy Hoffa under that mystery plate.. hehe $$$

Old deckhand said:

Yes, used the water it was in. Not too different than sailboats that have water ballasted keels.

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If the water in the keel is open to the sea water around it, it would add no additional weight to the boat till the boat was some how lifted up out of the water.

Water ballast is usually in tanks well above the WL and as far outboard as possible.

I am not an expert on water ballasted keels. Did a little search and found numerous sites on it, especially for sailboat keels.