. October 10, 2009
SO, why does the bilge pump come on about once an hour. Today was the day to find out. I went to the boat and started by noticing the bilge pump had not come on as I stepped on board. I asked my neighbor if he had noticed the bilge pump run and he said not since we left Sunday. I turned on the fresh water pump and looked in the bilge, no sign of any water entering the bilge. Checked the prop shaft. It was not dripping. Turned on the galley faucet. Not it. Turned on the forward head sink & that was it. Now WHERE IS the drain leaking? I could see water running into the bilge along the port bow. Of course it was inaccessible without removing the floor of the head. Because I had to undo the hoses from the head and remove the floor, it would be a good time to replace the floor. It had been saturated by the water hitting its plywood edge for years thus causing de-laminating. Might as well change the head hoses, too, which WAS to be a future project. Targets of opportunity! But, even though the scope of the job was creeping to other areas, I needed to take care of the leak. It was directly under the pull out sink and was connected to a seacock! Yes, a below the water seacock is how this sink drains. Very dangerous. If that hose breaks the boat would sink. This hose WAS broken just above the nipple of the seacock and just above the level of the outside water. Usually sink drains use lower quality hoses to drain through an above the waterline through hull fitting. And, suppose something goes down the drain that floats. It could float at the waterline and not exit a seacock. Next off to West Marine to get some proper hose. I purchased the 1 1/2" hose and as it turns out it is too thick and stiff to allow the sink to slide in and out. I'm now considering running this to the galley sink drain hose and putting a T there or possibly running it to the sump pit that pumps shower water out. I don't like that seacock original drain engineering. I COULD have the seacock removed and the hole in the hull filled in. This brings up another point. I have two heads that originally discharged through seacocks. Then the pollution guys required holding tanks. LIQUID THERAPY has T fittings at both of these former discharge seacocks. The seacocks are closed and therefore the waste goes into the holding tank. The seacocks can not ever be used in US waters. I'm going to have those removed and the hull holes filled in too. Then there will be 3 fewer holes in LIQUID THERAPY's hull. Three places that can on longer leak, or, seep, or have to be bonded and three less seacocks that have to be periodically replaced.