Water Issues
Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 12:15 pm
After not being up to the boat for the last two weeks, my wife and I arrived to our C26 fixed keel this last Friday night with about an inch and a half or so standing water in the cabin. ( it was just short of making the ledge step that is before the V birth.
Text my friend, that sold me the C26 last fall, and quickly realized that we neglected to empty the bilge this spring when we put her in the water. ( something he and I spoke about, but overlooked getting done ) Simple enough fix, and here in Michigan we had flash flooding last week throughout a lot of the state via thunderstorms so I really did not think much of it. Her and I bailed a good deal of the water out that night, then my friend showed up bright and early the next morning, where he showed me the bilge hole, and we installed his home made bilge pump and emptied her out. All and all took probably five mins with the pump to empty. Wife already had a portable steam cleaner with her, since we have been trying to clean up the boat as much as possible lately so she removed most all of the remaining water from the carpet.
Later that same day, my father in law came up to take us out on the C26. Five people on the C26, could estimate the weight at 1000 lbs or so max, with very little extra equipment on board. We sailed for about 3 hours in White Lake, and did not travel into Lake Michigan, winds where not too heavy and we where only running on the jib sail, since I neglected to secure the edge of the main sail, to the end of the boom, leaving the main sail to pull pretty heavy towards the mast, so I just dropped the main to reinstall it this up coming weekend.
Wife and I mainly just learning maneuvers with my father in law overseeing, and causing slight situations for us to react to and learn from. ( yes, her and I are both new to being the ones sailing the boat )
On the return to the marina, wrapped the jib sail, and just used the outboard to return, apporix 8-10 miles across the lake and the stern was sitting rather low in the water from the outboard and all the weight in the cockpit. After securing her at the slip, we found that we had the cabin completely in standing water again.
Trip to my friends marina in my car, and I returned with his bilge pump to empty her out again and wife and I had to leave that night to return home.
- only drain I know of is from the sink. I checked this with water from the bilge pump running through it for leaks and found none.
- main source of leak seems to be above water level and towards the stern. Dampness and water present.
- battery box in the cockpit does leak, but this would only bring in rain water
- my friend stayed at the lake though Sunday, stopped at the C26 to check the bilge which was still completely empty
This upcoming weekend, I plan to take only my wife, previous owner, and myself out running only the outboard in the same conditions where I picked up the leaking, leave my friend at the til, and crawl below into the aft and try to track the main source down.
Text my friend, that sold me the C26 last fall, and quickly realized that we neglected to empty the bilge this spring when we put her in the water. ( something he and I spoke about, but overlooked getting done ) Simple enough fix, and here in Michigan we had flash flooding last week throughout a lot of the state via thunderstorms so I really did not think much of it. Her and I bailed a good deal of the water out that night, then my friend showed up bright and early the next morning, where he showed me the bilge hole, and we installed his home made bilge pump and emptied her out. All and all took probably five mins with the pump to empty. Wife already had a portable steam cleaner with her, since we have been trying to clean up the boat as much as possible lately so she removed most all of the remaining water from the carpet.
Later that same day, my father in law came up to take us out on the C26. Five people on the C26, could estimate the weight at 1000 lbs or so max, with very little extra equipment on board. We sailed for about 3 hours in White Lake, and did not travel into Lake Michigan, winds where not too heavy and we where only running on the jib sail, since I neglected to secure the edge of the main sail, to the end of the boom, leaving the main sail to pull pretty heavy towards the mast, so I just dropped the main to reinstall it this up coming weekend.
Wife and I mainly just learning maneuvers with my father in law overseeing, and causing slight situations for us to react to and learn from. ( yes, her and I are both new to being the ones sailing the boat )
On the return to the marina, wrapped the jib sail, and just used the outboard to return, apporix 8-10 miles across the lake and the stern was sitting rather low in the water from the outboard and all the weight in the cockpit. After securing her at the slip, we found that we had the cabin completely in standing water again.
Trip to my friends marina in my car, and I returned with his bilge pump to empty her out again and wife and I had to leave that night to return home.
- only drain I know of is from the sink. I checked this with water from the bilge pump running through it for leaks and found none.
- main source of leak seems to be above water level and towards the stern. Dampness and water present.
- battery box in the cockpit does leak, but this would only bring in rain water
- my friend stayed at the lake though Sunday, stopped at the C26 to check the bilge which was still completely empty
This upcoming weekend, I plan to take only my wife, previous owner, and myself out running only the outboard in the same conditions where I picked up the leaking, leave my friend at the til, and crawl below into the aft and try to track the main source down.