SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

1989 Hunter 40 - A million questions.

125K views 834 replies 101 participants last post by  smackdaddy 
#1 ·
Let's face it, I'm going to have questions on a million different things...all the way up until I sell the boat years from now. I've got a crap-ton of stuff to learn...from electrical stuff, to plumbing stuff, to diesel engine stuff, to bedding hardware stuff, to...well...

I might as well start a dedicated thread.
 
#2 ·
Okay, here's the first one. Though the survey didn't catch it, there is a pretty bad leak in the water tank. I can't quite tell where it's coming from...but the water is coming out from under the tank...especially when it's over maybe 1/3 full. I discovered it when refilling the tank after we'd emptied it over a couple of weekends. I filled it all the way up and it was leaking like crazy into the bilge.

It's a 105 gallon aluminum tank - and has what I assume to be some kind of baffles on top as shown here:



So my question is this...any reason I shouldn't remove one or two of those covers and see what I can see at the bottom of the tank? My hunch is that it's corroded - but I would love to discover just a bad supply fitting on the bottom.
 
#5 ·
So my question is this...any reason I shouldn't remove one or two of those covers and see what I can see at the bottom of the tank? My hunch is that it's corroded - but I would love to discover just a bad supply fitting on the bottom.
Smack,
I would remove all the access plates to clean out the tank. I opened up the aluminum water tanks on my 1986 boat and found what looked like gravel inside. In reality, it was not gravel but aluminum salts or something like that. Anyway, I pulled out fist full after fist full of the stuff. Also, some gross slimy stuff. Then I dried the tanks and scrubbed them. I don't drink the water from the tanks, but I feel better about using it and there is less to clog the filters.

Good luck finding and fixing the leak. I hope both tasks are simple.

BTW, I think you have a really, really cool boat and I appreciate your sharing your thought process on finding and buying. Hope you have many great adventures with your fine crew.

Jim
 
#4 · (Edited)
Those would be inspection or cleanout plates smacky, the baffles would be inside the tank to prevent all the water from sloshing quickly from side to side, front to back. The pattern may suggest the tank is divided into quarters by baffles with a plate over each quarter. There are small openings in the baffles, you just don't want half a tank shifting all at once, creates a big shock load inside the tank.
105 gallons x 8.5 lbs. per gallon = 892.5 lbs. that's quite a water tank you got there.
 
#11 ·
Butyl tape - safe, easy to reopen the tank and reclean and put it right back on again.
Being as it leaks when 1/3 full it's probably a valve/fitting.

I'll remind you of my old trick for finding leaks - get yourself some blue marking string powdered chalf from your local DIY store and sprinkle it in the suspected locations. Go away, come back - the water trail to the leak will be obvious and it's easy to clean up. You'll be needing that chalk for port lights, hatches etc,

For the rest, electric, diesel etc you have already found the right forum, however I suggest a thread for each. Not many folks dig through 30 pages to find the next question.
 
#16 ·
Smack, for Hunter sailboat specific questions checkout HunterOwners.com - Home

The store on that site contains Hunter's inventory of OEM spare/replacement parts as Hunter outsourced that business to these guys. There's also a lot of model specific info in the forums there as well. Good luck!
 
#19 · (Edited)
Okay - I have a mystery on my hands (well a mystery to me anyway). A couple of weeks ago I topped-off our fuel tank for the first time. I had my buddy and two boys down below in different areas looking for any obvious leaks as I did so - just in case. No issues.

When we got back to the dock after running the motor for maybe 2 hours total one of the boys asked why it smelled like paint below. Uh-oh. I went down and sure enough there was a strong smell of diesel. I checked the engine bilge and there was just a bit of water in it. Then I checked the main bilge and there was maybe a gallon of diesel in it - mixed with some water. Damn. I pumped it out with a manual pump then our mini shopvac. We stayed at our buddy's house for the evening then came back to the boat the next day. No more leak.

Our assumption at that point was that I'd just over-filled the tank and it had a leak somewhere in the filler hose that leaked when we heeled. No big deal - I'd just try to track it down before filling up again.

This weekend we had exactly the same issue after about 2 hours of motoring. So it doesn't appear to be an overfill issue. Here's my troubleshooting thus far:

I checked the engine compartment. The bilge only had a bit of clear water in it (I assume from the stuffing box). There was no diesel and neither of the filters or hoses showed any sign of leakage.



I then pulled the cover in the aft cabin to have a look at the tank and generator. There were signs of slight leakage on the tank - but the odor wasn't all that strong and I didn't see anything that would indicated a gallon or more of the stuff spilling over the course of a few hours...





The fuel filter between the tank and the generator seemed to be dry as well.

So a few things are throwing me here:

1. This problem didn't show up until I'd topped off the tank. The test sail during the survey had us motoring the exact same time and distance. No issues that we saw. How could we still be having overflow if it's a filler hose issue?

2. I'm not exactly sure how each compartment feeds the main bilge. But how could the tank compartment and the engine bilge not show pools of diesel - with it only ending up in the main bilge? I assume that it's the tank leaking in the aft compartment and moving through a drain hole directly to the main bilge - bypassing the engine bilge?

3. There just didn't seem to be enough wetness or smell in the tank compartment to indicate that much leakage. Where else could it come from?

4. The motor is running fine - not missing or sounding starved in any way.

Any advice on where to start?

Finally, what is this thing atop the tank? At first I thought it was a gauge (and maybe it is) - but I can't make sense of it.



Thanks fellas.
 
#21 ·
My Guess is that Seaduction nailed it that it is probably the diesel fuel return line, but my other Plan B guess is the tank vent. My operating theory on that one is that when the tank is full, and the engine has been running the return line puts warm fuel back in the tank expanding the fuel and the air trapped in the fill above, pressurizing the tank and forcing fuel into the ventline. In that era vent lines were often simply made of non fuel rated hose, and that can develop pin holes over time.

Jeff
 
#22 ·
Awesome, I'll check both of those. If it is the return line, I assume the leak will likely be in the aft tank compartment since there was no fuel in the engine bilge (again, assuming the aft compartment feeds directly to the main bilge)?
 
#23 ·
Hey,

The electronic thing on top of the tank is the fuel gauge. There should be a wire leading from the nut to your fuel gauge in the cockpit.

I also suspect the fuel return line is leaking. Should be easy enough to check while the engine is running. Lastly, where you motor sailing with the engine running at a heal angle? That might be why your seeing some leaks.

Good luck,
Barry
 
#24 ·
Thanks Barry. We weren't motor sailing (just motored out and raised sail) so I don't think that's it. I'll check the return. That sounds like the culprit.

Also thanks for the info on the gauge. There's no gauge in the cockpit so I guess that's why there's no wire. I'll see about adding a gauge.
 
#25 ·
Good luck, Steve. Diesel leaks suck. We had a leak on our way down to Florida. It turned out that the fuel boost pump was the culprit. We replaced it in Port St. Joe, but then had a banjo fitting leaking by the time we made Carrabelle. Both problems were in a hard to see/get to spot. I'm not sure how the diesel gets into the bilge, but it seems that is the first place you'll see it. It goes without saying, don't pump it overboard. Oh, and don't have diesel in you bilge if you come to Florida. They will bust you for it, if you get boarded.

No diesel smell below is a good thing.

Ralph
 
#26 ·
The picture looks to be the fuel level sender - it should have a single ground wire headed back to the gauge -
I agree with Seaduction - if the leak only occurs when the engine is running it should be the fuel return - it matches all of your symptoms - check or replace the line - even if it was fine on the sea trial, if it was not recently replaced (and in some cases even if it was) it is a pressurized line, likely has swedged fittings at each end - although I have seen them with just hose clamps - I've also seen a hose clamp over tightens to the point where it cut through a fuel line and leaked over time little by little until it finally failed -
 
#28 ·
Agree with RTB diesel stink below ain't cool.

We had a filler leak early on, and after topping up for a big passage ended up with diesel in the bilge and in the head. It made my otherwise sea saavy wife sick as could be.

Passage aborted and lesson learn't. Diesel leaks don't blow up your boat but they suck dogs balls. No idea how to fix yours, but good luck.

Bring on the next question.
 
#29 ·
My vote is for the tank vent. I think Jeff spoke correctly about warm, expanded fuel being sent back to the tank, and over-flowing out of the vent.

The reason I say this, is because the problem did not surface until you topped off the tank. Otherwise, my money would be on the fuel return line.

Run the engine under load, and observe the tank vent (if possible) to see if any fuel is burping out of it. I'll bet that after you consume a little more fuel, the "leak" will stop.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top