Very often sailboats will have some water in the bilge. Most bilge pumps do not pump the bilge completely dry. the water can be from several places, rain water coming in at the mast or water from the prop shaft packing gland which is suppose to drip while the shaft is turning. some have rudder shaft packing that can leak. Ice box or refrigerator drain into the bilge. anchor locker on some drain to the bilge. other leaks from almost anywhere. some that should be fixed. welcome to maintaining a boat.

 

Yup, pretty common for boats with deep bilges. Really hard to pump it completely dry. As long as rate on ingress is small, it's not a problem.


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I have deep bilges and always have a little water in them that lays below the level of the flappers. I keep a very small hand pump in the main just in case I need it to be bone dry for something.

 

Thank you very much, one less thing to worry about.

 

Obviously you'll want to make sure the ingress is not rapid and not from something like a thru hull or a keel bolt or something worse. But a little water down there is not unusual in my experience.

 

Read this thread; http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-maintenance/43505-wet-bilge-more-than-just-nuisance.html

 

monitor the level before you leave boat so no surprises whenye come home from work or provisioning or wtf.

ALWAYS worry about your bilge. that is a given. it needs concern.

 

Water in the bilge is common. My 22 footer had a centre board case which had a slight crack leaking into the bilge for years. In the end I fixed it; it wasn't cheap. It cost me more than the cost of the boat; but in the end I had a dry boat.

 

Am I missing something here?
Surely you wouldn't buy a boat with any water in the bilge without first determining whether it is just a shaft drip - or something much more significant, expensive and potentially life threatening!
I'm not disputing that a wet bilge is quite normal for many boats, but.....

 

Always be concerned about unexplained water in the bilge.

Its virtually impossible to build a boat with zero leaks new from the manufacturer.

Every submarine in the US Navy leaks and they are almost constantly pumping unwanted water out of the bilge. They trace where it came from and evaluate if its something that needs to be fixed or is even possible to fix.

If there is a way for water to get into your boat, the water will find it.
You need to find where it came from and fix what is practical to fix.

 

Big difference between a boat with a keel stepped mast and one that is deck stepped. My previous boat was deck stepped and the bilge was always bone dry. Current boat is keel stepped and there is always a little water in the bilge. It's a function of the penetrations in the mast for lines to enter and exit and how well the mast boot is sealing the hole in the deck for the mast. After every heavy rainstorm I seem to get a quart or two of water in the bilge. If there's more than that, or water is coming in when it hasn't rained, I know something is wrong.

 

This is not hard to figure out... there are only a few categories of causes of the water:

Leaks: seals on hatches, ports, deck hardware, stuffing box,
fresh water system leaks... cracks in hose, loose clamps, cracks in tanks
seacocks and thru hulls - faulty not sealed well an d hoses connected to them
Toilet.. seals and gasket faults
keel stepped masts - always allow water in even when the partners are well sealed
Engine hoses or cooling system leaks

I'd bet its from rainwater getting in via the mast if the boats been on the hard.

Shiva is deck stepped and her bilges bone dry except for a bit under the PSS shaft seal. Has there been water in her bilges? yes from various items at various times from above.... except the mast.

 

You might also want to check for raw water leaks while the engine is running. We had a raw water pump seal fail while motoring and it dumped enough water to activate the bilge pump. We simply shut off the raw water at the thru hull when at anchor or while sailing until we got back home--just got to remember to open that valve before motoring up the channel.

 

Boat life gets a LOT easier once you accept that the bilge always has some water in it:thewave:

 

My old friend Dave Verillo learned to sleep on his stomach with a hand on the floor board as a high water alarm . Dave was pretty mellow.

 

Yesterday I took a first look at few older CS boats ('80 vintage), two of the boats that are in the water had standing water in the bilge, is this normal? I think I was expecting it to be dry.

If you are looking at a CS-27, then the mast is deck stepped, so that would not be the source of water in the bilge. It can come in from various, but good idea to find out where. Run the engine and make sure it is not coming from the shaft packing gland or elsewhere on engine.