Diesel Leak Found! Best way to repair?

[Timeless72]

Hope everyone is doing well. We caught a whif of diesel in the aft cabin this season and last. I found the leak is on port side, just forward and under the aft shower. Original lines are mounted along the stringer. A couple drips per minute. Diapers for now.
What route would you all go?

I can cut out the shower pan for access to existing lines.

I can run a new line(s) from engine room to valves under cockpit. Tougher to identify but saves the shower pan.

Yhanks!!

 

[Cricket]

Think I wold avoid cutting the shower pan just as long as you can get the remaining fuel removed from the old line and also where it's spilled in the bilge to make sure you can eliminate the diesel odor.
And, cutting the pan isn't the worst thing ever, glass it back together and Awlgrip it.
Curious to know what caused the leak. Happy cleaning.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Could this be trapped fuel making its way down to that area from a deck fill or deck spill?
Or from another leaking point?

Funny a line would just start leaking on it's path between points with out some other issue.

 

[Timeless72]

I can just see the drip down the lines when engine is running. Four lines stacked on top the other. That shaft log was leaking and collecting water against the bulkhead for quite some time before we bought the boat. I'm guessing corrosion from being submerged or anyone's guess.
In looking at the access from shower pan, the shaft log is so close, I'm guessing only a few inches of room to work. Abandoning these lines and running new may be the best option.

 

[Cricket]

We changed out all of the original fuel lines a long time ago. Every leak we've had were from rotted gasketing between the tank and fuel plates on the top of the tanks or at a valve.
The hardest one to find was for a blank plate on the forward tank that must have been there for a different boat or model, had to cut a hatch into the floor to fix that one.

 

[Timeless72]

Thanks for the motivation. It's time. Winter project. Easiest may be a hole saw in each bulkhead to snake new lines. There's enough access hatches to get an arm through.

 

[rwaldrop13]

While this is not to be confused with a long-term or permanent repair, when I was a service manager for a Thermo King dealership, we had an under-trailer fuel tank leaking at a seam. The customer needed a temporary repair, as the trailer was used for storage and would need to be hauled off and replaced. We used JB Weld as a temporary repair, and it held beautifully. The owner actually had the tank dismounted and kept it as an emergency spare. I also used JB Weld to seal a corrosion hole in an under-sink garbage disposal until I could get it replaced. Again, not a permanent solution, but if you can get a popsicle stick to the leak, it's a suggestion as a temporary repair.

 

[Timeless72]

Man, that JB Weld is tempting. The leak is just within reach of my fingers. Maybe try and see before going all-in.

 

[luckydave215]

On my boat the aft tank and gen lines run inside the portside stringer nearest centerline. In other words, they run by the shaft logs.
While I have had dripless seals for the 18 years we have owned her, they weren't always there. I never had a leak, bvut it was time to address the issue, so I just completed the chore of replacing all lines abaft the transmission and to the gens with new rubber fuel line, including all new fittings and valves.
All Racors got a rebuild and the transmissions were repainted "while we're in there".
While I was at it I had the decks, cockpit, and part of the house painted, hauled for a bottom job, ordered all new canvas/enclosure and finally figured out the stubborn leak at the port gen oil change fitting.
Next is the electronics. They are all Furuno and work fine (except number 2 radar that quit) but they are getting old.

 

[Captain Ralph]

I remember using Marine-Tex on an oil pressure line. Temp repair,,, lasted for years.

 

[rwaldrop13]

Man, that JB Weld is tempting. The leak is just within reach of my fingers. Maybe try and see before going all-in.

Cannot recommend nitrile gloves and popsicle sticks strongly enough. Please remember, I specifically said temporary repair - Yeah it's awesome stuff but I never felt comfortable with it as a long-term or permanent repair.