Water yes Water in my engine room.

[Gina Marie]

While painting my engine room floor I was scraping some of the old paint and I must of open a small fracture or whole on the engine room floor and water ever so slowly drop by drop came through the floor. I also then noticed a small leak on the port forward stringer again on the floor. I spoke to Bruce Morrision at Hatteras and he indicated that I FIRST have nothing to worry about an that over years water does accumulate under the engine compartment and may may go forward and aft. He recommended that I drill a site hole in my floor and establish a path through the foam until I hit the keel. Water has accumulated in pockets beneath the floor. I will then pump this out. Bruce indicated that once this is pump out over a few days,weeks or what ever the problem would go away. Has any one heard or experienced this. Thanks Gina Marie/Tom 45 C

 

[Genesis]

Look on the floor of your engine room on centerline and see if there's a plug there.

If so, remove it. You will likely find water in that area. Its the hollow area in the keel, and there is foam in there, but also dead space.

Over time water gets into there from penetrations (e.g. from where bilge pump screws are driven into the floor, etc). Oh, since its a confined space with no air circ it usually is NASTY water too - wear gloves and don't get it on you!

Get it out of there and problem will likely disappear.

 

[Gina Marie]

Thanks Genesis, Bruce Morrison indicated the same will be carefull. Thanks.

 

[Genesis]

Yeah, the sorts of infectious trouble you can have from stagnant water that has been there for mutiple years are not the sort you want to deal with.

My recommendation is to dump a gallon of bleach in there when you open up that plug, then put the plug back in and go away for a day. That'll significantly reduce the risk when you start up the shopvac to get it out of there. That's how I handled it.

The problem with using a shop vac is that it will aerosolize some of the water, which is VERY VERY VERY BAD. You will then inhale some of that mist, which is a direct line to getting you VERY sick.

As for the future, I'm going to go through my boat this winter and remove all those penetrations (the two specific ones that are trouble are the bilge pump mountings in the centerline sump) and seal them with epoxy, then take a piece of appropriate material and then figure out how to remount them without penetrating the floor. That should stop the water from getting in there - at least most of it.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I had water inside the hollow keel years ago in my Hatteras, from a badly done keel repair that leaked. I found it by noticing that when hauled water was dripping out of the keel. (I'm bright, I am, and you have to get up mighty early in the morning to fool me. Didn't take me longer than a week or two to decide that by God that wasn't normal and I was going to fix it!!)
I ended up drilling some large holes in the side of the keel and setting a wet dry vac to pull air through there, after several quarts of water had drained out. I dried it for a few weeks and then repaired it; it has stayed dry since. Every once in a while I drill a test hole in the keel to make sure it's dry in there, and then epoxy it shut again. I know of some owners that have a drain plug in the outside of the keel (Atlantics, which are anothe HArgrave design, have this) but I think the idea of a plug in the keel that isn't absolutely necessary gives me the willies.
FWIW, I was told that pressure-washing or steam-cleaning the engine room is a fairly common cause of this sort of wandering water. Good luck getting yours out. And Karl is right, it probably won't smell real good. Wear gloves. Maybe a clothespin for the nose as well.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Jim,
Are you saying that you intentionally cut holes in the bottom of your boat? I'm not the brightest bulb in the strand, but that seems like it wouldn't be such a great idea to me.

 

[Mike36c]

When I hauled my boat for the re-power last year we found nasty, oil/water soaked foam that was poured around the holding and water tanks in between the engines. I dug out the foam then drilled a couple half inch holes in the keel and let the nasty stuff out. It seems after 25 years the stuff just accumulates in the keel. Mike