Rain Water Leaking into 4087 Bilge-gctid352050

[Machog]

I get a bit of rain water in my bilges, its not a big deal and it is definitely fresh not salt.

Are there any usual suspects for rain getting down there-can't find any damp in the walls of the hull or cabins. Its too little for the pumps to bother with, so I use a turkey baster!

Tx

Machog

[Guest]

Not sure if will help, since you'rs is the aft cabin model and probably different. On my 4388 I have the same problem..but more water. Far as I can tell, it comes from the fly bridge drains. On mine, those drains are attached to 1" corrugated tubes, which go down the rear corners of the cabin, behind the trim, down into the lazerette. They T in with cockpit drains to a through hull drain. Where mine are leaking is somewhere between the cockpit drain and where the tubing goes behind trim in the corners of the cockpit. What I really need is a 32 lb, 24" tall midget to get to that kind of stuff. I'll let him do some wiring while he's at it.

On mine, I can't figure out how to get to where the tubing connects to the flybridge drains.

[SuperiorDiver]

I've had rain water leaks into the bilge as well. Major issue was the windshield frames to the hull. I sealed the entire perimiter if the 3 frames, and the frames to each other, and the majority of the water was gone. The leak could be seen in the head and Vee berth ceilings. The final solution was to seal the rub rail top and bottom to the hull, and where it is sectioned. The water I experienced was in the fwd bilge, under the floor inspection hatch, next to the head.

[MerlinV]

Others have given you good suggestions on places to look for the sources of a freshwater leak, but are you 100% sure that you are not really seeing salt water in there?

When we owned our 4087, from time to time the automatic bilge pump light for the forward bilge would light for a few seconds when we were under way. When we arrived at our destination, checking for bilgewater under the hatch at the foot of the forward steps would never reveal anything much, and at worst it was only damp in there. At rest at the dock, even a shop vac would pull no water from the unsighted area towards the bow, so this condition was ignored as being not an issue.

A couple of years after we had sold the boat, the new owner had someone install wiring through a forward bulkhead between the storage locker below the forward berth and the anchor locker. After the first trip he was shocked to see that a considerable amount of water had accumulated in the storage locker below the bed. Most of this water could not escape once the boat was at rest.

Investigation revealed that when the boat was underway towards the upper limit of hull speed, water from the bow wave was entering through the chain locker drain, and as there was now a hole through there for the new wiring, it leaked heavily into the locker area. Prior to this, water would have gone to the bilge only, and taken care of by the automatic forward bilge pump.

The initial mystery of the forward bilge pump activating was now solved, nevertheless, the amount of water getting in there came as quite a surprise, particularly as there is a S/S clamshell covering the drain, which I thought should have prevented the water being forced into the drain.

It's a boat - there's always something new to discover.

[Guest]

Where to start.......... Do you get water inside the storage under the front V Berth mattress. I did, and that was from the front pulpit caulking.

When you sleep at night and keep your water pump on, does it ever run at night for a second or two. If if does come on.... you probably have a fresh water leak somewhere. Or it could be your drive shafts, drippless or not!!!!

Larry