Sitting Bow-Low in the water.....-gctid380703

[Guest]

I have a 1988 3255 Avanti, and I've noticed lately (the last year or so) it has started to sit extremely nose low in the water. It is a good 9-12 inches lower than another 1989 3255 a couple of slips over. The mid and aft bilges are bone dry, there is no evidence of water in the forward birth (or in the storage under the forward birth), and there is not much stored in the forward birth (40 pounds at the most). I am completely stumped and out of ideas (we've tried running it nose high while looking in the bilges and we've tried to haul it out and see if anything drained out -- with no luck). Anyone have any suggestions? It is also noticable when underway.

What should I check next? Thanks.

Bad-Andy

[Guest]

I'm not familiar with the layout of your boat, however I have seen a thread in thehulltruth forum with a similar issue. Turned out the guy had a compartment that was not draining in to the bilge and the rain water was slowly accumulating in there over time and causing bow down attitude. Perhaps something to look in to.

[JimMc]

9 to 12" is a lot. If no water is in the bilges then you begin to think of hull or coring saturation weighing down the boat.

You might want to a have a surveyor take a look at the boat.

[Guest]

JimMc wrote:
9 to 12" is a lot. If no water is in the bilges then you begin to think of hull or coring saturation weighing down the boat.

You might want to a have a surveyor take a look at the boat.

+1

[dmcb]

Have you checked your anchor locker? Drains do get plugged and if you don't anchor?

Doug

[Chief_Alen]

Wet foam ? You may have to cut a hole to inspect.

[2850Bounty]

I believe that only the smaller boats were foam injected.... yes/no?

[Guest]

I have a 1988 32' Avanti and just had this same thing happen this weekend on my boat. My anchor locker was flooded from the rain earlier this week and was wicking thru the carpet under the v-birth mattress into the forward storage hatch, which has no drain to the forward bilge..... I noticed my drives were about 1" out of the water and my drives never show so I started looking for a problem, and found this water issue, the drain hole was plugged in the anchor locker causing all of these problems.... Let us know what you find........

[Guest]

2850Bounty wrote:
I believe that only the smaller boats were foam injected.... yes/no?

Yes, only those under 20' are required to have flotation. There is basically 0 chance this boat has any flotation foam.

[dmcb]

There is a difference between core and floatation.

The core is between the layers of fiberglass on the hull.

That said, does Bayliner use a core that would absorb water?

Never heard of that on the hull of a Bay. I thought Sea Ray had a patient on that.

Doug

[Guest]

Abigayle III wrote:
I have a 1988 32' Avanti and just had this same thing happen this weekend on my boat. My anchor locker was flooded from the rain earlier this week and was wicking thru the carpet under the v-birth mattress into the forward storage hatch, which has no drain to the forward bilge..... I noticed my drives were about 1" out of the water and my drives never show so I started looking for a problem, and found this water issue, the drain hole was plugged in the anchor locker causing all of these problems.... Let us know what you find........

That was the first thing I thought about, but stupid question here -- where is the anchor locker and the drains for it? I have an open bow pulpit that extends forward of the bow. (Similar to this pic:

http://baylinerownersclub.org/media/...lpit.jpg[/img] ). Is there a separate anchor locker that I don't know about somewhere?That or a forward compartment not draining to the bilge (mud dobbers or some other blockage) seem to be the mostly likely cause to me... Anyone with an Avanti (or similar) know how to access those areas from the inside? Or how does one go about "unclogging" the drain ports? Thanks.Andy

[dmcb]

I don't know your boat but there should be a small hole in the hull towards the bow. Maybe about 1/2 way up from the waterline. It might have a 1/2 moon shield over it.

Force some water up it should free it up. Repeat as necessary.

Doug

[Guest]

dmcb wrote:
I don't know your boat but there should be a small hole in the hull towards the bow. Maybe about 1/2 way up from the waterline. It might have a 1/2 moon shield over it.

Force some water up it should free it up. Repeat as necessary.

Doug

Hmmmm. The only drain I see in the forward/bow section is the grey water drain for the forward birth sink. I don't see any other drains through the hull. So my guess is that if there even are any bilges in the bow (can anyone confirm if there even are bilges that far forward?), they have to drain to the "forward" bilge (which is actually located at the midpoint on the boat, directly under the head). But, again, I'm not even sure what the layout is under the floor, forward of the head.

Before I tear out the carpet looking for access hatches that the previous owner may have just covered up, anyone know what is under the forward birth? Thanks.

Andy

[Guest]

Bad-Andy wrote:
That was the first thing I thought about, but stupid question here -- where is the anchor locker and the drains for it? I have an open bow pulpit that extends forward of the bow. (Similar to this pic:

http://baylinerownersclub.org/media/...lpit.jpg[/img] ). Is there a separate anchor locker that I don't know about somewhere?That or a forward compartment not draining to the bilge (mud dobbers or some other blockage) seem to be the mostly likely cause to me... Anyone with an Avanti (or similar) know how to access those areas from the inside? Or how does one go about "unclogging" the drain ports? Thanks.Andy

I'm not familiar with the Avanti, but you should have access to the anchor locker through a door at the forward end of the v-berth. The drain will be at the lowest point in the locker floor. From outside the boat, the drain is often located at the bow about halfway between the waterline and bow pulpit and has a chrome cover to prevent water from splashing in. Might be better/easier to clean it out from the inside with a small shop vac, although if it's clogged tight enough to fill with water, you might have to fish a coat hanger up from the outside to break the clog free.

[yachtman]

I have a pre avanti 32. If its any thing like mine there is a small hole up front about the size of a diameter of a pencil. If you didnt know what you were looking at it might be difficult to see. Mine has a little plastic insert in the hole. It could easily get plugged up as its small. It should be a foot or two from the front and down a couple of feet. It could be on either side if you find it put a wire in it amvnd clean it out