Trapped water on 23' venture

R

Ron Sabins

New member
I am having a devil of a time figuring out why I am getting significant amounts of water under the aft platform on my 23' Venture. I can hear water moving between the hull and the flat platform behind the cabin. I have located a drain plug on the starboard side of the bilge that alows me to drain a small amount of water into the central bilge area but it sounds like there must be 20 gallons of water trapped between the floor and the hull. It appears to be fresh water, at least there is no salty taste to it. After pumping the bilge completely empty I can stand on the starboard side and get water to come up the side of the hull on top of the platform by the gas tank but the bilge is still dry.
Is this unique to my boat or has anyone else had this problem?
Questions, How do I get the water out, and how do I keep it from getting under the platform in the first place?

Ron
 
I would put an inspection/access cover or plug at the deepest part of the bilge. If the boat is trailer kept, you can jack the tongue way up and then get the water to grain aft. In most of the line, the deepest part in the water is near the cabin bulkhead. It is probably getting there during washdown or rain events. Chck to see of the entire floore is tightly sealed with caulk.
 
I have installed three six inch screw out deck plates. One up in the removeable cushion area in the vberth, one inside the cabin just inside of the back door and the third in the rear cockpit to the left of center. There is a structual member running down the center in the cockpit. I would check out your anchor locker and I also suspect the water gets in around the rub rail which I don't think is sealed all that well or it comes in thru the rivets that hold the rub rail on.. I removed the raw water washdown and had it glassed in along with the two thru hull external fishbox/step box drains. Some water could be attributed to condensation. I got water out of our boat when the thru hull for the raw water wash down was removed. Pictures in our album. Or look at the Pacific Wonderer album. Also check the bronze flange where the drain plug threads in the three screws were loose and there was not a lot of sealant under the flange. I pulled mine off it was allowing water into the bilge area. I removed it drilled out the screw holes and under cut and epoxied the holes and after the epoxy cured drilled pilot holes for the three screws into the epoxy and coated the bronze plate with 3 m 4200 and reinstalled the plate. Some have found that the front bow rails are not bedded in real well and they have been a source of water in the boat. You also might consider if you get into any kind of rough water changing the fuel vents as the stock ones I think let water get into the fuel tanks. It's always something. :mrgreen:
D.D.
 
Thanks for all the info. I had been contemplateing some of the items you have mentioned but was praying for it to be something simple. It just doesn't work that way does it!!
I had planned on pulling the fuel tanks out and making sure the screws were sealed. Good idea about the fuel vents and those useless drains for the fish well/steps.
Looks like I will have a few things to keep me busy this fall.

RS
 
Several 23's have had this issue. The guys are correct to add inspection ports. Ross on Pacific Wanderer had significant water intrusion. See his album for solutions. Also some like Casey on Katmai traced the water to a fractured water tank inlet at the top. Seems like the installer made a habit of torquing the tanks in there. Casey's water came in if he filled his tank too full. Solution is to pull it and repair the tank neck. George
 
While you have the fuel tanks pulled,you might as well do the bilge pump screws and add a second bilge pump that can be switched automatic as mine was just wired as just a manual switch up at the helm. I added a bilge pump switch setup for the backup unit that can be switched to off auto or a momentary manual switch. I also got rid of the check valve on the bilge discharge as mine stuck closed a lot. I mounted the back bilge pump by taking some 1/4 inch aluminum and drilled and tapped the aluminum for the basket on the bottom of the bilge pump and used stainless screws to fasten the basket to the plate.Then I used 3 M 5200 to secure the plate to the bottom of the bilge area. No holes more holes in the boat that way. I just added a new above water thru hull for the second bilge pump discharge hose. Some folks also pull the fuel pickups from the tanks remove the bottom screens and cut the end of the pickup on a slight angle. Better to have to change a filter than get that screen clogged up. The angle keeps the fuel flowing if the pickup tube ever drops enough to make contact with the bottom of the tank and shutting off your gas supply. Also keeps you from pulling the absolute last of the gas which is likely to have things you don't need to suck up. Happy Trails.

D.D.
 
D.D. said"Also keeps you from pulling the absolute last of the gas which is likely to have things you don't need to suck up". I have always thought it's best to keep the gas pickup tube as low as possible in order to take the fuel off the very bottom of the tank. My reasoning is if you have a problem with bad fuel or water in your tank, you would want to know immediately. If you have the pickup tube off the bottom of the tank an inch or so, you can accumulate water and bad gas in the bottom of the tank. Then when you hit a patch of rough water due to weather, wind or a rip and you are being tossed about, that lower level of bad fuel can be sucked up the tube and stall your engine just when you need it the most.
 
Regarding the placement of the fuel pickup tube,our boat, a16 ft. '93 hull, with a 2011 Honda efi, came with one built in tank, the same one that 22 footers have two of, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I figured we had a good combo, older solid hull and essentially brand new engine. What could go wrong? When I started having motor trouble, after some expensive and high tech troubleshooting, it turned out to be crap sucked up from tank, probably from someone leaving the cap off the built in filler pipe.
 
We just changed the style of fuel vents as we have had issues with water in our fuel. Our fuel pickups are forward in our tanks. We didn't really shorten the pickups just removed the screens and cut the bottom of the pickup on a slight angle as has been discussed here before. Some of the boats with plastic tanks had the tops sink in somewhat and that put the pickup flat against the bottom of the tanks,hence the removal of the screeens and the angle cut. We have a 10 micron filter water separator. Yamaha has a second filter to sense water on the front of the motor under the cowl. This filter has had problems with getting it removed as it swells from the ethanol I guess. Yamaha has replaced mine under warranty with a newer style made up with a different kind of plastic. Plus I sprung for the special wrench which makes it easier to remove and replace. I think things get pretty well stirred up when just adding fuel so I'll depend on our fuel filters and water separators to do what they are supposed to do. I'm hoping the newer style fuel vents keep the water out. Everyone has there own opinions, and thats why we are not all in the same boat. :mrgreen:
D.D.
 
Marty,
I'm not getting the life and well concept, didn't mean to upset you,if i did my apologies. But if the icons mean anything something must have rubbed you wrong.
D.D.
 
Dave-as long as Chevrolet is still the heartbeat of America, it's all OK. Come out to this year's SBS and fill me about the Lambertville side of the river.
 
Back
Top