water leak

J

Judith and Paul

New member
We have a 2009 26' Venture series and have identified a water leak by the pump cycling every 15 min or so.

Does anyone have the schemata for this boats water system? Our dealer "lost" the book and gave us the book for the 25 which he said is similar. There is no schemata for the water system in that book.

Thanks,
 
Judith and Paul-

I don't have your manual, but have a suggestion:

Are you sure there's an actual leak? Can you find the source? (I know you want the manual to be sure you know where all the components are!)

It has been my experience that water system pumps can have internal check-valve issues which cause them to drop pressure and cycle on and off, at least in RV applications, which shouldn't be much different than a marine situation. (Same pump, just different price?)

Good Luck!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Judith and Paul-

Thanks for the reply!

Some leaks can be very hard to find!

Sometimes there are hairline cracks in threaded PVC fittings, etc.

If all comes to worse, you could put harmless food coloring dye in the water tank so that the leaking water would show up as colored as you wipe down fittings and search for the culprit!

Good Luck, and keep us updated!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
While this won't solve the leak problem, in general, if you're not using the water, you should turn off the pump. The fittings for the fresh water system on any boat are prone to a little leaking as they are generally designed for fairly low pressure and everything in the boat is rattled around quite a bit while cruising (or even on the trailer). Should a hose ever slip off a fitting or burst, the entire contents of your fresh water tank will be deposited near the site of the leak if you leave the pump on.
 
We have learned that one takes a section of pipe out (Paul actually knew this) and clamp a new section on. If we were in a place where we could get those parts Paul would have made the repair himself.

We are doing the loop and on a side trip to Nashville. We are at Rock Harbor Marina $1 per foot and adequate. Archy gave me an excellent referral to get a root canal done while I was here!

Even though we had a root canal and a water leak, we are having a great time. Everyone says (in their 40-50' boats) that the C-Dory is the perfect loop boat!

Over and out.
 
Judith and Paul":3o5ynbyi said:
Thx, too, Joe. Now we just have to plug the pin hole.
Click to expand...

For those following this thread that may be wondering about the exact meaning of

"We have learned that one takes a section of pipe out (Paul actually knew this) and clamp a new section on."

Here is the email message I sent which is more specific:

"I don't know of any way to plug the pin hole, but I'd cut the tube at that point, and insert a short 3-4" rigid metal tube and use two (or four, double clamped) stainless clamps to hold it together. The tube has to be strong enough to hold the clamping pressure of the clamps. Good Luck! Joe."

(Easier than a Do-It-Yourself Root Canal.)

(For clarification only)
 
Another option (if available) would be to use Rescue Tape. That stuff has a fairly high PSI rating, and can supposedly even be used for hydraulic hose leaks.

I bet some other boater out there is carrying it...
 
In April we had a major leak in the aft bilge. Also water was entering the cabin via the cabin drain. The main drain plug in the transome was found to be leaking, removed and a larger plug was installed. That fixed that.

Put the boat in the water in October and after a few days, we had the water in the cabin again. We located and repaired a pin hole in the water line located under the cabin door and repaired it. We put a cork in the cabin drain with marine caulk because the water couldn't reach the level needed for the bilge pump under the storage cabinet to work, instead coming into the cabin. We thought we had it solved.

Then, cruising our slow pace in rough water, the water poured in thru the box under the cabin door into the cabin. We had the boat taken out of the water by Boat Works at Green Turtle Bay Marina, Grand Rivers, KY.

They found in removing the clam shell over the anchor locker drain that there was no thru hull fitting and a 1/4 " gap in the hull in the middle of that drain! At plane, the bow is high and no problems. At slow speeds, water was forced up along the bow and instead of going into the anchor locker it went into the separation in the hull parts and traveled slowly thru the boat into the lowest point which is at the cabin door. Also when the anchor locker drained, the water went into this gap instead of flowing out. During rains, water entered via the windlas and into that gap also.

The problem was resolved by insterting a thru hull fitting and sealing it with 5200 at both ends. So far we have not experienced any further leakage.

FYI in case any other C-Dory owners have a similar issue.

We have at last begun our Loop adventure.

Judith and Paul
Tranquilo
 
Judith and Paul-

Thanks for the fill-in!

You did some very good detective work to find and seal all those leaks!

Enjoy your cruise on the Loope!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
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