2820XLD Taking on water....

[Hungry1]

Hello all,
I've been lurking for about a year and a half but this is my first post to CP. I have a 2008 2820XLD that I bought new in February of 2010. I love the boat, its been absolutely great with only a few minor quirks that I had to work out. However, one issue that I am having has me absolutely baffled. I am always taking on water. I primarily use the boat for free diving and spearfishing so we are always dropping the anchor, pulling it and relocating...sometimes numerous times within a few hours. For a while I was thinking that the water that was in the bilge might be from the anchor rope...even though that didn't settle real well as I knew the amount of water was a bit extreme for it to be coming off of the anchor rope. A few weeks ago I did an overnight trip at one of our local islands and during the night my bilge pump came on 4 or 5 times to evacuate the water from the bilge. At that point I stopped trying to fool myself into thinking it was something simple like water coming off of the anchor rope.

When I bought the boat, I removed the head and all of the associated plumbing so I keep the two forward sea cocks closed at all times. The sea cock for the wash down is only open when I use the wash down or when I use a bait tank which is very rare. I can not for the life of me imagine how the hell so much water is coming in. I have inspected everything on the boat and everything looks like it is sealed properly and connect well.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

A few pics of my boat just for kicks....

Thank you & best to all,
Justin

 

[miky2884]

Great pics, and great lookin rig!!!!

If you search through some of the topics on this site a lot of guys are having trouble with the rubrail leaking, usually you can see the water coming in the V berth but maybe you have the problem and it is leaking right into the bilge???
other then that check all through hull fittings etc............

 

[lorikay2]

The only things you didn’t mention on your list were the scuppers and the outflow from the bait tank. Both sit at or below the water line.

 

[Hungry1]

There are a few spots underneath the rub rail that look suspect but it wouldn't explain taking on so much water while anchored in calm water. The drain for the bait tank could certainly be a candidate. The sea cock for the drain is always closed since I rarely use a bait tank but it is the largest opening. I've come to the conclusion that it has to be one of the through hull items. I have visually inspected each fitting from inside and out and everything looks and feels very secure. I have also looked at everything from the inside while in the water to see if I could see where water was coming in but I never see anything.

Thanks guys for your thoughts.

 

[Megabyte]

I wouldn't totally dismiss the anchor rode as the cause just yet.
Depending on the depths you are anchoring in, that rode can bring an amazing amount of water into your chain locker.

Have you given your bilge water the taste test?

 

[Phil]

Did you check where the engine rigging enters the transom? I'm not sure how your bracket sits in the water, but on my non-bracket boat, most of the water came from where the rigging enters the transom. I sealed it with silicone and solved the problem.

 

[Bryan 2530]

If you are on a trailer fill the bilge up with water and see where it comes out, don't go too far and damage the trailer or tanks though.

 

[pelagic2530]

another tip that might work for some of the through hull fittings, provided you dont have too much water to start with, is to sprinkle some powdered chalk around the fitting and see if it starts to wash away. just a thought.

 

[TunaJoe]

Not sure what's leaking on your boat.....pretty sure it's not the rode pulling water or from the rubrail. I have a 2007 2520 with a leaky rubrail and no way that would cause the bilge to cycle 4-5 times at night. I dive the northern Channel Islands and frequently re-anchor while moving to different spots. I've never had my bilge come on one time at night.

Love the Gyotaku of the seabass on the side of the boat! That is awesome and fresh!
How'd you do that?

 

[Hungry1]

Thanks guys, definitely some good ideas coming back...much appreciated.

Tuna Joe,
I made a Gyotaku print of a healthy 64lb WSB and then took a high res photo of it. From there I just cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop and created a print file built to size. Then I had buddy of mine print it for me on clear UV protected PVC. His company is http://www.gofreeform.com - Thanks for the compliments, I definitely get a lot of comments on it.


This is the fish I made the print from....I tried to print it at actual size on the boat but it was too big.

 

[TunaJoe]

Thanks guys, definitely some good ideas coming back...much appreciated.

Tuna Joe,
I made a Gyotaku print of a healthy 64lb WSB and then took a high res photo of it. From there I just cleaned it up a bit in Photoshop and created a print file built to size. Then I had buddy of mine print it for me on clear UV protected PVC. His company is http://www.gofreeform.com - Thanks for the compliments, I definitely get a lot of comments on it.


This is the fish I made the print from....I tried to print it at actual size on the boat but it was too big.

Beautiful fish!

Thanks!

 

[beardog629]

Justin, good luck on the leak, just wanted to tell ya thats one bad ass boat! i have the 2320 with a single F250, also the sea bass is a tank, spearfishing is something ive wanted to get into,,maybe ill see you on the water some day , i live in vista,,,

 

[Hungry1]

Mystery solved! The culprit was a faulty valve on the forward sea cock. West Coast Marine in Newport Beach did the trouble shooting / problem solving for me on this one and Parker covered the repair on warranty.

A huge thanks goes out to everyone up at West Coast Marine. They are very professional outfit and they did a number of different repairs for me in addition to the 300 hour service on my engines. I will write a more detailed review of WCM on a separate thread.

Thanks again everyone for your input on this thread.

 

[chris anderson]

Nice ghost on a stick Hungry!