What is the following device?

[Reddragon]

Hello, inexperienced sailor here.

My boat is on land over the winter now but somehow quite a lot of water very slowly but steadily leaked from somewhere and periodically collected above the keel. I think it may be that the toilet pipes expanded but I really can't be sure.

Anyhow, this water ruined the bottom of my staircase (at the lower edge of the picture) and when I removed the wet wooden staircase I found a device I didn't even know existed there. Can you tell me what it is (see attached picture) and if the water could have possibly leaked from it?

My fiance' thinks this might be the salt water intake pump.

[Wotname]

Looks like a fuel tank with two outlets, one return, a breather and a tank gauge ?????

But I don't see a filling port???

[hpeer]

Sweden, the port with the inline fuel filter goes to a diesel heater.

1: fuel pick up to engine
2: fuel return from engine
3: fuel to heater (With filter)
4: vent to outside of boat
5: fuel gage (black wires)

Label saying manufacture, model and capacity is the blue thing on the right.

The whole mess can be taken off to inspect the tank.

Unless we are looking at the wrong thing?

[GordMay]

What Wotname & hpeer said (it’s definately a tank).

I see two additional clues:
- The label, at the right side of the tank, may describe it’s purpose.
- The hose, at the 7 O’clock position, has identifiers printed on it, which probably describes it’s purpose.

Water often accumulates, in the bilge, via:
- Openings in a keel-stepped mast
- Shaft log
- Both

[a64pilot]

That plastic fuel filter should be replaced with something better and positioned so that it’s serviceable.
The black plastic thing I too assume is a fuel sending unit but it’s a big thing. Almost has me wondering if it’s an electric pump. But it doesn’t have a hose coming from it so unlikely.

You probably ought to replace the clear nylon hose with fuel hose as well.

Is it possible that your cockpit drains were blocked and the water came in from there?

Maybe snow build up on the companionway threshold and it drained in as it melted?

[Tellie]

Certainly the fuel tank, but there is a bit of clean up and proper re-installation of fuel lines is in order. If the leak was from there you would also certainly smell it as diesel fuel. Nice inspection plate as well. This tank should be easier than most to clean if needed.

[Spot]

Hello Reddragon,

On my boat, the uncovered cockpit filled with snow the winter before I bought it.
The 40 year old drain hose from the cockpit to transom had cracked and leaked, with many liters of water inside the boat.
It took me a couple rain storms in the summer to figure it out.
Hose is replaced and cockpit is covered for this winter. The last I checked all was dry.

[tml]

No opinion on the tank but I would install a garboard plug to drain the bilge when the boat is on the hard. Water can enter the boat in surprising ways and ruin a lot of wood work.
Generally easy to install but of course a serious problem if done wrong.
Tom

[TrentePieds]

Hej på dej, Dragon:

Quote: "My boat is on land over the winter now but somehow quite a lot of water very slowly but steadily leaked from somewhere and periodically collected above the keel."

Lets see if we can help you along here :-) Your concern is water you say. As others have said in posts above, what your picture shows appears to be a fuel tank with associated fittings, so it is MOST unlikely that that is where the fluid comes from. If it were, you'd certainly know it, for diesel fuel stinks, as I'm sure you know. I think we can eliminate that installation as the source of your problem. But it concerns me a little that you say that you didn't know it was there. You should probably use the winter to go through every nook and cranny in your boat and familiarize yourself thoroughly with its various installations.

You didn't say which coast of Sweden you are on. If you are in Gothenburg, for instance, there isn't really a need to haul out for the winter, so I assume you are more likely to be on the east coast north of Kalmar, where the climate warrants hauling out. Because you are hauled out, water in the bilge is most likely to have come from your fresh water tank. In you boat there would not normally be any appreciable amount of water in the WC and the associated plumbing except when the WC is actually in use. Your fresh water tank is most likely to be found under a seat or bunk. You will likely find it under the "V"-berth right forward. Due to the shape of the tank, it is not likely to burst even if water in it freezes, but the tubing that leads from the tank to the faucets at galley sink and hand basin in the toilet can definitely burst if the water in it freezes. When the ice in the tubing then thaws, it will the leak out of the tubing and accumulate in your bilge. But that is a "one time" event that is observable after a frost.

In you case, because your boat is forty or fifty years old, it is more likely that the tubing has developed pin-holes so that water from the tank can seep out very slowly. If you have mopped up the water in the bilge on one visit to the boa,t and then find more water in the bilge the next time you visit the boat, such a pin-hole (or several) is likely to be the cause.

In your boat, I'm sure, there will be drains in the cockpit called "scuppers". The rainwater and melting snow will be taken via one or more hoses from these scuppers in the cockpit floor to one or more through-hull fitting(s) that lets the water go overboard. If wet snow that has accumulated in this plumbing gets hit by frost it can freeze into an ice-plug that now prevents further drainage. If the plug expands enough to burst the plumbing, all drainage thenceforth will go into your bilge rather than overboard.

So you see, there are several possible reasons for your problem. I recommend highly that, as I said above, you inspect every nook and cranny of your boat. One of our members - "boatpoker" is his screen name - has most generously made this article available to us:

Marine Survey 101, pre-survey inspection

I recommend that using this article as a guide you learn your boat "inside out", so you can take preventive action to correct any deficiencies and not be surprised by things that go wrong.

Your present problem is not really a difficult one to fix. The difficulty is in pinpointing with certainty the source of the bilge water.

Go have a really, really good look to identify that source. Then come back to us to let use know what you find. When you've done that, we'll tell you how to "winterize" a boat on the hard, so you don't get these sorts of problems :-)

Lycka till

TrentePieds

[Hermia II]

How come you concluded Sweden? I agree of course, sharp eye!

[Hermia II]

Sorry I just saw it was a Swede and a Winga 78 :-)

[Hermia II]

Red Dragon (hej på dej! ), The photo is from a fuel tank which is not so likely to leak. You could smell diesel even if you have two leaks, one fuel and one water (fuel on top of course). If this happens when the boat is out of the water, it may not be a leak below the water line. If you need to know if it is from below the water line, taste it. Salty.. you have a leak from below. If not salt water, it could be condensation from the hull (did you have a heater going inside?). Otherwise, look at the comments above. A cruiser must be involved with every nook and cranny of the boat. If you are not familiar with something that you see, investigate and investigate well. If something looks dodgy, that's probably where your next problem will come from. This should be balanced against "if it aint broke, don't fix it" but I would say rather fix it than hope for the best. Keep us posted and good luck (I'm at Vindö Marine by the way).

[capt_TE]

Hej!

Does the water smell? How does it taste? What colour? Any grease/fat in it? How much water in volume are we talking about?

Try to find out if the water could have come from outside the boat - rain/snow and a leak somewhere?

Have you used a heater inside during the winter? If you did it could possibly be condensation water..

If you are sure the water is not rain or snow from outside the boat that has been leaking in, what tanks onboard could possibly be a source? Water tanks, fuel tanks, heating system(?), toilet etc.

Were all tanks empty when you stored it on land? If yes, possible water could have derived from pipes?

Hopefully those question could help you a bit.

Lycka till!

[TrentePieds]

Blimey! Scowegians everywhere - don't know what this world is coming to :-)!

For the delectation of the guilty parties :-) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US6tNn7BOoE

TrentePieds, FDP

[Hermia II]

TrentePieds!
Wow this was fantastic! Do you really understand the Swedish lyrics? Such a wonderful old Swedish maritime song, heart beating, eyes very wet.
Hope you like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVwoOOV15uI