Marine Trader hull question

[Timshel]

I have a 1975 MT 36’ DC. In the bow bilge, there are multiple screw holes where various bilge pumps have been screwed to floor and later removed. Water is seeping up through a few of these. Can anyone help me understand why this happens? There is always some water in the engine area bilge (due to packing drip), which does not cross over into bow bilge area. If water in bow bilge exceeds a certain level, it does spill over to engine area bilge. I have heard that these boats have concrete ballast. Could the ballast have soaked up water? The boat was hauled out 3 years ago and “the yard” said there were no areas of concern on the bottom at that time. I could use some help understanding what could be causing this.

 

[PM]

MANY trawler shaped hulls ride low in the bow. Water follows gravity. You need to get the hull dry under those screw holes and then plug them.

I am not certain how M.T. cored their hulls. It could be a problem.Get moisture checks next time the boat is hauled.

pete

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. It is likely trapped water inside the sealed bilge that is being forced up and out. Maybe the bow is somewhat lower so it is forced up in the bow.

 

[psneeld]

If like my boat....hollow keel area under sealed bilge and water gets in the keel from in my case, most likely the shaft logs area

 

[Timshel]

So, in your case, do you just not worry about that water as long as bilge pumps are taking care of it?

 

[Always Late]

My '79 MT has a solid glass hull. I have drilled holes for thru-hulls and never found any core material. I agree with the suggestion to dry out and seal. See what happens.

 

[Comodave]

This is not about hull coring, but a hollow keel. If it is full of water and you don’t live in a freezing area it should not be an issue except that it may stink. We had a Trojan F32 that had a hollow keel that was full of horrible smelling water. We opened up the hollow keel and drained it and cleaned it and the smell was gone.

 

[Timshel]

Thanks everyone. I will try to dry that area, although not sure how I will manage that. When I am back at the boat, I will try to determine if the bow bilge is actually a low point where water trapped in a sealed bilge could be rising. That makes sense to me; but, where does this trapped water come from? How did it get in there and how do you get it out and does it do damage if you don’t get it out? I could keep drying it up, sucking it up with shop vac as it seeps up, maybe use hair dryer. What if I sealed it by squirting 5200 in the hole with a small screw? But, if all the water is not out, I could then, be sealing that water in inside a sealed bilge. Is that ok? From the comments about the keel being full of water only being a problem because it may stink, is it ok if there is water trapped in a sealed bilge, as there might be if I seal those screw holes without getting all the water from beneath them out?
So appreciative of your help - so much to learn!
Joyce

 

[Comodave]

How the water gets into the hollow keel could be from many different sources. Could be a crack in the keel, screw holes in bilge or some other ways. It may not be an issue if you are not in a freezing area. But it can stink, it was a really really bad stink in one of my previous boats. I drilled several holes in the false bottom and sucked it out with a shop vac, but it still stunk so I finally had to grind off the false bottom of the bilge and then was able to clean the hollow keel so that it didn’t stink anymore. Your hollow keel may contain some ballast in the form of concrete or lead that the trapped water may be trapped in. You might try and drill a small hole and poke a feeler into the hollow keel and see what is in there. Then you could patch the small hole or if it is just an open void then enlarge the small hole so you can suck out the water. It can be scary drilling a hole in the false bottom of the boat. Just make sure you know where you are drilling...