[duchess]

Hello helpful all,

Recent owner of a 1986 3100 open.
The bilge was clean and dry and moments after launch, water in was found in the bilge with only minor stuffing box leaks, noted. Is there an area forward of the bulkhead where water could have drained from?

Thank you!

[Misdirection]

Did you run the motors to take it over to the dock? Those shaft stuffing boxes will drip water into the bilge while underway and do require periodic maintenance. But if its only a small amount of water, its normal.

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[emarrero]

Might be coming from aft. The aft deck drains each lead to a little box that then drains out the transom. Is all that stuff looking good back there?

[Misdirection]

The rudders also have a packing nut around the rudder shaft that needs inspected and periodic maintenance.

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[duchess]

Thank you all but a couple minutes after she was lowered in the water, I opened the hatch and saw the water. The P/S packings drip about a drop every five seconds or so, rudders and aft all dry.

Thanks,

[emarrero]

Hmm. The forward-most opening in the bottom that I can recall and see in pics from my 1986 Pursuit 3100 were the engine cooling water pickups. Maybe use some colored sidewalk chalk around the various suspects to narrow things down?

[Misdirection]

AC thru hull would also be forward as well...you can take a shop vac and suck all of the water out and then start inspecting for leaks.

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[duchess]

Thanks for the idea!

[emarrero]

I like @Misdirection's idea better than the chalk thing

[Bice0004]

There is no access to the area under the cabin sole but there is a hole at the forward engine bulkhead for water to flow to that forward bilge. I suspect that while the boat was on the hard the angle of the boat was such that water moved forward and was contained in the forward bilge and couldn’t be seen. Then when launched, the change in angle on the hull during transport, on the slings, or when floating caused some of that unseen forward water to move aft and be visible moments after launching. BTW this exact thing happens each year on my 1988 3100.