Oil leaking into bilge Engines and Such Forums

Hillary,

welcome to the forums 🙂

Is it for sure oil or could it be diesel? Engine could be leaking at the oil pressure sender, oil filter, front or rear seals, could be transmission fluid leaking from the transmission. Could have been someone spilled some oil on the last oil change and didn't clean it up. Is the oil fresh or old? Is there a lot of oil on the engine? If you want to know if it is leaking somewhere about the only advice I have is to clean it and then run it for a while and see what happens. Maybe clean it before sea trials and see what it looks like after motoring out and back in. Leaking oil could be a not fun issue as most marinas, states and federal government have started to get rather anal about discharge into the water. We had a situation here where someone's bilge pump discharged a lot of diesel into the marina a few months ago. They didn't find who but marinas, county, state and coast guard were all trying to find them.

Engine.. just because it was re-powered doesn’t mean it was a new engine. It's a lot more common when replacing an engine to put another used engine in than a new one if money is any object at all. Also 55 hp is large.. these came from the factory with a 32 hp engine.. Double check exactly what  engine is in it. You should be able to pull a serial number off the engine that will identify the exact brand and model. The mechanic should be able to help you with that and finding where the oil is coming from. 

ok.. lets look at this a couple ways.

First,

Our boat has been in the family now for 7 years. Even in that period of time there is stuff that has been done to the boat that is hazy as to what and when depending on if zsanics family did it or I did. So some uncertainty or dates off if it is just out of memory and not logged I can understand.  If it was something done prior to her family buying it we have almost no real information other than a few reciets here or there in the morass of paper work left behind. What was told to angela when she first bought the boat never really made it to us when we bought if. I would figure that is fairly typical so yes there is the potential for a lot of potential grey areas in information.

On the Other hand,

That a survey stated it was a keel stepped mast would make me question anything in the survey or if it is even the survey for that boat. That is a damn big mistake to make.  how old was the survey? If more than a few years old I would want a new one. You are going to have to get one anyway just to get insurance. Better to do it up front before spending a lot of money on the boat fixing something that was missed.

The boat sounds good from from what I have heard but the survey sounds iffy..  Not saying the boat is iffy but the keel stepped mast is just way off base.

Typical costs  are a couple grand doing the work yourself for standing rigging.

Replacing the engine could easily run 10 grand if you had to.

You are already looking at  couple grand to get someone to fix soft spots..

New batteries and charging system could run from a few hundred to about a grand or more depending on you usage and the quality of the components you get..

Fixing the pressure water system a couple hundred

new fawcets another two or three hundred for nice ones.

New depth sounder could run you a few hundred to 6 or 7 hundred.

etc etc..

These are all projects and estimated costs that I have paid plus many many more. My boat was a definite project to start with. You need the survey to determine where this one falls. Not trying to discourage you. The price I am seeing on line is a deal and they are great boats. They are built to go places and cross oceans if you want to and it is outfitted right. 🙂

Scott

I have cleaned the bilge on ours with a brush on a long stick and some hot water and cleaner as well as the pressure washer stuck down under there.

However it is hard to access. on ours there is a 4 or 5 inch wide slot that is about 2 or 3 feet wide just under the pulleys on the front of the engine that you use to get into it.  Basically anything you do has to be done with a long stick tied to your brush. Bilge pumps usually end up being belt driven and bolted down in the engine compartment with just a hose and filter on the end of it dropped down into the bilge. Any decent size bilge pump can't fit through the slot.

With potentially a different engine in yours it may impact accessibility, might be more accessible or less.

Scott

Sounds as if you are doing due process and covering your bases. I hope that the survey and sea trial go well.

I would recommend that if you are going to spend much money at all on refurbishing the marine head and holding system that you instead pull it all out and replace it with a composting head. It is pricey but on our top 5 things for livability and ease of use we have done to the boat. If you read the below links in order it gives you more information than you will ever want to know about why we did it,how we did it,how to use it and how it has worked out over the last few years.

hhttp://downeasteryachts.com/archives/1366

/archives/1707

/archives/2887

http://www.scottcarle.com/word.....ess/?p=966

http://www.scottcarle.com/word.....ss/?p=1030

/forums/general-forum/standard-head-vs-composting-head

If you decide to go that route and want one of the nature's heads units:) let me know,:) lol. I can't get you a discount or anything but if I send you to him he will give me a commission and I can always use a bit of extra money in these financial times:) I believe that both the Natures Head which we have and the Air Head which is the only comparable competitor are both good systems. We have been very happy with the natures head in use and the customer service has been stellar.:)

I would recommend one of  Don Casey’s books for a how to reference on basic repairs to the boat such as the deck core repair. Here are two of his books. One is about half the cost and is specifically targeted at sailboat hardware and hull repair. The other is his mammoth all inclusive book that incorporates what is in the first book as well as a lot of other stuff.I have the larger book and it does cover core repair.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....wsco093-20

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ.....wsco093-20

Another thing I would recommend if you decide to do the core repair yourself is a really good 6 inch Random Orbital Sander. I guess a 5 inch would work also but I have both in the Home Depot Rigid brand and the 5 inch doesn't even come close to the 6 inch for pure raw sanding ability. It will make your life much easier to sand the repaired deck area's back smooth with a powerful sander. Cured fibreglass can be some tough stuff. Though it has worked well for me the reviews in general on the Rigid Sander I have are pretty low. If you don't have suppliers for Fiberglas and Resin I can give you recommendations of places I have had good success with and had really good deals. I would also suggest that if you have a business of some kind you try to get a port supply account at west marine through it. It makes a big difference. Or even better if you know someone that has one that does a lot of volume through port supply get them to purchase for you are add you to their account so you can purchase directly. The more volume an account does the bigger the discount. I am on someones account and a 20 dollar tube of 3M5200 is only 12 dollars or a 120 dollar gallon of paint might be 70 dollars. I have saved thousands over the years of refurbishing my boat by being able to buy at the wholesale port supply prices. If you can plan ahead there are several great places for speciality stuff online also such as marine wire etc..

I've got to agree with Jason.. I have a copy of all of Nigel Calder's books as well as Don Casey's, and I have yet to see a survey that got everything. Though I  don't think I have had a decent surveyor yet 🙂

scott

Yes the moth balls are our final solution to the gnat problem. It works 100% and is a cheap solution.

We haven't found it to be gross or squeamish at all changing the head the once a month to every 6 weeks with full time live aboard. There really isn't much if any odor at all even opening it up and dumping it. I am mister gag reflex on bad odors and this doesn't set it off at all.

The urine containers are more of a gross factor than the compost and even that isn't bad. We are currently,lazily as we think about it trying different things to neutralize the odor in them. It isn't that bad and in use you cant smell it at all. However dumping the containers is some odor. We recently tried a holding tank treatment from west marine that has a mint odor and some sort of acid in it. It helped a little but didn't totally do the job. The acid in it though did remove a lot of the built up deposit on the inside of the  containers. Every once in a while I pour a little bit of a product called "The Works" a toilet bowl cleaner,into the head so it runs down through the urine side of the head and into the containers. Nasty acid based stuff but it keeps the buildup of mineral deposits left by urine down. If you use enough it pretty much reduces the odor in the urine but we don't like using it for that as it is nasty acid based stuff:) I have heard that sugar works but I haven't messed with it as powders and dry stuff like that never seem to be neat and orderly adding to the containers and we don't want sugar grains creating a sticky mess for the cockroaches over time. Liquids that you can actually pour into the head itself and that drain into the tanks are my favorite method of delivery so far. I just need to try a few more substances until I find the perfect one.

This Good Old Boat by Don Casey does include a rigging section but probably not in the detail you are looking for.  Brion Toss's book "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0070648409/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0070648409&linkCode=as2&tag=httpwwwsco093-20 We just replaced our Standing Rigging Last summer and it was about 1700 dollars for 316 wire and hymod mechanical terminals for everything but the jib stay and staysail stay. We are changing some stuff there and I didn't want to order new stuff just to replace it with something different in the near future. I figure replacing it all would have been about 2000 dollars including those stays. This includes 4 lowers,two uppers,the forestay,staysail stay,back stay,bob stay,and two whisker stays and mechanical fittings both top and bottom. All labor done by me.

Ok RO sanders.. Fein is a great brand. It is  a high end german tool. They are expensive as shit…I got the Rigid because of the features and it was cheap comparatively and has worked so far for me. It has bad reviews though. If there is a comparable Ryobi I might try that. I have yet to have a bad Ryobi brand power tool and like all the ones I have. I think it was more expensive is why I didn't get it or maybe they didn't have a 6 inch version in stock. I don't remember.

One tool that you will love is a one of the vibrating cutters that they call a Multifunction tool. Fein originally came out with it and the have a nice unit. It is about 300 to 400 dollars. I bought on sale the 39 dollar variable speed Harbour freight version and it has worked great for me for more than a year of regular use. If I could only take one smaller jigsaw etc with me I would get the multifunction tool. Blades are pricey but it does stuff that no other saw can do.

However In reality I have a jigsaw,a sawzaw,the multifunction saw,a circular saw and a table saw:) lol and use them all. Much easier to use the correct one when needed. I can keep all but the table saw on the boat.

I would hate to live in California.. from this side of the country it appears that they have gone nuts with laws and regulations in almost every area.

scott

We replaced the through hull under the sink on ours the last time we hauled out.. 3/4 inch or 1 inch.. i think and it was about 70 dollars for the through hull. solid bronze apollo or a grocco model. What I would recommend you do is replace the wood backing plate with a fibreglass backing plate epoxied into place. We had the alarming issue of the one one rotting from a long term slow drip from the freshwater pump that sits over the through hull under the sink. Over time the plywood/teak backing plate rotted. We found about about it by me working on the pump and grabing the drain from the sink to brace against and the hole thru hull moved and water started coming in around it. 🙂 plan ahead and order online or get a wholesale account somewhere. It will save you big bucks. There is a write up on thru hulls somewhere here on the website.. lets see.... hmmm.. ok here it is. http://downeasteryachts.com/in...../sea-cocks mostly links to articles about them.

To make the fiberglass backing plate I scavenged a piece of fiberglass hull material at the yard and cut the backing plate out of that and epoxied it in place. I then mounted the through hull to that. It gave a nice and large perfectly flat backing plate. If and as we do other thru hull's over time I will do this to them also.