Since we were going to be in Marco Island Marina for a few days, we thought we would try and get to the bottom of the wet bilge once-in-for-all (we hope). I called Beneteau and give them the skinny of the ways we knew water had gotten into the bilge.

  1. The bilge pump float valve was not working, so consequently back in September while running the air conditioner, the condensate just filed the bilge rather than being pumped overboard.
  2. Back in October while attempting to leave Marathon, we noticed a small pin hole in the hot water line. Resulting in spraying water into the bilge.
  3. In order to fix the dripless stuffing seal problem, we had to perform an in-the-water repair. This required removal of the shaft for about a minute or so. This time, filling the back part of the boat with water.

Thanks to Google, we were able to find many blogs discussing the wet bilge issue. Basically, Beneteau’s weep hole design of the bilge does not permit trapped water to finally reach the sump area where the pump is located. Instead, the water just sloshes around in the compartments under the sole (floor boards). In all cases, the final solution was to sail and as water entered the compartments, you have to simply vacuum it out as best you can. Eventually you will have a dry boat (let’s hope).

Wanting to make sure that the keel, through hulls and rudder were all in good shape, we decided to have a diver go over the entire bottom of the boat. He said all looks good except our zincs were gone. How can they be gone, we just had them installed by a diver two weeks before. Oh well, must not have been put on correctly. Fortunately we have extras and had them reinstalled.

In addition, we adapted a small hose, to a larger one and then connected it to our wet/dry vacuum. This allowed us to shove the small hose into the smaller weep holes in order to vacuum out as much old water as possible. This seemed to work pretty well and we got quite a bit out with this approach. Without worry of something wrong with the boat, we are going to continue with our plans and head further south vacuuming water as we go.

We left the marina at high tide and are currently anchored in the Marco River where we were when we arrived a few days ago. We will head out in the morning with our destination, Shark River Inlet. We were told to no way get into the water while there. Because of sharks you might ask, no because of alligators.