Water in Forward Bilge - Any Help - Maxum Boat Owners Club

tackleshep · 08-01-2010, 11:19 PM

Ok guys my 3300 has an aft bilge and forward bilge that are both automatic but also have an override on my dash. The aft bilge is naturally the engine compartment and the forward bilge has an access point at the complete rear of the cabin in the aft room of the cabin.

This week I noticed that the light on the dash wouldn't work so I figured a fuse was blown. Yesterday I went out and checked that forward bilge door and found that the compartment was completely full of water and damn close to actually going into the cabin. Replaced fuses for the bilge pump and they kept blowing. Was able to determine the wires had gotten wet and once dry I had power again.

While I was able to get the pump to function it pumped water but at such a low pressure I could stop the flow with my finger without any pressure and it didn't have enough gusto to actually pump the water out of the boat (slight altitude increase to get the water up and out) Also was able to determine what caused the problem was the automatic float was stuck on so it just killed the little cartridge. Easy enough I'll get a new pump put in very easily no big deal.

Bigger deal!!! Where the heck is water coming from to fill the foward bilge within a few days?? Other than plumbing which really isn't on what components are there that could cause water to get in the boat?

seapuppy · 08-02-2010, 02:00 AM

wow!!...that's scary...I check mine often .....have 2 pumps also....this is a good time to put in one of those mega pumps..1000gph or better....as for where the water is coming from....is your boat in the water full time??...are you loosing water from your fresh water tank or do you have dock water??..check all the water from the fittings going into the sinks....also..do you use your shower??..is the sump located there in the same bilge??...is it working???(don't ask how I know about this one...mine didn't work at all..dumped about 30 gals of water from the shower into all my tools and stuff in the fwd stowage area...

SP

tackleshep · 08-02-2010, 02:07 AM

Yeah it was quite weird, the pump still worked and I could take off the hose and it would squirt water out just fine but would not pump it high enough apparently to get it out of the boat. Thought maybe we had a plug but I could pump water in from the outside as well as use a small wet dry vac and pump water out so no plug the little impellers in the pump must be worn enough to not pump the right pressure.

Yes the boat is in the water full time, we have used both water tank as well as city water. Am I correct in assuming that it has to be one of those fittings (I'm actually thinking the toilet intake as we've used that more than anything) as there shouldn't be any out of boat holes that would drain into that bilge??? What about condensation from the air conditioner that has run full time on weekends??

HavaMax · 08-02-2010, 02:19 AM

Some condensation, also check your fresh water pump. It is very close in vicinity. Do you leave the fresh water pump switch on? Is it cycling often?

tackleshep · 08-02-2010, 03:56 AM

Yeah don't think it's the fresh water, I know where the pump is but it's hardly been on.

shrew · 08-02-2010, 12:55 PM

My A/C is up in the bow area and the condensation tray drains right into the Fwd Bilge. could it be the A/C that is causing the water to fill the bilge? You could try filling a few sinks with water and some food coloring, then drain the sinks to see if there is a leak in one of the drains. Likewise you could put some of the propylene glycol anti-freeze (pink) or food coloring in the water tank and run the taps to see if the you have a leak in one of the connectors for the pressure water system.

Just a couple of thoughts.

TonyA · 08-02-2010, 01:29 PM

I would also look at your drain holes?, I thought that the forward bilge area and the after area were all connected by drain hole, so if you had that amount of water in the forward area the same amount would be in the after area and both bilge pumps would be pumping out the water. If one of the bilge pumps stoped working the other would still pump out any exes’ water. The draw back with the bilge pumps and float switch is that you need about 4to5 inches of water in there before the float will work and then the pump is not low enough to remove all of the water so there is always some water in there unless you sponge it up (this a side you really need to fined that leak)

tackleshep · 08-02-2010, 03:53 PM

Shrew, thanks for the food coloring advice. Now that I'm 99% sure that it's not coming from outside but something with the water connections or ac I feel a lot better. I'll find the culprit.

Tony - The forward and aft bilges on this boat are pretty unique. They are not connected in any way. The bilge requires about 1 1/2 inches of water and drains to 1/4 inch. I had 8 inches of water and was 1 inch away from having it in the cabin. The after bilge was stone dry so I'm pretty confident they are not connected. (Wish they were)

I'm feeling pretty good were looking at days of condensation, the boat has been in slip with the air running for two or three days at a stretch meanwhile we've been in and out a few hundred times as we've been moving in and working on stuff. Hell the vent has water on it all the time. I'll go with food coloring in everything and see what I get, if nothing I'll just assume it's the air conditioning and go from there.

Meanwhile and most important I need to get the new bilge put in today, as Murphy would have it I discovered the problem 45 minutes after the parts department closed down.

Thanks again,

Marc

tackleshep · 08-05-2010, 03:44 PM

Problem fixed, water coming from air conditioner nothing to do but make sure the pump works. Pump repalced and working perfectly now. Realized that all three bilge pumps are the exact same brand of cartridge pump - buying replacement cartridge just to leave on the boat.

Other interesting fact.- on the 3300scr the fresh water tank is actually located dead center of the boat under the galley floor. Kept looking for it on the sides and it's just under the floor boards.

HavaMax · 08-05-2010, 07:20 PM

Tackle, where is your third bilge pump? Aft, forward and ???

tackleshep · 08-05-2010, 10:12 PM

Shower drain........cooky little sucker. Just under the galley floor you open the ledge going into the aft bedroom (basically in front of the head) and I have a nice little hose that runs into a 8x8 bowel. It's just big enough to fit an auto Johnson bilge. You turn on the shower the bowel fills up and drains right over the side. Hell of a thing just makes me doubt the technical savy of boat designers. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and it looks like something I would think of as an afterthought. (really it's the genius of a pothead trying to figure out how to make a bong out a cantelope.) but much like the bong it gets the job done.

HavaMax · 08-06-2010, 12:29 AM

Guess I didn't consider the shower sump a "bilge pump".........

tackleshep · 08-06-2010, 03:44 PM

Well for my records it's the exact same pump (make and model) and the forward bilge so I call it a bilge pump.

tackleshep · 08-17-2010, 04:07 PM

For those who come behind us. I did confirm that the water was running directly from the air conditioner.

ss3964spd · 08-17-2010, 06:01 PM

Good follow up on your thread TS, wish everyone did that!

Dan

dragoy · 08-17-2010, 08:43 PM

Just as a side note to all of you. I have a 2000 2700 SCR that I bought last fall. Spent the winter going over a few things and one of them was that my shower would not drain at all! After some digging, I found that the $5.00 an hour guy that did the install at the factory had ran the drain hose from the floor pan to the sump well (with the Johnson pump) in a way that made an inverted trap! the highest point of the hose was higher than the floor drain!. I tried my darnedest to re-route it using the factory hose, but alas, it was too stiff. My solution: I went to an RV store, bought a much more flexible ribbed hose, turned the street elbow on the floor drain pointing forward and snaked the hose fwd and then aft to connect to the sump box. It works like a champ!!

Just wanted to mention this is case anyone else are having a hard time with the shower not draining. Check the elevation of the drain hose and make sure at no point does it go higher than the shower pan.

BR, Nils

Mikeym125 · 07-07-2021, 08:46 PM

Has anybody rerouted the air conditioner condensate drain so it does not drain in the forward bilge

mmwjr · 07-07-2021, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikeym125

Has anybody rerouted the air conditioner condensate drain so it does not drain in the forward bilge

Welcome aboard!

This is an 11 year old thread and most of these folks are no longer around and I know of one that has passed away. I recommend you start a new thread with you spefics such as boat model and so on.

denemante · 07-30-2021, 05:56 AM

Posting in case anyone is still here about this topic.

Water in the forward bilge of a 3300? I have that problem! I actually PMed the original guy who posted a solution 10 years ago - no idea if he's still around. Have you had this issue and solved it?

We just got the boat and the previous owner did tell me about this. They couldn't solve it, and just relied on the forward bilge pump in the floor of the small rear cabin floor. But I feel like I'm gambling there and don't like unknown water in my bilge.

I wasn't familiar with this AC type before now. Apparently it uses lake water in some fashion then pumps it out the front starboard side of the boat. When the AC is on, a solid stream/pour of water comes out that side port and spills into the lake. Were you suggesting that for some, that water instead goes into the bilge (perhaps by design?) and is pumped out by the forward bilge? I don't think I have that problem - but this water is coming from somewhere. And since the AC apparently uses a lot of water (and there is 3-4 inches in this bilge) - it seems like a logical culprit in some fashion. Perhaps not all of it is getting pumped out the side by the AC unit, and half is leaking to the bilge. I'd welcome any ideas about this water!

Patrick Bodkin · 07-30-2021, 11:32 AM

You may be confusing the relatively large quantity of fresh water used to cool the AC heat exchanger that is discharged from the boat with the minor amount of water that will be generated from normal coil condensation.