Richard,

I had a leak in my bilge for some time, I found the inlet line to the water heater was seaping and running down into the bilge near the sink. If you dry your bilge, turn off the water pressure and bleed the pressure off the system do you still get water in this area?

The bilge area under the sink is on the route for water coming from the aft end of the boat. Any leaks at the stuffing or aft water tanks, or the coolant lines, HX, etc, must flow beneath the sink to get to the deep part of the bilge.

I still have some water that collects under the sink area. When leaving the boat, I always either open the door to the sink thru hull and poke my hand down to the hull or pull out the lower drawer and check for water. I finally traced the water build up to a few things... one-the stuffing box needed adjustment... two-when I fill the aft water tanks I get leakage from the inspection cover on one tank (need to replace the gasket sometime)... three-normal drip from the stuffing box.
All of this is more evident when I go sailing and the boat does not move around much. The cause of the water collection is a poorly drilled drain hole to the bilge which blocks the flow out of this area. It is always more noticable on a starboard tack. I have just leaned to live with the issue rather than reeming out/playing around with the drain hole which is difficult to get at. One last item, any small leaks in the hoses that feed the Heat Exchanger or Raw Water pump sometimes will create a small stream that is not always noticable. You may just want to check/tighten all the clamps on the hoses.
John Meyer
Hilbre 2135
San Pedro, CA

There is an easy way to pick up the stuffing box drip. I put a small clear plastic container under the stuffing box and stick it down to the hull with silicone seal. Into the forward side of that at the bottom I put a 3/8" ID (or so) clear plastic tube which is sealed in place with silicone seal. That tube runs under the engine and into the bilge. Viola. Stuffing box water goes right to the bilge.

I also put a 2nd bilge pump in on its own circuit/switch, it is a small pump and can suck the bilge down much lower than the big one can.

Now if I could only figure out how to stop those damn aft tanks from leaking through the inspection ports. They just blew the 5200 out last time I filled them.

We also have a slow drip from a water line at the galley sink which puts some water in there but very little. Hose fittings for this boat are really hard to find around here.

Bud:

Do you the the type of covers that can be screwed right into the tank if you keep going? As ours we had the same on our 2 stern water tanks. The new bow water tank I installed last year had a new style of cap that had a flat seal on it and sealed on top.

So what I did was called Ronco in CALIF. and asked to buy only just the tops. What was better they sent them to me free of charge as the guy told me that Catalina was one of their best customers.

But one thing I had to do is to take and grind down the 4 little plastic studs on the sealing area making sure it was flat. I have yet to fill our 2 rear tanks but this should solve our same trouble as your having.

Randy

Thanks Randy. I'll give them a call, sounds like that could be the fix.