LETTERS enjoyed — we are now anxiously awaiting this year's Ta-Ta to join the Wanderer, Doña de Mallorca and Profligate crew for more sailing fun and adventure. Rog and Di Frizzelle Di's Dream, Catalina 47 San Francisco
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www.pacificoffshorerigging.com • April, 2016
⇑⇓ WHY WOULD IT LEAK 10 GALLONS SOME DAYS AND NOTHING OTHER DAYS? Oh man, the Wanderer's story of the bilge alarm going off in 'ti Profligate made me remember a real brain teaser. After I bought my 1977 Cal 39 a decade ago, I would notice extra water in the bilge on some occasions. It wasn't often, but when it showed up, it was always after a day of using the boat, not just when we came down to the slip. I checked all the thru-hulls and they weren't leaking. I checked all the water tanks, and they didn't seem to be leaking. I made sure the water-pressure pump was off and nothing was leaking in the engine room. The odd thing is that the water only showed up on random occasions. Sometimes we'd go out for several days of cruising in the Bay or Delta, or up and down the coast, and the bilge pump would never come on. Then we'd go out for a daysail and come back with a full bilge! The appearance of water in the bilge didn't correlate with rainfall. It didn't correlate with heavy weather. The packing gland was not dripping. It wasn't pleasant tasting the water in the bilge, but it didn't seem salty. Years went by while I tried to figure out what caused the bilge to fill up at random times. It was so random and happened so seldom, that I wasn't really worried — especially since it seemed like fresh water. I finally noticed that when the bilge was full, sometimes we'd have water in the catch-basin under the engine, too. But the engine was not leaking. Not the raw water intake, not the strainer, and not the exchanger. But why would it leak five or 10 gallons one day and not the next? I was truly baffled. Another year or so later I noticed something curious. It had been another day when the bilge had filled, but although it was a cold day, the water in the bilge was warm. What the hell!? It pointed back to the engine, but why didn't it leak every time we used the engine? I would watch the engine while someone else was driving, and there were no leaks. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! Where else would hot water on a boat come from, and only when the engine was running? Hot water, hot water . . . eureka, the water heater! D'oh, it had to be. We have a coolant-circulator line running from the engine to the hot-water heater aft, which holds five gallons, and has both a shorepower heating element and a heat exchanger running off the engine coolant line. So it sure seemed as if the hot water had to be coming from the heater. And since it is aft of the engine, it was feasible for water to flow into the engine basin if it was coming fast enough to overflow the tube that would normally carry a minor drip under the basin and into the bilge. But why only on some days and not others? And why would it leak even if the pressure pump was off? And how would it apparently gush enough to overflow into the engine basin, but apparently then just stop? And then finally — after maybe six years — the light in my head came on all the way. The water heater has a safety pressure-release valve. According to the literature for the heater, the valve is set to open if the internal water temperature exceeds 155°. The engine specs revealed that it runs at about 180° when fully warmed up. Ding!