Rgdodson54
Member
What color is the water if any? If it's reddish, the water is coming from a void and leaking out into the bilge. Then the question is how is it getting into the void? Are you in fresh or salt water? If salt, the first step would be to try to figure out if the leakage is salt. I just taste it and that seems gross these days, but I don't know any other way to test except some kind of analysis. Anyway, the most likely fresh sources are the numerous potable water system connections in the space, including the manifold, the water heater and the washer if you have one. My source was a loose fitting on the water heater. Fresh could also be rainwater; a gap in the caulking between the hull and the deck joint would not be unusual in boats of our age. Sorry to not be more definitive but leaks can be very frustrating and hard to find. There are stories of owners chasing them for years.
For what it’s worth:
When I had the survey done on my 2005 390 MY CT6A 8.3 we noticed a 4” removable inspection cap just aft of the isolation transformer, same place as described in the forum. The Survayor and seller had no idea what or why it was there. It had a faint smell of diesel fuel. Anyway, I pumped about 5 gal of water out of it. 2 years later there occasionally is a small accumulation of water.
I was able to get in touch with the guy who sold the boat to the guy I bought it from, he solved the problem. At that time the boat was berthed in Long Island,NY It was in a position where it got a lot of wind and salt spray. One day when the owner showed up, there was 50 gal of diesel fuel in the port engine bilge, the port fuel tank had ruptured due to corrosion. The fuel was pumped out and the investigation started. Turned out that a certain number of the 390s did not have the engine vents properly sealed when the boat was constructed. It took some back and forth, but Sea Ray did show up and remove a large section of the hull and resealed the vent housing. The entire helm came out to get the new fuel tanks installed. Total bill was 42K. Anyway, once the boat was put back together, there was still a strong smell of diesel that no one could figure out. The owner was taking the boat to FL via the ICW. Stopping for the night at Coinjock marina, he noticed 3 other 390s. Odd to see that, so he inquired mentioning the smell of diesel to the mechanic. The mechanic said that was the reason the 3 other 390s were there and if the owner allowed him to cut a hole, he would show him where the smell was coming from. That is how the inspection hole with the removable cap came to be. Somehow fuel migrated from the port engine bilge forward to that void. I haven’t figured out how, but at least I know why. How water gets from aft to forward, I’m not sure, but I’m still looking. The amount is minimal thus it’s not high on my list. Hope this helps........