Rinker 310

[3rd times a charm]

I need to know.....am I too picky to not want any water in my bilge?  Eveything about our 2002 Rinker 310 is fantastic, execpt for about 3/4" of water that seems to show up in the bilge whenever it rains.  Do I need to shop vac it out or is it ok to have a little bit of water in the bilge as long as it isn't allowed to get stagnant?  I am also very nervous about "stringer rot", since an aquaintance of mine had to spend $40k replacing all of his stringers in a wellcraft (19 years old).

I have checked the arch, all the water lines, the waste tank etc.,  It is narrowed down to rain water.  I did find some water coming in around the freshwater hose hook-up and the box that has the plug for dockside cable tv, I sealed both of those up this past weekend.  They were only steady drips though, so, they could not have accounted for too much accumulation.  I also re-caulked the entire rubrail last year and that seems to have worked just fine.

In closing.....should I just relax?  Or should I be concerned and very vigilant in irradicating all sources of water accumulation?

[Dream 'Inn]

I get it on mine too...and yes, I'm extremely picky (I even wipe down my bilge area with a towel and clean it ).  But, I still get the water in there too.  Not sure if there's anymore you can do unless you get some kind of bilge pump that can suck it off the bottom.  I know mine is rain cause I keep it on a lift and have cleaned it out before and yet come back and it's there.

I'm a bit curious, you say you have a cable box.  It must be after market, cause I don't think it came as an option...I'd love to see a picture of where you have it mounted though.

Have you also looked in your other bilge area under your aft cabin...once in a while I get a little water in there too from rain...not much, but a little.  I just dry it with a towel.

[3rd times a charm]

Dream 'Inn, Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, the cable box was added.  It was added next to the two boxes for shore power.

And yes, I do get a little water in the forward bilge area.  Both in the compartment where the shower sump is located and the compartment where the bilge pump is located.

Thanks again for your comments.

[Dos Mangos]

I have a 280, Im located in harrison twp. I too have no more than an inch of water , its from the rain , I bought a manual pump and use that , and a towel to keep mine dry, just the nature of the beast ,

[3rd times a charm]

Dos Mangos, thanks for the comment.  

Your boat is in Harrison Twp. and you appear by your location to be in Ann Arbor.  It is a small world.  I work in Ann Arbor, live just west of there in Manchester and keep my Boat at Mac Ray Harbor in Harrison Twp.

[Dos Mangos]

I keep my boat at harbor club north , we'll have to get together and do some cruising ,Dan

[Island Time]

I get a little water in my 300 bilge as well and would love to find a way to keep it out, but have found no foolproof way, so I am learning to live with it.

Glad to see there are some other Lk. St. Clair boaters appearing on the site.  

We are just north of the lake on Fawn Island (little north of Harsens Island) and usually are down in the lake every weekend.

[cyber]

You guys do Nooner???

Or have they shut that down now???

[Dos Mangos]

J nooner ,its the 22d this year,, planning on getting there the night before, there is also a 2nd one sometme in august I believe, yes its still going srong

[Island Time]

Yep, still going strong. Will probably spend some time there on the 22nd...

[3rd times a charm]

Thanks again to everyone for their comments.  

I did a little more bilge diving this weekend.  I found a very steady drip coming out of one of the mercruiser blue threaded plugs on the cooling water system.  I am very confident that this was a majority of my water issue. It was below the lake water level so it dripped even when the engines were not running.  I removed the plug and re-installed it with Teflon Tape on the threads and the leak has stopped.

We had some major amounts of  rain yesterday and I only had  a 1/4" or less accumulation of water in the bilge after the rain stopped.  This water appears to be coming from the transom bench seat on the port side.  The rain water comes off the canvas just aft of the arch, balances its way across the step portion of the boat, drops in at or around the battery switch panel and down into the storage area under the seat.  It then drips out of the storage area through the drain hole and into the bilge.

Just like it was designed.

[Dream 'Inn]

I know exactly what you mean about the rain on the port side!  I have watched it flow during a rain storm...not a whole lot you can do about it.  Whatever I have in that small storage area (just cleaners), I keep in a plastic bag for that reason.

It's good that you found the leak...it's possible you may crossed the threads, which is easy to do.  You can pick a pack of 4 of them up at places like boatfix.com.

[3rd times a charm]

Dream Inn,

Thanks for the tip on boatfix.com

This site is a great source of information.  Thanks to all who had comments.

[Dream 'Inn]

Dream Inn,

Thanks for the tip on boatfix.com

This site is a great source of information.  Thanks to all who had comments.

No problem, and if you have your engine serial numbers, you can plug that in at boatfix.com and it will show you detailed layouts of anything with your engine (ie waterflow, wiring) with part numbers and prices.  Very good stuff!  I just learned about it myself not too long ago...and to boot, they have some of the very best prices with quick service.

[3rd times a charm]

Dream 'Inn,

When you come off plane, maybe a little too fast, do you find that water can come up on the swim platform and then down into the bilge?  If so,  have you found a way to avoid that issue?  Do you think coming off plane with the trim tabs down would help?