I have a puzzling collection of water in my aft bilge compartment in my Mainship 30 Pilot I. I have a dripless PSS shaft seal which I am convinced is not leaking after just having it replaced and checking it and the cooling water hose from the engine seawater flow. I should be able to find the leak but it is very slow and I need to go back to square one and vacuum it all out and dry it to see if i can find the leak. It is at the bottom of a very deep and inaccessible hole under the fuel tank. It is about a gallon of water over two weeks of accumulation complicated by raining here last week. Today just for the heck of it I stuck my finger in it and licked. Not very salty at least compared (I think) to hanging my hand in the bay over the transom. I would very much like it to be fresh water which could be somewhere in the fresh water system or rainwater. I was thinking about putting some food coloring in the fresh water tank. Is there an easy definitive test of sea water vs maybe a little salty freshwater to distinguish the two? Will an egg float in sea water? -- bruce

You can get a cheap hydrometer Boxtech Aquarium Marine Test Sea Saltwater Hydrometer Reef - Ocean Hydrometer Salinity Meter - for Fish Tank Water Salinity Specific Sent from my iPad > On Feb 23, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Bruce Adornato via Trawlers-and-Trawlering <trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > > I have a puzzling collection of water in my aft bilge compartment in my > Mainship 30 Pilot I. > I have a dripless PSS shaft seal which I am convinced is not leaking after > just having it replaced and checking it and the > cooling water hose from the engine seawater flow. > > I should be able to find the leak but it is very slow and I need to go back > to square one and vacuum it all out and dry it to see if i can find the > leak. It is at the bottom of a very deep and inaccessible hole under the > fuel tank. It is about a gallon of water over two weeks of accumulation > complicated by raining here last week. > > Today just for the heck of it I stuck my finger in it and licked. Not very > salty at least compared (I think) to hanging my hand in the bay over the > transom. I would very much like it to be fresh water which could be > somewhere in the fresh water system or rainwater. I was thinking about > putting some food coloring in the fresh water tank. > > Is there an easy definitive test of sea water vs maybe a little salty > freshwater to distinguish the two? Will an egg float in sea water? > > > > > -- > bruce > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

Try a salt water pool test kit for salinity. It measures the degree of salinity so it can determine if it is saltwater or freshwater. My recommendation is to do a test sample of water in your fresh water system first, record that ppm reading then do the water in the bilge to compare. Steve ---------------- Steve Bedford laVITA, 2007 Jefferson Rivanna 45’ maxmarineproducts.com Home of Super MAX Anchors Burgess, Virginia Sent from my iPad. Please excuse misused words due to the "auto correct" function. > On Feb 23, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Bruce Adornato via Trawlers-and-Trawlering <trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > > I have a puzzling collection of water in my aft bilge compartment in my > Mainship 30 Pilot I. > I have a dripless PSS shaft seal which I am convinced is not leaking after > just having it replaced and checking it and the > cooling water hose from the engine seawater flow. > > I should be able to find the leak but it is very slow and I need to go back > to square one and vacuum it all out and dry it to see if i can find the > leak. It is at the bottom of a very deep and inaccessible hole under the > fuel tank. It is about a gallon of water over two weeks of accumulation > complicated by raining here last week. > > Today just for the heck of it I stuck my finger in it and licked. Not very > salty at least compared (I think) to hanging my hand in the bay over the > transom. I would very much like it to be fresh water which could be > somewhere in the fresh water system or rainwater. I was thinking about > putting some food coloring in the fresh water tank. > > Is there an easy definitive test of sea water vs maybe a little salty > freshwater to distinguish the two? Will an egg float in sea water? > > > > > -- > bruce > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

I was recently asked to solve a leak into an isolated bilge compartment where there was no apparent way for water to get in. Eventually, a look, difficult in itself, revealed evidence of water leaking from a thru-hull installed directly above this compartment. Checking outside, the boat was listing enough to immerse the thru-hull below the water level. Shifting trim ballast righted the vessel, putting the thru-hull back to it's designed distance above the water level. *Rudy & Jill Sechez * *BRINEY BUG-a 34' Sail-Assisted Trawler * *850-832-7748* *www.trawlertrainingabc.com <http://www.trawlertrainingabc.com>* Cocoa FL On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 9:01 AM Steve Bedford via Trawlers-and-Trawlering < trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > Try a salt water pool test kit for salinity. It measures the degree of > salinity so it can determine if it is saltwater or freshwater. My > recommendation is to do a test sample of water in your fresh water system > first, record that ppm reading then do the water in the bilge to compare. > > Steve > ---------------- > Steve Bedford > laVITA, 2007 Jefferson Rivanna 45’ > maxmarineproducts.com > Home of Super MAX Anchors > Burgess, Virginia > > Sent from my iPad. Please excuse misused words due to the "auto correct" > function. > > > On Feb 23, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Bruce Adornato via Trawlers-and-Trawlering < > trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote: > > > > I have a puzzling collection of water in my aft bilge compartment in my > > Mainship 30 Pilot I. > > I have a dripless PSS shaft seal which I am convinced is not leaking > after > > just having it replaced and checking it and the > > cooling water hose from the engine seawater flow. > > > > I should be able to find the leak but it is very slow and I need to go > back > > to square one and vacuum it all out and dry it to see if i can find the > > leak. It is at the bottom of a very deep and inaccessible hole under the > > fuel tank. It is about a gallon of water over two weeks of accumulation > > complicated by raining here last week. > > > > Today just for the heck of it I stuck my finger in it and licked. Not > very > > salty at least compared (I think) to hanging my hand in the bay over the > > transom. I would very much like it to be fresh water which could be > > somewhere in the fresh water system or rainwater. I was thinking about > > putting some food coloring in the fresh water tank. > > > > Is there an easy definitive test of sea water vs maybe a little salty > > freshwater to distinguish the two? Will an egg float in sea water? > > > > > > > > > > -- > > bruce > > _______________________________________________ > > > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change > email address, etc) go to: > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change > email address, etc) go to: > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers_lists.trawlering.com > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. >