Water in the 4" PVC wire trough from cabin to engine.

[Spdnby]

Hello this is my first post here as I just joined. I'm John and I bought my first Parker, a 2320 pilot. I bought it and rescued it from hurricane Sandy from an original owner 10 days before the storm. It's a 95 hull with a 200 hp HPDI (2000).

I bought Lenco trim tabs (18 x 9) with the LED positioning indicator tactile switch.

MY QUESTION.
Upon wiring the actuator wiring thru the transom and into the battery compartments, I noticed there was water almost topped off in the 4" PVC pipe that carries the engine controls to and from the pilot house. I drilled a small 3/8" hole in the 90 to drain the water from this pipe. Problem is the water only dropped about an inch before it stopped flowing indicating the compartment below was also filled.

So now I need to drain the water from this compartment. Thinking I could remove the 2 circular access ports in front of the motor I began to drill a 3/4" side hole into the compartment and realized I was drilling into lead.

After this happened I drilled a 3/4" hole straight down thru the 4" PVC and stuck a hose in there to siphon what was in the compartment. The compartment was smaller than I expected. Just to be clear I am now below the deck. The PVC is sealed to the deck in this area.

Prior to doing this I lowered the boat trailer in the front and got about 4 gallons out where the wiring harness enters the pipe from the pilot house. Here the pipe has a 45 just placed in an upward angle and its not glued or sealed to the pipe. ( behind the access panel behind the cap'n seat on the cabin door wall).

I am trying to figure out 2 things and I think I know but wanted opinions from those in the know.
How did water fill this pipe in the first place and how do I properly drain the compartment below the deck where the 4 inch PVC pipe exits the deck where the transom starboard batt compartment is?

I'm thinking it got there by somehow entering the rod storage hole in the inner hull wall under the gunwale and it ran along the deck between the inner and outer hull till it eventually filled the pipe. As the boat comes out of the water under initial application of throttle the water would slosh to the back where it could go into the bilge area of the center of the hull but over time some went into the pipe.

-Does this sound feasible? Does my thinking here sound right?
-How do I prevent it in the future?
-18 x 9 Lenco trim tabs going to work well?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....
John.

 

[Phil]

The water probably came from the driving rain from Sandy. Water will drip down from the rodholder holes and hatches but it's not enough to accumulate before working its way down the bilge. I would siphon as much as you can and ventilate the area and keep an eye on it. Post some pics if you can. The tabs will work fine. I have smalller factory ones and they do fine.

 

[Scalawag 2320]

I have a 97 2320 and don't have anything like that.
I have a strait piece of 4" but no 90s.
Please post pixs

 

[windknotnc]

I would think the 4" PVC should be bedded in Poly Foam and part of a completely sealed compartment. You definitely need a stringer layout from Parker to see where that pipe goes. I am guessing the reason it will not drain is because it is surrounded by foam.

 

[Phil]

A couple more ideas: 1) If the boat is stored in which the starboard stern is tilted low, then water could accumulate in the starboard stern corner and flow over the 1” lip of the conduit before it spills into the bilge. 2) If the boat has a plastic thru-hull starboard side amidship, that thru-hull is old enough to fail and cause the problem. If this is the case, you should have noticed the bilge pump cycling on.

 

[Brent]

Somewhat related.

I ordered a borescope with a light from Amazon to view to areas I cant see like the limber drain in the forward bilge. It does not drain well and cant tell if blocked or the way it is built.
It connects to a PC and takes pics and movies. It is inexpensive and I can return if not satisfied

Maybe one will help you

 

[Spdnby]

Good morning fellas. I had nothing but problems trying to log on after my initial post was asked even though I did get to see your posts. So thank you for all the help.
The bore-a-scope idea is good. how much was cheap?
I can't post photos even though I got real good ones as this says they got to be smaller that 350 kb's and on the iPad I don't know how to reduce them.
Phil, I suspect and agree that that is how the water entered the pipe.
The original owner I bought the boat from said and I had seen a small amount of water in the cabin wheel house....couple of ounces.....that he did not know how the water got in there.

I believe we figured that out. The water in the pipe splashed forward hitting the access door behind the helm chair.

From the wheel house I was able to tilt the boat forward on the trailer and got most of the water to drain into the compartment right below the pipe. I removed about 4 gallons from there.

After drilling the 90 w a 3/4 hole saw I was able to siphon about a half gallon from the compartment around the 90 in the SB transom batt storage area by using a garden hose.
I'm going to reseal the 90 with the core I removed with the hole saw and ill take pics again ad this time ill save them less than 350 kb's. and post them..

It feels good to have access to this site.

Putting the trim tabs and running the wires s ands wiring them has really opened my eyes to the construction of this boat that the average boater would not see.

Thanks again for replying and trying to help me out.
It's pouring out today so I may not get pics posted.

If anyone knows how to reduce the size of my pics on the iPad I can post the shots that I previously took.

And as far as the guy who said he doesn't have fittings on the ends of his 4 inch pipe how is it sealed to the deck?

Lastly the size of the compartment under the deck below the pipe where the batt compartment is is very tiny due to the lead ballast taking up most of the area.

I hope this helps.....any questions I'm all ears.

And Phil I'm going to seal the holes under the gunwales with a type of rod holder that can drain back onto the deck.

 

[Brent]

Borescope was less than $30 from Amazon

Try emailing a pic from Camera Roll in Photos app to yourself
Open Photos
select pic
press forward icon in the lower left side
Select Mail
In the Field, add your email address
add Subject
Press Send
Select Image size try Small (or Medium)

Open Mail and find your email
press on image
select Save to Camera Roll

now try to upload it from Camera Roll

 

[Spdnby]

Thanks Brent, 30 bucks is right in the ball park just to have, it sounds like a good tool to have. Toys R Us has a USB style magnifier that was 30 bucks and is another awesome computerized tool.

Thanks for the tip, I'll get some pics posted soon.
John

 

[Photoguy]

If anyone knows how to reduce the size of my pics on the iPad I can post the shots that I previously took.

Not entirely sure how the iPad works as I don't have one, but maybe you could try e-mailing them to yourself. Mac mail can give size options when including an attachement.

Just a thought.

 

[Scalawag 2320]

AH, you did not mention that the OB was on the transom. Silly me mine is on a bracket, and that is why a picture is worth a 1000 words.

 

[Spdnby]

My apologies..scalawag

 

[Scalawag 2320]

Spdnby,
No apology needed. When I was reading your post I was envisioning my boat and could not understand why there would be a 90 elbow.
Have you tried a wet vac either vac or blowing?

 

[Spdnby]

It's drained already I drilled. Thru the pipe......wanted to know if my thoughts about where the water originally seemed feasible to those in the know.

 

[Brent]

I received the borescope today and here is a test image

 

[Spdnby]

This is a reply that is really late but I found out how the water was getting in the PVC conduit from the cabin to the battery compartment.
Water was getting in the hole where the engine wires enter into the battery compartment. My outboard is transom mounted. Water comes over the transom swamping that hole and then before it gets to the bilge it spills into the conduit. An easy fix was revealing that thru hole.