Dougcole
Guru
OK, here's a very weird one.
About 6 months ago I noticed that I had a lot of fluid in the bilge area of my lazarette. Upon inspection I found it to be coolant. Since the generator is in there, my first thought was that I had a coolant leak. But the coolant level was not at all low and while running the genset with 30 minutes of close observing I could find no leaks whatsoever.
This confused me for a while, until I remembered that I store a gallon jug of coolant (Auto Zone 50/50) in the lazarette. I checked the jug and it was almost empty. This was a brand new jug, the glued seal was still intact on the spout. I figured the jug must have had a small leak in it, so I filled it up with water, put the lid back on super tight and squeezed it as hard as I could. No discernible leak. So I cleaned up the bilge and chalked it up to one of those strange boat things.
Whatever. I threw it away and bought another jug. Put it back in the same place. A month later there was coolant in the bilge again. Checked the new jug. Half empty.
I then moved the jug into the engine room and put it in a plastic tub to catch any leaks. It hasn't leaked a drop.
And after putting 200 hours on the genset last month no more coolant in the bilge.
Thoughts?
Maybe expansion from heat? But the engine room gets hotter than the lazarette.
Ghosts?
Oddly, my wife loves a brand of dish soap that comes in a pump bottle which I leave on the galley counter. Whenever I leave the boat and come back some of the soap has leaked out and formed a sticky ring under the bottle, but there is no soap on the sides of the bottle. If we are on the boat, even for a month, no soap leaks at all.
I'm gonna need some help here, peeps. I'm starting to question my own sanity.
About 6 months ago I noticed that I had a lot of fluid in the bilge area of my lazarette. Upon inspection I found it to be coolant. Since the generator is in there, my first thought was that I had a coolant leak. But the coolant level was not at all low and while running the genset with 30 minutes of close observing I could find no leaks whatsoever.
This confused me for a while, until I remembered that I store a gallon jug of coolant (Auto Zone 50/50) in the lazarette. I checked the jug and it was almost empty. This was a brand new jug, the glued seal was still intact on the spout. I figured the jug must have had a small leak in it, so I filled it up with water, put the lid back on super tight and squeezed it as hard as I could. No discernible leak. So I cleaned up the bilge and chalked it up to one of those strange boat things.
Whatever. I threw it away and bought another jug. Put it back in the same place. A month later there was coolant in the bilge again. Checked the new jug. Half empty.
I then moved the jug into the engine room and put it in a plastic tub to catch any leaks. It hasn't leaked a drop.
And after putting 200 hours on the genset last month no more coolant in the bilge.
Thoughts?
Maybe expansion from heat? But the engine room gets hotter than the lazarette.
Ghosts?
Oddly, my wife loves a brand of dish soap that comes in a pump bottle which I leave on the galley counter. Whenever I leave the boat and come back some of the soap has leaked out and formed a sticky ring under the bottle, but there is no soap on the sides of the bottle. If we are on the boat, even for a month, no soap leaks at all.
I'm gonna need some help here, peeps. I'm starting to question my own sanity.