Regal 258 - forward bilge plug goes where?

R

richivey

Member
Joined
Jul 11, 2007
RO Number
27370
Messages
3
There is a plug at the forward-most point of my bilge - looks like a transom plug. It wore down, allowing water to flow from my bilge into the forward part of the boat (my cabin floor is wet).

When I had it out of the water recently, I shop-vacced the water out of the bilge and replaced the plug, but when I put it back into the water, I guess there was still water in the forward part of the boat that flowed back through my new plug into the bilge.

It's like this water just goes back and forth. I'm not sure where it goes up front though, beyond the engine firewall. If I rip the cabin floor plywood out, will I be able to get to where this water is at? If I can get all the water out, I can seal that plug with 5200 to keep it out - it's just getting to the water that's already there.

If anyone is familiar with this type of setup, please let me know.

Thanks!
 
I'm not sure whether my setup is similiar to yours or not, I have a 1988 255xl, but I have two drains at the forward part of my bilge in the engine room that go forward under the after cabin. I had a similiar problem with the galley floor getting spongy. The floor in the galley originally had no inspection hatches so I didn't know what to expect when I replaced the floor. When I removed the floor to replace it the forward bilge was full of water.

After alot of investigating I finally found the source of the water-the fill for my water tank is in the anchor locker and was leaking down into the forward bilge when I would fill it. Now, a leaking water fill problem was compounded by the fact that when Regal built the boat they fiberglassed over all the drains along the keel. Each rib that sits perpendicular to the keel originally had a 45 degree angle cut into the bottom to allow water to flow to the back. When Regal fiberglassed it all in they sealed these holes by accident and the water was now trapped. I opened up the holes then used resin to seal the ribs so water could not penetrate the new holes I made. Now any water that gets up there will drain to the back, However I did add an inspection port in the floor of the galley so I could see what's happening in the future. Since that time, even though I regularly have a small amount of water in the engine room(air vents leak when it rains) the forward bilge stays bone dry.

Like I said, I'm not sure that you have the same circumstance that I had, but the first thing I would find out is where that water was coming from. Also, the floor in my galley sits approximately 6" above the bottom of the boat, the keel is at least 6" thick. When I pulled the floor up I was shocked by how much water was trapped in there. When I opened the drain holes along the keel the water RUSHED to the back. My boat naturally sits with the bow up a little, you can check this by putting a level on your galley floor. If yours sits similiar to mine you may have a similiar problem. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the detailed reply. I just started to suspect yesterday that the fresh-water fill or tank my be responsible for the water (it was much worse after recently filling the tank). I've got some things to check out. Probably need to rip the floor up, too.
 
Replacing the galley floor isn't that bad of a job if you have to do it. I cut the carpet with a razor blade and pulled it all over to one side, then cut the kerfs for the floor. Mine came out in chunks after it was loosened up. I did have a few nails that ran into the keel that were used to hold the original floor down. I sealed mine with resin. The new floor is just plywood sealed with resin then re-fiberglassed in, but like I said before, I put an inspection port in the floor so I can see down there now. Good luck and let us know how it comes out.
 
Well, I decided to drain my water tank completely to see if that dried things out. While it was drianing, I noticed that my water pump was leaking into the the storage compartment under one of the seats. From there, the water was running down through a drain hole to an area close to where floor-level is at. I replaced the diaphragm in the pump and everything dried out after a couple of days.

I think that was the only issue. Thanks for the help, and hopefully that's it!
 
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