SO30i - gasket for pipe to bilge missing ?

[Torsten]

Hello,

on my 2013 SO30i I just found out that there might be a gasket missing to connect a pipe to the bilge area around the drive shaft.

It looks like there has to be something between the pipe which sould lead incoming water to the bilge aread midships.

Do you have something similar on your boats ?

I attached some pictures to show the meant location.

  

[bikerwookie]

I believe it is just a limber hole to allow any bilge water to get to the bilge well where the pump is.

[Torsten]

Thanks for your immediate answer.

Surely this hole is meant to drain the area around the shaft but maybe you can see the end of a pipe approx. 2cm inside the hole.
If the water shall go through this pipe it should be fitted better to the hole, shouldn't it ?

I was just wondering if Jeanneau forgot to place a part between hole and pipe...

[puravida35]

My SO35 has a similar limber hole ,but as your suggest, the hole is connected to a small section of pipe that leads to the main sump under the engine. I believe the intent is to trap any fluids that might leak from the engine or transmission, preventing them from being pumped overboard by the bilge pump. IMO, based on your photo, it looks like the limber hole and drain pipe were not properly connected. In the rear sump on my boat the only fluids I've encountered was a small amount of sea water from burping the shaft bearing and coolant that splashed into the compartment while flushing the system. Given the forward location of the engine and transmission, I don't think there is much chance for any significant discharge of unwanted fluids if they did happen to make it to the faulty limber hole. Nonetheless, your limber hole /pipe connection looks faulty to me.

Regards,
Thomas

[Torsten]

Thanks Thomas,
This is exactly what I expected to hear.
Your description fits to what I see on my boat.

I also tried to get feedback from Jeanneau ... you wouldn't wonder if I say there was no helpful feedback by them, do you ?
It would be perfect if I could get a limber hole picture of another SO30i so I have something to force Jeanneau to correct their fault.

[rene460]

Hi Hansi,

My 2009 SO30i has a very similar appearance viewed from the prop shaft end, but does not appear to have a pipe, however there is an inverted u- shaped fibreglass moulding running from the forward side of the cross beam forward to the aft side of the next beam and the channel this forms opens into the bilge under the floor at the base of the companionway ladder.  Any water leaking in at the prop shaft seal would flow through this channel towards the bilge pump, but not pick up any drips of oil from under the engine on the way.  Engine oil drips would be retained under the engine between the two cross beams awaiting cleanup.

The other limber holes through cross beams, e.g. Just aft of the log also do not seem to have any pipe ducting, just the fibreglass finish.

Perhaps it was just my old knees did not let me get low enough to see the pipe.  Unfortunately I left the boat this morning, about the time of your post, and did not think to take a picture.  The beautifully shaped opening into the prop seal area looks made to take a pipe, but in fact it is very difficult to fit such a pipe flush with the floor.  I suspect that the design just developed to the inverted u instead of a pipe as this arrangement does not hold a little pool of water.

Rene460

[Torsten]

Thanks Rene,
Your statement makes me feel that Jeanneau intended to build it that way.
From what I have seen so far I do not think Jeanneau made real changes to the SO30i between 2008 and 2013.
But it is still unclear to me why there is a too short pipe in there....
Everywhere it is as you said with molded inverted u cross bow openings and no protection of the glass fibre between the molded sections :-(

[puravida35]

Hanse, I misspoke in my previous post regarding the pipe. My SO 35 does have a pipe (looks like PVC) that has a finished connection to the limber hole just aft of the engine compartment. This pipe runs through a tunnel under the engine pan and exits through another limber hole just forward of the engine pan. I believe the pipe is there to allow seawater that might leak from the the shaft seal or muffler to drain into the main bilge area, bypassing the engine pan. On my boat, the pipe keeps water from gathering around the hollow areas of the grid work under the engine pan... Ensures it drains instead of collecting and sloshing around the voids in the grid work. The 30i may be different, but it seems strange that it has a pipe that is not connected to anything.

Does the forward limber hole forward of the engine compartment appear to have a pipe connection or is it just a plain bore hole?

[Torsten]

Thanks Thomas,
I think it should be the same on the SO30i. For some reason Jenneau put it the pipe but forgot the connections to the limber holes.
On my first post I showed the limber hole aft of the engine compartment.
Here is the picture of the limber hole fwd of the engine compartment

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[Zipisea]

Hi,

just visited my 33i and took some photos. I have similar situation so I believe this is the way how they are building these boats.
First photo is aft side of engine and second from fwd side. Also noticed that seacock hole has quite shallow elbow in fwd limber hole so the potential water will anyway easily end up under the engine section so this missing pipe connection does not cause any major issues in my mind.





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[Torsten]

Thanks for the pictures !

Because the SO33i and SO30i are very similar (except the lenght and sailing Performance :-) it seems that's the way it's meant to be.