I have accumulated foul smelling water in the bilge under the gally of my 37 ft Sedan Bridge. I have tested the shower sump and float and do not see drain hose from shower leaking. Also do not see the discharge hose leaking.
I replaced the sump pan, pump and float last year, and it holds about 1 inch of water at all times. My Cruiseair AC units have a condensate return that pumps overboard with the water source cooling discharge [or at least that is where I think it goes, since there are no condensate drain pans, etc. ]. The forward bilge pump chamber is pretty dry.I have also checked the area under my Purasan wastewater system and see no leaks when the unit is turned on [flushed]. I am stumped as to where this foul smelling water comes from. Anyone else out there had this problem?

i had the same problem on my 41 it was the a/c pans they were just drained to the bilge i plumbed them to the fwd shower sump problem solved

mark

My vote is that it is the A/C condensate - should be a tray under the units (you probably have 2) with a hose going to the shower sump - was disconnected from the sump when I bought my 39'. Short of that, on Miss Cleo that area has an abundance of thru-hulls, hoses, filters, and pumbing of all sorts - could be any of them. A thought - turn on your A/C units and verify that no water is leaking from the input cooling water filters - I had to replace the cover gaskets on mine.

Also, on Miss Cleo any water that drains from the anchor rode ends up there (minus the amount that can be pumped by the forward bilge pump) so if you anchor a lot ..... I have plans to install small bilge pumps fore & aft to get more of the residual left by both the forward and aft bilge pumps.

I'm starting to appreciate my roof mounted AC unit. Lot less complication and having far less potential problems. Less efficient, but what the heck; I pay for the electricity on a lump sum basis anyhow.

Jeff

Dave:

My boat came with a seat neatly placed atop the AC unit. The one I replaced that one with--a Coleman RV unit--is even lower.

Jeff

I just went down this path too.

It is more than likely the A/C Condensation. I had to crawl around a while to figure this one. I woke up early the other am while staying on the boat and took out the whole wall in front of the AC to get in. Voila, there it was! The water flow was pretty subtle so it was not all that obvious at first. My AC condenser would dump out right at the water line so it's pretty tough just to tap into a through hull. I am plumbing lines into a shower sump.

A dry front bilge is a happy front bilge!

We had a smelly forward bilge as well. I found that the black coating (tar) at the keel had lost it's bond with the aluminum and was trapping stagnant water. I removed all of the loose tar and gave the bilge a good cleaning. It was a huge improvement.
I also installed a Whale Gulper 220 shower pump directly to the shower drain. That eliminates the soap and scum in the shower sump. The shower sump is now only used to collect the condensate from the A/C units.

Rob