very sour under birth smell

[dmunneke]

There has been a thread or two on this but I have a specific question for those of you who may have been very deep into your 3697's..

I have owned this 85 3697 for 10 years.. I have done a fair amount of work on her.. Already have done new holding tank,head,lines.. Very unpleasant job.. I have been through the entire visible bilge..and cleaned it many times..

I have the mystery water that shows up in the middle bilge area, but where the smell is worse has always been under the forward birth..

Question is this: Have any of you found some mystery areas where water can get trapped up behind a stringer with no limber or something.. I cannot locate where this smell is coming from. If I could I would take up the entire floor at this point but as we are aware the forward area is a glass mold..

[Viper]

You've checked all shower sumps and air conditioner trays for standing water? Are your sumps the newer versions with covers or the older open tubs?

[bud37]

Check out the anchor locker ....compare. I agree with the shower sumps, or any sump for that matter they can funk up a bilge in a hurry with very little water. But like you said you have had it for 10 years, so you may have already done all this.

[dmunneke]

Appreciate.. Yes I havent run the forward air unit in years !! no water standing.. The shower sump is newer with cover and functioning.. I will investigate the anchor locker. I feel like I have checked that but maybe one I overlooked. I boat a camera snake and I'm going to see if I can see some things with that.. Making me crazy

[tomschauer]

If you use the shower, check the sump. They are vented and easily get a lot of soap, hair, etc. in them that can be really foul. I clean mine at least twice a year for this reason.

[waybomb]

My 3697 and a buddy's 3697 both collect any water inn the bow. The bow bilge is the lowest point. I can put water in the engine batches and it works it's easy to the bow.
I installed a forward bilge pump.

[vineyardgray]

The forward bilge on my 3867 Santego holds about 100 liters of water before the pump comes on. I use the manual pump every two weeks and pull at least 6 16L pails out before the manual pump won't pull any more.

This is a design issue imo. Why the bilge pump would be installed so high up from the lowest point, I cannot understand.

In my case it looks like a hot water heater leak is the source of some of the water, which also causes the bilge bacteria to have a nice warm place to breed and cause extra funk. This obviously needs correcting, but so does a bilge pump need to be installed at a lower point.

I have been researching this and have found a few very expensive vacuum solutions and a few that are more sensible.

Have a look:

https://www.amazon.ca/Whale-SI8284-Pre-Wired-Pre-Assembled-Intelligent/dp/B01BHCFBG2?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duc12-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B01BHCFBG2

http://www.drybilgesystem.com/

https://www.greybeardpumps.com/

Anybody using any of these?

[dmunneke]

I created my own dry bilge.. I'll take pictures this weekend.. Its working in the center.. I need to investigate the comment about water in the forward bilge.. The mariner doesnt have a pump in the forward.. Low or high..


copied from this guy.

https://lifeempirically.com/2018/03/12/ ... ge-system/

[vineyardgray]

Amazing! I'm going to give that DIY system a try!