Front and rear bilge bilge connected?

[BillBones]

I have a new to me 1981 221 Pacific, and I'm trying to clean oil out of the bilge. Are the front and rear bilge areas connected under the fuel tank, or are they separated by the tank? Thanks.

 

[seasick]

I have a new to me 1981 221 Pacific, and I'm trying to clean oil out of the bilge. Are the front and rear bilge areas connected under the fuel tank, or are they separated by the tank? Thanks.

I can't say for certain for that year but usually there is a pathway for water to flow from forward to aft. In later models it is a tube like a rigging tube. That tube often gets plugged with crud. It may be fairly hard to see the tube ends also. Try looking from both ends of the tank if you can get in there. A folding inspection mirror may help

 

[VeroWing]

Normally bilge areas are connected by pvc type piping. On inboard models, there should be two pipe outlets coming through bulkhead into engine bilge area. One is from forward bilge area, and the other from fuel cell compartment. NOTICE that pipe coming from fuel cell compartment comes with removable plug on small chain that should be installed before running engine. This way, any possible leaking fuel or vapors from fuel tank will not enter engine compartment. At least that was the theory when they built them this way.

 

[BillBones]

Thanks, I'll poke around the boat tomorrow and see what I find.

 

[BillBones]

Did some digging in the bilge today and found that the fuel tank area is separated from the bilge by a bulkhead, but it has a pass through at the bottom. There is another bulkhead in front of the engine, seperating the bilge from the engine compartment.

I'm probably going to pull the fuel tank-it's a95 gallon tank!-and check the condition of the tank. I'm thinking I should probably also do some fiberglass work to connect the forward bilge and also isolate the fuel compartment from the bilge area with a removable plug. What do you guys think?