Hey all. Long story short, I’ve got a leak in the boat.
Drove for over 2 hours yesterday offshore to my first fishing spot. Got to the area, brought the boat to idle, and the alarm went off. Checked the bilge and it had about 3 inches of water. Nothing to jump up and down about. It wasn’t rising as we watched it. At least as we could see Put the boat into motion, about 6 knots or so, and the alarm went away.
Got back to the dock, removed the plug and a little more than usual water came out, but again, nothing to scream about.
Today, while cleaning the boat, I removed some debris from the drain plug. When I did a torrent of water came out. I’m talking shot over a foot out the back of the boat. Opened the hatch in front of the motor to see 8" to a foot of water in there!!!
Leaving Shem that morning we dragged the tip of the motor on the concrete of the ramp. A rookie move, but what can you do. There are a set of rocks that come down along the concrete ramp. Took a small chunk out of the right side of the boat. A small gouge, nothing that penetrated the hull. The white finish and less than a 1/4" deep into the fiberglass. It did not penetrate through the hull. What’s exposed is solid and not spongy or anything at all. I don’t think this is my problem, but I wanted to mention it in case I’m missing something here.
I was wondering what you guys would check as “usual’s” for something like this. It has already been suggested to me to check all my through hull stuff (live well pick up, drain plug housing, etc.). I wanted to throw this out there because you guys have always been so good with helping. I figured I’d cover my bases here and see what would be the first thing you guys would look for to cause a leak.
With the boat on the trailer, put the plug in, put water in the bilge and see where it comes out. Not being a smart alec either. Done it and found a screw had just poked thru and caused a small leak. Hope this helps.
GW 232GT Gulfstream
150Yam x 2
“3rd Day”
Gen. Chap.1 Vs.9-13
With the boat on the trailer, put the plug in, put water in the bilge and see where it comes out. Not being a smart alec either. Done it and found a screw had just poked thru and caused a small leak. Hope this helps.
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This is the type of response that keeps me coming back to CF.com. I know it’s probably common knowledge, but I must not be common, because it would have taken me a long time to think about doing this! So simple, but yet so effective.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
George Orwell
Like I said, it had already about a foot of water in the boat that had been there all night waiting for me to clean it this morning. So it sat for over 16 hours before I saw this water in the compartment. I spent hours running around the boat cleaning it today and didn’t see any leaks at all. However, I wasn’t looking for it either so I will definitely have to do that to check it out.
Keep in mind that while running you are putting pressurized water on the sides and bottom of the hull so the leak may not show up so readily sitting static. In my case the screw that went thru the bottom dripped when the hull had water in it sitting in the yard. Real bad underway!!!.
GW 232GT Gulfstream
150Yam x 2
“3rd Day”
Gen. Chap.1 Vs.9-13
My first most obvious things I want to check is the pick up for my washdown/livewell, the housing for the plug, and the hoses or connections in the aft part of the boat that are connected to the scuppers/drains from inside and my live wells. Both of these outlets will get below the water line sometimes. I’m thinking with 5 people in my boat (the most I’ve had offshore yet) these outlets would have stayed under the water longer than normal. If there’s a leak or a disconnect in one of those it might let water in. Not sure. I’ve got some investigating to do however. I’m actually looking forward to starting.
The outlet hose for my bilge pump broke and was letting water in while sitting and rocking with the waves. Also had a problem with water getting in the bilge through the boot around the cables at the back. Also if the fitting for your drain plug is getting loose it will let water in.
Remove the rub-rail at the motor areas and check the seam between the cap and hull. Lots of pressure right there, especially if you are plowing. No seal = lots of water. The rest of those things mentioned above too. I also had a PVC valve crack in mine that let a little water in but not like you describe. Replaced all of the valves on the boat with brass.
Mark
Mako 262 Twin Yammaha F200s
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
If you’re still having problems locating the leak, add some non-toxic dye to the water that you’re dumping in the bilge, then closely inspect all possible leak areas around the boat. With the dye, even if it’s a small leak, you’ll see the color bubbling around the culprit area.
I am no boat expert… but putting that much water in the bilge does not make sense to me.
One… to much water in the bilge, something on the trailer may go pop, bang, or snap.
There are a lot of wires (atleast in my sea pro) that i don’t think were made to be submerged.
Pursuit said this has worked for him, but i don’t think you are going to get nearly enough pressure of water(without putting a couple 100 gallons) in the hull to make it come out.
It does make sense to fill her up with fresh water, to atleast get all the salt off the stuff you can’t see in the hull.
My guess… If this is the first time you have noticed this… maybe the debree in the bilge has had the drain blocked for a while and you just have rain water in there… you taste it? looking at a couple inched while in the water, could easily roll back to a foot on the trailer.
Even though mine is self baileing, i still get a metric chit ton of rain or washing water in the bilge from god knows where… guessing rod holders, anchor locker… who knows.
Let me know how it works out… im curious as to the fill er up method
Taste bilge water? Ugh… I’d rather lick my toilet bowl.
O-ring on the drain plug was a problem that I had a few years ago. A 6-8 hour boating day would produce a lot of water in the bilge, enough for the auto-float to come on.
I second what Coates said. You may have had a drain inside your bilge plugged up with debris or a small piece of flotation foam.
I’ve got an '02 Sea Pro W/A that always held water in the forward compartment underneath the cabin. Scratched my head for a long time on how to get it to drain since it was behind a bulkhead. Finally welded sections of steel rod long enough to run all the way up to the bow through the drain plug and after one poke the water came gushing out along with a couple of peices of foam.
Just thinking you may have had a similar situation and whatever was plugging the drain (likely a piece of foam) finally broke loose and you’ve got a bilge full of water.
Yeah, I did brave a small taste and it was sea water. That is definitely something I’ve not considered before. Thanks for the input on the drains all throughout the bottom of the boat. I’ll have to check that out too.
Sea Pro had no idea what they were doing when it came to letting water escape! I looked in a couple compartments and there was water trapped between stringers! A couple of the drain channels were never drilled out all the way through. After a couple good smacks, one actually i had to drill out, and she was dry.
I would always find a couple gallons of water in the bilge and thought i was going insane!
As it says in my signature block, I’ve got a Sea Pro 220 CC, with a 250 HP Yamaha OX66. A single motor.
Thanks for the inputs. I’m definitely going to check the boat through and through. I just need a few hours in the day, and right now that’s going to be hard to come by. But as I look and find stuff, I’ll post back and let everyone know. Thanks.
Okay, so I ran water into the bilge up to about 2/3rds full. Nothing was dripping or leaking anywhere on the boat.
I ran water up the drains for the scuppers, the fish box, and the live wells. I removed the rod holder panels to see the tubes. Nothing there either.
I forced water up the pick up under the boat. No leaks in the hoses in the compartment.
As I was running water through the scuppers on the floor of the boat I noticed that water was running from the floor, through the now big hole on the side of the inside wall from the rod holder panel being removed. Meaning, water on the deck was making its way under the panel, under the floor of the boat. This gave me a thought. I’ll share it if you promise to be nice with your responses. Heck, who am I kidding, this is CF.com, the sharks will circle I’m sure.
Heck with it, anyway, here it is . . . I let my kids help me clean the boat. For the better part of a few hours, they were washing the deck down, playing with the hose, and so forth. If that debris in the drain hole was holding water, and being we were out there taking our time cleaning, I’m beginning to think that we filled the boat up, and the “salty” taste was from the years of saltwater use sitting on the bottom of the boat . . . .
Mine leaks pretty good where the POS plastic road holders in the gunells are… have tried everything to seal where the plastic meats the fiberglass. Unless you get swamped with a foot of water in the boat, i doubt you’ll have any issues.
By the way mine is a 04, and love it, but Sea Pro did some dumb chit
