Excessive Water In Bilge

[Old Vet]

" I'd still suggest drying it out all the way. Then, when you leave the boat, you can tape a bunch of paper towels (or something) in the bilge in various locations."

Thanks...perhaps I'll try that today when I'm there.

"Assuming your covered slip doesn't let rain water in,"

No rain can get in. All canvas is up and the roof of the slip extends well beyond the perimeter of the boat.

"Or, maybe the leak only happens when the boat is moving."

Seems NOT to be the case. I was at the boat on Monday. The boat has not been moved in over a week. A bright sunny calm day....I was standing at the rear of the boat up on the wall of the slip doing something when the pump started and pumped out a pretty good quantity of water. So the infiltration is happening when the boat is sitting idle as well. I have no idea how long it took for the water level to get high enough to start the pump.

Thanks Chris....I will look for/at those bolts.

 

[Bob C]

Hi,
Have a look around your transom drain plug, called the "garboard fitting". On your boat the brass fitting is prone to becoming loose and leaking.
The garboard fitting is fastened to the transom with 3 fasteners.(2 self tapping screws and a through transom bolt that fastens the bonding wire to the garboard fitting)
Typically we take out and reinstall the garboard drain plug every year, putting a lot of twist on the fitting year after year, and it starts leaking.
Just a thought, but you have a large leak somewhere, probably more than would get by a leaking drain plug.
The bilge should stay dry, Good luck!!

 

[Chris Dauth]

There aren't many places water can get in on a Bravo, I'm not all that familar with the Alphas.

If the drive shaft bellows and gear shift cable bellows have been replaced, there is not much left.

The transom seal "O" ring.

The seal where the trim sender and limit switch wires come thru.

The upper gimbal pivot seal.

And the bottom bolts.

Also there is the possibility there is corrosion in the bottom of the "Y" exhaust pipe, or the "O" ring seal to the transom plate is gone. Water coming up the exhaust pipe and into the boat.

And another common thing is the transom plates come loose with Age. The recommended torque on the transom bolts was 25ft/lbs on old boats, today 35ft/lbs is normal.

If the transom plates are a bit loose and the boat has at some time sat on the bottom, that will start the leak for sure.

 

[Old Vet]

So...just back from the boat and it appears that the mystery "MAY" be solved.

I took one of our local Marine guys who rebuilds transoms with me. He was very impressed with how clean and solid my transom is for a 1987. That was good news. He thinks it may have been "redone" already somewhere during its life.

While searching around everywhere else...AGAIN...the deck drain hose on the starboard side fell off in his hands. It appears that whoever put that thing on did not soften the end of the hose to enable getting it ALL the way onto the thru hull fitting. Lucky if it was on a 1/4"...and it was loose. A little tug and off it came.

So I put on a new hose...clamped tightly...and hopefully my bilge pump run time will be much less now.

Will monitor it closely as I can to be sure.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll remember them should the need ever arise again to search for a water leak.:thumbsup:

 

[electricaldoctor]

So...just back from the boat and it appears that the mystery "MAY" be solved.

I took one of our local Marine guys who rebuilds transoms with me. He was very impressed with how clean and solid my transom is for a 1987. That was good news. He thinks it may have been "redone" already somewhere during its life.

While searching around everywhere else...AGAIN...the deck drain hose on the starboard side fell off in his hands. It appears that whoever put that thing on did not soften the end of the hose to enable getting it ALL the way onto the thru hull fitting. Lucky if it was on a 1/4"...and it was loose. A little tug and off it came.

So I put on a new hose...clamped tightly...and hopefully my bilge pump run time will be much less now.

Will monitor it closely as I can to be sure.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll remember them should the need ever arise again to search for a water leak.:thumbsup:

Deck drain hose eh? Makes sense with all of the rain that we have been getting lately. Where do you keep your boat? We are at Ed Huck Marine at Rockport.

~Ken

 

[Old Vet]

Actually....rain doesn't get at my boat. I haven't had it out in the rain at all yet. Don't wanna get it wet. :grin:

It's kept in a private slip with a roof over it in Amherstview in Kingston.

However....rough water can get at it in the slip when the wind's in the right direction. When the stern is bouncing....lake water is/was back feeding in through that thru hull fitting.

That fitting is quite close to the water line. Also...when underway with the stern down lower.....it appears water was back feeding in through it then as well.

Or so it certainly appears anyway.

Time...and the next outing will tell for sure if it's been resolved. I think so though.

 

[87cc]

Well you can turn the bilge pump off while on the trailer and put water into the bilge. You can fill it up to the bottom of the starter. Look at the outside to see where the water is running out. It could be the seal around the transom or the garboard plug housing areas that have been problems in the past for some. What ever the problem you need to find that leak.

Ken

This is how I found my leak. The two bottom transom plate bolts were leaking. Got them sealed up & now the bilge is dry. :smt001

 

[sbw1]

Hi,
Have a look around your transom drain plug, called the "garboard fitting". On your boat the brass fitting is prone to becoming loose and leaking.
The garboard fitting is fastened to the transom with 3 fasteners.(2 self tapping screws and a through transom bolt that fastens the bonding wire to the garboard fitting)
Typically we take out and reinstall the garboard drain plug every year, putting a lot of twist on the fitting year after year, and it starts leaking.
Just a thought, but you have a large leak somewhere, probably more than would get by a leaking drain plug.
The bilge should stay dry, Good luck!!

Even if these are not currently leaking, they should be through bolted. Each of my inboard SRs had self tapping screws which is a cheap and shoddy way of installing drain plugs. Both plugs loosened over time and I replaced them (two man job) with three through hull bolts with the female side of the fitting bedded in 5200. It costs very little to do this properly but for some reason SR did it on the cheap. I wonder if they still do it this way.