water in bilge question

[holes]

Hi,
i have a 2002 260 sundancer with a new 6.2 merc and bravo 3 outdrive
I have noticed that i get water in my bilge after several uses. I have dry vacked out my bilge several times over the summer. No additional water comes in at all for as long as it sits at the dock.

However, after i drive it for a bit i then notice that i have water in the bilge again.
It is salt water and looks like its from the canal since it is a bit dirty.
i noticed some other posts regarding possible leaking in bellow area.
Has anyone had any issue with this as well? i am thinking that it might be a leak in a hose but it is very hard to diagnose..

thanks!!

 

[scoflaw]

There's at least a half dozen points of entry back there. Diligence, lights, mirrors, camera, action

 

[holes]

worth a shot to see if there was a good starting point... thanks

 

[Bt Doctur]

so if it comes in while running then suspect a cracked rubber coupling hose on the Y pipe.Other than that a plastic drain plug not fully seated, a loose hose clamp on any of the hoses.

 

[bbwhitejr]

so if it comes in while running then suspect a cracked rubber coupling hose on the Y pipe.Other than that a plastic drain plug not fully seated, a loose hose clamp on any of the hoses.

...hoses to hot water heater, cool fuel water inlet/outlet, etc. I also have a leak somewhere, but haven't narrowed it down yet. Best thing to do is-VERY CAREFULLY-with the engine running, crawl in the ER with the tools mentioned above and find it....about the only way as scoflaw suggested. They can be tough to find....

Bennett

 

[NVERL8]

Could be the steering pin on the B3 as well

 

[duckmnn]

My o ring holding mercathode to bottom of B3 was my leak .

 

[Tomco]

We had the same last season and narrowed it to a bad steering seal. While at the dock, there was no leak but after a trip down the lake we would find lake water in the bilge. On ours we could see water around the steering assembly and was pretty confident that was the issue. The issue is corrosion in the area of the steering pin (either the pin and/or the gimbal ring). Over the winter I changed the starboard steering pin to a stainless one (from JR Marine) and the gimbal ring (since we didn't know how much corrosion there was around the seal). This solved the leak, dry as a bone this season!

Now the other side is leaking and will do the same again this winter except that when we took the gimbal ring off from the starboard side it was in good shape with no corrosion around the steering pin so I'll reuse it on the port side.

If you do have to go down this road I would also recommend changing the shift cable - the stretch out over time and with everything off, it is the cheapest part of the repair.

 

[NVERL8]

Tomco---if you don't mind me asking how many boat bucks did you have to part with.......

 

[Bt Doctur]

Best to add the missing grease fitting too. Easy install with the drive on or the housing apart.
It will help prevent future corrosion of the seal. can be done on all Alpha`s and Bravo`s

 

[Tomco]

Tomco---if you don't mind me asking how many boat bucks did you have to part with.......

Total was pretty close to $3k (Cdn) split about 50-50 between parts and labour. It included the gimbal ring, steering pin and lower shift cable.

 

[NVERL8]

Yep thats about what my quote to do it this winter was. Just wanted to make sure he wasnt out in left field,

 

[holes]

So i found one leak while driving. I had a bad freezer plug that was leaking which was an easy fix. Hoped that was the end of it but i am still getting salt water when i drive it.
A friend had a similar problem on his 240 and he had his transom assembly replaced and that did the trick. it caused his oil pan to rust out and leak so i want to fix this asap.
i guess i will check the options that you guys offered below before i go for a new transom assembly job.

thanks for the help!