Your bilge pump has an automatic and manual run. The auto side is fed from a fuse in the battery box area, on my boat there are three separate fuse holders on the bulk head, I know one is for the bilge pump auto side, and the other is the accessory main fuse and I can’t remember at the moment what the other one is..
So, as you found out, with the hull plugs in, if you had water to the engine bay the bilge pump will turn on automatically to pump the water out and then turn itself off, there is an internal float or sensor. The rocker switch on the dash is the manual side of the pump and has its own circuit breaker. This switch should be left in the OFF position unless you suspect the auto side is not working, then turn it on and see if any waster comes out, if not turn it off.
These other posts you’ve seen about leaving the switch on is for the older boats. Up until 2018 I think you had to leave the battery switch on to power the bilge pump auto side .. but starting I think in 2019 the auto side of the bilge pump is wired directly to the battery.
Now then, a brief bit on water intrusion. First, you can totally have a dry bilge on these boats, but it takes a small amount of work. The biggest contributor to water intrusion is the clean out tray. You need to put a bead of silicone around the perimeter of the tray after it’s installed, do not glue it down! The next thing is to get a mechanical hatch riser from Jet Boat Pilot. Our boats have the two channels, one on either side of the clean out tray for water to drain out of, so the drain in the tray can be eliminated if you want, that is what I did. Then get a few O rings from
@Spooky pantz to put in the metal groove at the bottom of your clean out plug to eliminate any water coming in there.
O-rings to help seal the clean-out plug(s) and prevent water from sliding past the plug. On my boat, I found that my plug was always full of water and may have been overflowing into the inspection tray. Thanks to
@TeeNGee, who found that this O-ring could help better seal the plug and prevent water intrusion
(Thread). Since installing this O-ring, my plugs are bone dry.
These aren’t super easy to find/buy so I bought them in bulk. I now have a BUNCH to move
$5 each, shipped to CONUS via USPS. You’ll need 1 per plug
There has been lots of discussion about water on top of the clean-out plugs and that its fairly normal. Many people believe that water gets into the inspection port area from the swim platform when stopping, etc. and it fills the clean-out access tube.
I used to subscribe to that theory as well.... until I purchased the 275SD. The inspection access covers and clean-out ports sit pretty high up off the swim-platform. You would need to stop dead from 50mph or have a 3 foot wave come over the back of the boat to get water on top of the clean-out plugs. When I first started using the boat I...
That contribution by
@TeeNGee is arguably one of the most useful finds anyone has made regarding these boats and water intrusion.
Next read this thread
Do you have some mysterious leak in your boat and you can't figure out where it's coming from? Well, if you found this thread from a search, you're trying to track it down, and you've maybe even taken a look in there to see what people might be talking about, and if your boat is affected. My money is on EVERY one of the models that have an anchor locker drain having this issue with varying degrees, with the best situation being that the fitting juuuuuuuuuuust reaches inside the anchor locker.
I've removed the piece inside my anchor locker that would support an anchor that fits the...
The other thing you should definitely be looking to replace is the live well drain scupper, I think both of your deck drains come out relatively high above the water line. On my boat, both the OEM deck drains and the OEM live well drain come out right or below the water line, and these fittings are plastic and can break and your boat can sink, so a good number of use have changed those out to stainless steel.
I’ve seen all the posts about the nylon scuppers breaking, and
@drewkaree offered much encouragement to change out the OEM nylon scuppers. I found stainless steel scuppers on Gem Lux’s website and I just put them in. The Starboard side takes two people for sure, one to hold / back up the fitting while the other tightens the nut. The Starboard one is ……. Difficult to install, best bet is to remove the starboard side exhaust hose and push it up out of the way.
This is the starboard side scupper for the live well drain and overflow. It’s proximity to the exhaust fitting increases...
Again, you can have a boat that will have no water come out at the end of the day and your bilge pump will not run while you’re out on the water.
