Water Leaking into New 2025 222S

I just purchased a new 2025 222S. On our first outing while going wake speed the ski locker filled with 6-8 inches of water. When we did get it up on plane the bilge came on and the water went down to an inch or less. When we went back to marina and thru another no wake zone the ski locker filled up again. The marina took a look at it and said they thought it was coming from the anchor locker drain. They sealed it again and told me to watch it. The next outing we went to a sand bar. When we got in the boat the ski locker was dry. While running to the sand bar I noticed the bilge pump came on several times. When we got there, I checked the ski locker and there was about 4 inches of water in there and in the bilge area less than an inch. When we left to go back to the marina the ski locker had empty out some but when we got to the marina there was 4 inches water in the locker again. When we docked the technician that worked on it was there and said he would check it out again. Has anyone else dealt with this problem? I worry that there is water laying in the hull. Any help appreciated

Welcome aboard! Sorry to hear about your challenges. Outside of the leak, hope your boat is treating you well.

There is a “sticky” around here called the “ultimate leak finder”. Let me see if I can find it and share.

As for your concern about there being water laying in the hull, if you keep the boat at a high and dry, have them pick it up with the fork lift and hold the boat at an angle to drain. If on a trailer, either find a nice incline to park on, or jack up your tongue, using some block, etc to get an angle sufficient enough to promote draining. I’m not overly familiar with the 222 hull, but most of the Yamaha’s lowest point is not in the rear by the bilge pump, but much closer to the ski locker area.

As for the water you are taking on, you need to determine if the water is about the same temperature as the lake/water way you are boating in, or if it’s warm. If its warm, you could have a loose hose on one of your engines.

Also, might want to consider installing a high water alarm to alert you when you have more than an inch or so of water in the bilge.

Its in the FAQ section of the forum.

Did you check under the rail where the top half of the boat meets the bottom half?
Go around the boat with a hose and slowly walk from the transom to the front of the hull forcing water under the rail.
If the seal between the 2 halves is leaking water will get in when the boat is moving and the water is running up along the sides of the boat.
Do each side and look in the boat for water after you do a side , this will either eliminate this as the location of the water intrusion or point you in the correct area .
If you find water was getting in on either side doing this you can then break down the rail into 5 foot sections and spray each section , then check for water, once you hit the correct section you can seal it.

By far the biggest source of water coming into these boats is from water accumulating in the clean out tray area as it gets past the clean out plugs then drains into the bilge past the poorly sealed / not sealed clean out tray.

Read the threads below, get a couple of O rings from @Spooky pantz and see if that helps your situation. The O ring at the bottom of the clean out plug is arguably the best find for keeping water out of these boats, thanks again @TeeNGee



Put a small bead around the perimeter of the clean out tray to seal it up, do this while the clean out tray is installed, do not glue it down. Install a mechanical hatch riser from Jet Boat Pilot too.

Next read the thread below. I don’t like trash talking my boat / Yamaha but this anchor locker drain thing is ridiculous. If you’ve got people riding up front and you’re just idling along then the drain will be underwater and you’ll be rinsing out the anchor locker. Replace the fitting with a proper thru hull and put a removable plug in it, this will seal up that problem area and keep your ground tackle dry. If needed you can just pull the plug to drain any accumulated water out.


And, as @VitaminSea suggests, when on land get the bow up very high with the plug out to get all the water out of the hull.

Doing these two projects should eliminate most if not all of your water intrusion problems. 99% of the time I now have a totally dry bilge, if I use my raw water wash down a lot I will get about half a coffee cup of water out, I think that water gets in through the jump seat back rest slots. Most of the time though my bilge is totally dry, and others who have done the above fixes also have a dry bilge.