2011 242 LS took on water today!

[Michael Kay]

Today, I encountered something I’ve never seen before, so I would love advice from anyone who’s seen this before. By way of background, we have a 2011 242 LS that we bought new. She has been a gem, and I’ve never had to do anything except change plugs and oil annually, with the occasional trip to the dealer to check everything. This past week we took our annual trip to Lake Ouachita. We were there for 5 days, and the first several days we didn’t really notice anything, until yesterday. We were touring the lake and noticed it feel like the impellers were slipping. When we checked, we noticed a ton of water in the ski locker and some (about 6 inches) in the engine compartment. I checked the plug and clean out plugs, and all were fine, so we immediately turned on the bilge and limped back to camp. By the time we got back, the bilge had stopped and everything seemed normal. Today we went down to check the boat (we beach our boat at nights at a secluded location) and the entire swim platform was under water. The engine compartment was flooded just above the oil filters, and the battery compartment was flooded about two inches. We immediately turned the bilge on (which I’m surprised why it didn’t come on automatically, but that’s a different discussion). After about 30 minutes of bilging we were able to start the starboard engine and limp the boat onto the trailer. The port engine wouldn’t start. It just made a single “click” sound. We put the boat on the trailer and pulled the plug. During the draining process (which was massive) a silicon seal (I’ll send a pic when I can get back to high speed internet location) came out of the drain, making me wonder if that was the culprit. The seal was intact, and appears to be a 7-8 inch circular silicon gasket of some sort. We‘re cutting our trip short to haul her back home tomorrow and take her to the shop, but I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced anything similar to this and what you think may have caused this.

 

[biffdotorg]

Did the hose to the scupper valve in back come off? You would have to look from the inside I should be easy to tell. I hope you find the answer!

Good luck.

 

[TimW451]

+1 scupper related

BTW, while on the water you should always have the bilge on. Don’t wait until you realize you need it.

 

[sunbyrned]

Agree with both comments above. Just to add to it in case you don't know, open up the engine hatch and you'll see a white hose running between the engines. Follow that hose to the scupper. Regarding the port engine. Hopefully the water didn't get high enough to get into the air intake but you mentioned it was in the battery compartment, so it could have. The port side air intake is considerably lower than the starboard. Maybe worth checking for an indication of a water line along the walls of the engine compartment just to see how high it actually got. Check the oil too for water.

 

[WestMIJet]

I'm trying to think of any other issue but scupper is the only thing I can think of. As shared above always have the bilge on when it is in the water. I added a float activated bilge in the actual bilge area just in front of the plug. That bilge will hold a lot of water before it gets to the engine compartment bilge.

 

[Michael Kay]

Thanks for the replies. I spoke with the dealer while on the way home today and they felt the scupper valve was also the culprit. According to them it tends to crack when the boats get to this age. I’m taking her in tomorrow for a prognosis.

 

[Quad]

I'm trying to think of any other issue but scupper is the only thing I can think of. As shared above always have the bilge on when it is in the water. I added a float activated bilge in the actual bilge area just in front of the plug. That bilge will hold a lot of water before it gets to the engine compartment bilge.

I was thinking of doing this same pump addition in my 242se, would love to hear about your implementation.

 

[WestMIJet]

I glued a piece of marine grade plywood in the bilge a few inches in front of the plug. I screwed the pump to the plywood.

For the outlet I bought an outlet from ADA Racing. I placed it on the starboard side above the rub rail, see pic below. Outlet is right in front of the letter “E”.


I wired the pump to a fuse panel and connected that direct to the house battery. Currently the pump is hot all the time but doesn’t turn on unless the float is activated. I think I might go back and install a three way switch.

 

[Michael Kay]

Well, I got lucky on this one! The dealer looked at it and said no real damage to speak of. One starter has to be replaced and they're going to pickle the engines to be safe. The culprit was the scupper valve, so that will be replaced as well. This may be the last time I leave her in the water overnight. As many folks advised, I should always leave the bilge (I usually do), but this is what happens when you forget something after a long day on the water. Thank everyone for the quick responses and advice.

 

[WestMIJet]

They make a stainless steel version of the scupper, everyone recommends replacing the plastic one with that. Just and FYI.

 

[Michael Kay]

Thanks for the note! I'll make sure the dealer does that as a part of it.