2021 255 FSH Sport E, 2 years later

[coryocon]

Its possible the level wasn’t high enough for the auto to activate. Was the water in the engine compartment above the bilge pump?

If the bilge stopped working automatically, the fuse is blown for the auto circuit, check the individual fuse holders next to the batteries, there are two fuses there associated with the bilge pump, this is in addition to the manually activated circuit with its own ckt breaker on the dash.

Looks like there is power at your dock, do you have an onboard charger? I don’t see a cord from the box going into your boat?

Now lets address why the water is getting into your bilge in the first place, which it should not while sitting out in the rain.

-The first place I’d start would be all of the cup holders, on my 210 FSH none of these were sealed and a lot of water would get in that way when I washed it or when it rained. Also, I found that the cup holders up front drained into the bilge itself, so I put some vacuum plugs on the nipple on the bottom of those cup holders. The two cup holders on the dash may drain onto the deck with the idea that this water will go out through the deck drains in the corners.

-The second place you need to look at is the rod holders, only the very front two, one port and one starboard, had drain lines on them that went overboard. I bought some universal rod holder drains from TH Marine and tied them into the other drains on the boat, so now all rod holders and cup holders drain overboard. Also, pull the rod holders out and seal them to the cap rails / gunnels.

-The third place I’d look be at the deck drains themselves, I have a suspicion this the main source of rain water making it into the bilge. Make sure the deck drain fittings are sealed properly to the deck, pull them out and verify that they are sealed properly. While you are there, make sure the deck drain hoses and such are all clamped properly and are not leaking. You can check this by stuffing a rag in the thru hull fittings and then take a hose and put a couple of inches of water on the deck.

-The fourth place I’d check, and this is probably not where the rain water is coming in but you should seal this up anyway is the clean out tray. From the factory the clean out tray is not sealed very well at all. Just remember to apply the sealant, seal and peel is a good product from DAP or 3M can’t remember which, with the clean out tray installed, you do not want to glue it down. When you pull the clean out tray, make sure all of the clamps in the aft bilge are are tight and in good order. Check for any leakage on any of the thru hulls in this area.

-The fifth place to check is In the engine bay, check to make sure the sea cock line is properly installed and clamped properly.

-The sixth place to check would be the seal around the 5 gallon buck locker in the bow, if necessary tighten the clamping mechanism arm so that when you close the latch it pulls snugly, not tight, on the seal, this lockers should have no water in it even if you rinse the area with a hose.

For sealant I’d suggest either Three Bond Silicone sealer 1211, or 3M 4200. Just be sure you keep the 4200 out of the sun as it will yellow.

Thank you so much for the response and information. I am going to have to run through this list to see where the water is coming from but this gives me a good starting point. I just also didn't think rain water should be getting in there while sitting.

I don't have an onboard charger and the dock only has one power outlet to the lift.

I think the water was above the bilge so I may need to check that fuse, but when power was applied dash switch and bilge worked fine.

This is my first time owning a slip/lift and so I am new to this where as I used to only trailer.

 

[coryocon]

Those are all great recommendations, @FSH 210 Sport !

All this would inconsequential on my 255 FSH, because most of the water that gets into the bilge during rainfall is from the holes that were drilled through the deck for the hardtop stanchions. Any water that runs down the deck from the bow pours right into the helm locker through those holes. The drain in the helm locker then goes through a tube, which exits out of the bulkhead between the fuel tank and engine compartment, and empties into the engine compartment.

I wonder if this is my issue as well! I haven't noticed water in any other areas so this seems on point.

Essentially no way to combat the rain water then?

 

[coryocon]

The auto-function on my bilge pump kicks in only when the pump is halfway submerged... which means a good amount of water can be sitting (and splashing) in the "V" of the engine compartment. When I manually turn on the bilge pump, it can run for maybe 30 sec emptying that water out. 9 minutes sounds like you've got a crazy amount of water! Definitely check the fuses as @FSH 210 Sport suggested.



As you're peering into your engine compartment, if you look carefully underneath the plug, you might see the open end of a drain tube. On my 255 FSH, water that enters the helm locker drains out of that tube. As I mentioned in the post above — when it rains, my helm locker collects water that is running down the deck from the bow, because the dumb_sses at Yamaha implemented stanchion mounts that go through the deck without any sealant. Therefore, closing the engine compartment plug doesn't prevent water from entering the engine compartment.

Thanks again I will check that fuse. I wonder why they made it drain into the engine compartment seems dumb esp with what you just explained.

I will have to play with some water and see if I can tell where the water is coming from exactly.

 

[MilesPrower]

I wonder if this is my issue as well! I haven't noticed water in any other areas so this seems on point.

Essentially no way to combat the rain water then?

There's no easy way to seal the deck penetrations at the stanchion footings, AFAICT.

I've thought about putting a bead of sealant between the whole of the helm area where it meets the deck, and up an inch or two where the stanchions go up vertically along the insets of the helm fiberglass... while leaving a weep area along the rearmost sections of the helm, to allow water that drops down those insets (and doesn't fall into the helm closet) to flow out onto the deck.

But... there are so many other imperfections and issues with my boat that I haven't fixed, so for now, I just live with the water entry.

Somewhere else on this forum I posted photos of how I have my helm closet configured so that the water doesn't bug me.

 

[coryocon]

There's no easy way to seal the deck penetrations at the stanchion footings, AFAICT.

I've thought about putting a bead of sealant between the whole of the helm area where it meets the deck, and up an inch or two where the stanchions go up vertically along the insets of the helm fiberglass... while leaving a weep area along the rearmost sections of the helm, to allow water that drops down those insets (and doesn't fall into the helm closet) to flow out onto the deck.

But... there are so many other imperfections and issues with my boat that I haven't fixed, so for now, I just live with the water entry.

Somewhere else on this forum I posted photos of how I have my helm closet configured so that the water doesn't bug me.

Well thank you for the information and if you can reattach that picture I'd be grateful.

Always lists when owning a boat!

 

[wmblakejr]

I have a buddy that have a 24ft boat (outboard, non-jet boat). He was asking about my trolling motor and I said I can't live without it after using it. Now he wants one but I couldnt tell him if a 112 lb thrust 36V minn kota is enough for his boat. What did you end up installing and how does it work with 25ft boat?

I installed a 24V 80 lb 72 inch Ulterra and it works great 90% of the time. The only time it doesn’t is when conditions warrant heading for the dock.

 

[MilesPrower]

I will have to play with some water and see if I can tell where the water is coming from exactly.

As @FSH 210 Sport already surmised...

On my 255 FSH, all of the gunwale rod-holders drain into adjacent lockers or the airspace between the outer hull and inner wall below the gunwales. There's a "gutter" just inside of the hull, at deck height, that goes all the way from the bow (behind the anchor locker) to the lockers adjacent to the engine compartment. Water that flows down those gutters ends up in the engine compartment. Likewise, the cup holders underneath the bow speakers drain onto those gutters too.

I put drain-caps on bottoms of a couple of the gunwale rod-holders, with tubing that routes the water away from the lockers and directly onto the gutters. Otherwise, my trash can would fill with water, and everything in my port aft locker would get wet whenever it rained.

 

[MilesPrower]

Well thank you for the information and if you can reattach that picture I'd be grateful.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/252-255-fsh-storage-ideas.39600/post-644249

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Those are all great recommendations, @FSH 210 Sport !

All this would inconsequential on my 255 FSH, because most of the water that gets into the bilge during rainfall is from the holes that were drilled through the deck for the hardtop stanchions. Any water that runs down the deck from the bow pours right into the helm locker through those holes. The drain in the helm locker then goes through a tube, which exits out of the bulkhead between the fuel tank and engine compartment, and empties into the engine compartment.

Any way you can get those sealed ?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

As @FSH 210 Sport already surmised...

On my 255 FSH, all of the gunwale rod-holders drain into adjacent lockers or the airspace between the outer hull and inner wall below the gunwales. There's a "gutter" just inside of the hull, at deck height, that goes all the way from the bow (behind the anchor locker) to the lockers adjacent to the engine compartment. Water that flows down those gutters ends up in the engine compartment. Likewise, the cup holders underneath the bow speakers drain onto those gutters too.

I put drain-caps on bottoms of a couple of the gunwale rod-holders, with tubing that routes the water away from the lockers and directly onto the gutters. Otherwise, my trash can would fill with water, and everything in my port aft locker would get wet whenever it rained.

I was having the same issue with things getting wet in storage pods and finally figured it was the cup holders not be sealed and the water was pooling on top of the storage pods and around they sealed cup holders and down around the outside. I had thought the rain water was getting around the door jam….

All of the rod and cup holders on the transom were draining directly into the engine bay, it was quite a trick getting drain tubes hooked up to each one while holding it up then installing it. I then routed those tubes to the extra deck drains I installed.

 

[coryocon]

Thanks guys. My fuse was blown. Water is leaking in from what appears to be the helm locker and possibly the front cup holders.

Is it common to blow these fuses and what would cause that?

Also why would they use a 4a 32v fuse? Has any one upped this to a 5a or 10a?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks guys. My fuse was blown. Water is leaking in from what appears to be the helm locker and possibly the front cup holders.

Is it common to blow these fuses and what would cause that?

Also why would they use a 4a 32v fuse? Has any one upped this to a 5a or 10a?

A few folks have had those fuses blow… I think it was just FM (fucking magic) or PFM pure f’ing magic.

Do not up the fuse size! That is how fires start.

Pull your bilge pump off of the strainer screen by pushing in the two tabs, one on either side of the pump, TAKE YOUR TIME AND BE GENTLE, the pump will come off but the strainer screen will stay put, that is what holds the bilge pump in place. Clean out any debris that may be there and re assemble. There is a good chance some debris got in there and caused the impeller wheel to get stuck which caused the fuse to blow. These boats come from the factory with a fair amount of detritus from the manufacturing process. It you can run a hose down into the head compartment and other compartments with the boat out of the water and flush the bilge out.

As a fyi, when you have the bilge pump out look for the “press to test” button on the bilge pump, this will test the auto function of the pump for you to ascertain whether or not there is power available for the auto function.

Another thing you should consider is installing a second bilge pump, many have done this for reliability and capacity. It should be fully independent of the stock one. Check the hyper link in my signature for how I did mine, or do a search and you will find many other threads on how people did theirs. You can use one of the unused accessory switches that came with your boat for the manual activation part, the auto function gets its own wire and fuse directly from the house battery.

 

[joseph.chronowski]

Thanks guys. My fuse was blown. Water is leaking in from what appears to be the helm locker and possibly the front cup holders.

Is it common to blow these fuses and what would cause that?

Also why would they use a 4a 32v fuse? Has any one upped this to a 5a or 10a?

I’ve got the same problem on my 2022 255 Sport E! No power to the automatic lead of the bilge. Also lost power to the raw water wash down pump not long after. Any chance you have a photo of that fuse location? I haven’t been able to locate it yet. Thanks!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’ve got the same problem on my 2022 255 Sport E! No power to the automatic lead of the bilge. Also lost power to the raw water wash down pump not long after. Any chance you have a photo of that fuse location? I haven’t been able to locate it yet. Thanks!

On my boat there are three stand alone fuse holders attached to the bulkhead in the battery compartment you might check there as that is where the “automatic” fuse is for bilge pump. Does the bilge pump still operate if you use the rocker switch on the dash?

The raw water wash down pump I would think uses the pop up circuit breakers located above the rocker switch on the dash, looks like little rubber nipples, try pushing in on that. If the rocker switch lights up there is power going to the device, in this the raw water wash down pump. If the light on the rocker switch is on you’ll need to check for power at the pump.

 

[joseph.chronowski]

I’ve got the same problem on my 2022 255 Sport E! No power to the automatic lead of the bilge. Also lost power to the raw water wash down pump not long after. Any chance you have a photo of that fuse location? I haven’t been able to locate it yet. Thanks!

On my boat there are three stand alone fuse holders attached to the bulkhead in the battery compartment you might check there as that is where the “automatic” fuse is for bilge pump. Does the bilge pump still operate if you use the rocker switch on the dash?

The raw water wash down pump I would think uses the pop up circuit breakers located above the rocker switch on the dash, looks like little rubber nipples, try pushing in on that. If the rocker switch lights up there is power going to the device, in this the raw water wash down pump. If the light on the rocker switch is on you’ll need to check for power at the pump.

I found a blown fuse in the small black fuse block adjacent to the battery switches in the rear port compartment. 4a bladed fuse. Still have to troubleshoot the washdown pump.

 

[MilesPrower]

Still have to troubleshoot the washdown pump.

As @FSH 210 Sport mentioned, the raw-water washdown pump is on a pop-out circuit breaker. The breaker panel is on the port-side bulkhead of the helm locker. If you're looking at the back of the Connext screen inside the helm locker, the breaker panel is directly to the right of the Connext screen. The breaker you want to push should be labeled WASH DOWN.

On a longer note, if the breaker keeps popping, it could be that the pump is pulling too much current due to a seizure (no water flowing) or failure of its pressure cutoff mechanism (water flows but pump doesn't automatically shut down when sprayer nozzle is closed). Mine suffered a seizure soon after I purchased my boat, so the breaker would pop when I tried to operate the pump. I didn't want to take two whole days to transport the boat to my dealer for a warranty replacement, so I just swapped the pump for an aftermarket one.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

As @FSH 210 Sport mentioned, the raw-water washdown pump is on a pop-out circuit breaker. The breaker panel is on the port-side bulkhead of the helm locker. If you're looking at the back of the Connext screen inside the helm locker, the breaker panel is directly to the right of the Connext screen. The breaker you want to push should be labeled WASH DOWN.

On a longer note, if the breaker keeps popping, it could be that the pump is pulling too much current due to a seizure (no water flowing) or failure of its pressure cutoff mechanism (water flows but pump doesn't automatically shut down when sprayer nozzle is closed). Mine suffered a seizure soon after I purchased my boat, so the breaker would pop when I tried to operate the pump. I didn't want to take two whole days to transport the boat to my dealer for a warranty replacement, so I just swapped the pump for an aftermarket one.

How has the replacement been? What brand was it?

 

[MilesPrower]

How has the replacement been? What brand was it?

I bought this cheapo Seaflo 70 PSI Pump Kit for $140. My boat didn't have a factory-installed strainer on the intake, so I had to cut the intake line to fit the strainer. Also, I pulled the mounts from the factory-installed pump and replaced the mounts on the Seaflo. I didn't have to adjust the pressure switch; it worked just fine out of the box. Maybe an hour's worth of work for the swap... after a couple hours of researching which pump to buy.

So far, I haven't had any problems with the pump.