Bow is lower in the water than usual

[Quad]

Title pretty much sums it up. 2020 242se, moored on the water all the time. We hadn’t used it over the last 1.5 weeks and this morning the Admiral commented on it while out this morning.

No more water than usual in the bilge and no perceivable issues getting on plane, but it’s visibly noticeable.

Any thoughts?

 

[sunbyrned]

Just asking a few questions to help troubleshoot. Is the drain plug in your ski locker open or closed? Do you have a through hull anchor locker drain? Do you keep it covered? I’m thinking there is water in your hull and just trying to figure out where it’s coming from.

 

[jsg73]

Carpet wet under front seats?
Ski locker plug installed? If so what happens if you remove it?

 

[Quad]

Just asking a few questions to help troubleshoot. Is the drain plug in your ski locker open or closed? Do you have a through hull anchor locker drain? Do you keep it covered? I’m thinking there is water in your hull and just trying to figure out where it’s coming from.

Drain plug is currently open, and locker is dry however it’s clear the water in the bilge is almost high enough to come out of the hole.

It’s usually covered but this last week I didn’t and it did rain one day, but not a ton.

Carpets under the front and rear seats are dry.

Might there be a clogged drain in between the hull sections somewhere?

 

[sunbyrned]

I don’t think you have a clogged drain. Thinking the rain had a lot to do with it. Did your bilge pump dump any water out during your latest outing? Also, if you can get it on a trailer on a good incline, that would help get rid of it.

 

[Quad]

I don’t think you have a clogged drain. Thinking the rain had a lot to do with it. Did your bilge pump dump any water out during your latest outing? Also, if you can get it on a trailer on a good incline, that would help get rid of it.

The bilge didn’t pump any more out than usual, which is to say “not much”. I looked in the clean out port area on the swim platform and saw clear down to the drain plug - hardly any water in that area, though I’m aware it’s not the lowest part of the hull. We cruised for 45 min or so at 15-25mph this morning and kept the bow up hoping to drain more but the bilge didn’t pump any more out.

 

[sunbyrned]

I had this same thing happen to me. The bow was lower than usual, drain plugs were not clogged, ski locker was dry. I knew there was water down there but didn't know how it got in and the bilge wasn't pumping anything out. Later that day we had some ballast bags on the back, two adults and a dog and all of a sudden water started pumping out a ton of water, and I never have water pumping out or come out the drain plug after trailering. Freaked me out. I decided to call it a day. Got it on the trailer and the bilge started pumping away again. In fact, this was at the ramp. On my way to the storage shed is an even steeper hill and I stopped there and let more water come out the drain. Never happened again after that. I don't know where the water came from. I guess it reached a tipping point that day though. So, my suggestion would be to try to trailer it and get it on an a steep incline and dump it out.

 

[Quad]

I had this same thing happen to me. The bow was lower than usual, drain plugs were not clogged, ski locker was dry. I knew there was water down there but didn't know how it got in and the bilge wasn't pumping anything out. Later that day we had some ballast bags on the back, two adults and a dog and all of a sudden water started pumping out a ton of water, and I never have water pumping out or come out the drain plug after trailering. Freaked me out. I decided to call it a day. Got it on the trailer and the bilge started pumping away again. In fact, this was at the ramp. On my way to the storage shed is an even steeper hill and I stopped there and let more water come out the drain. Never happened again after that. I don't know where the water came from. I guess it reached a tipping point that day though. So, my suggestion would be to try to trailer it and get it on an a steep incline and dump it out.

Do you think the ballast got the boat at enough of an angle to finally allow the water to move back and subsequently drain? I’ll have to see if I can get a neighbor to meet me down at the ramp with the trailer and give it a try.

 

[sunbyrned]

I don't think it was the ballast alone, although I had about 1,400 lbs. of ballast bags in the back. That, coupled with us cruising out a bit too start surfing which got the bow up is what probably got the water in the back finally. Let us know what you discovered if you're able to get it on a trailer.

 

[Beachbummer]

To test the theory, just drive at 8-12 mph for a minute while the bilge pump is running. The boat should change it's attitude to bow up before reaching plane and any water stuck in the bowels should move back and get removed from the boat by the bilge pump. Happens on my SX230 after rain. I keep all plugs open.

 

[sunbyrned]

I would recommend trying what @Beachbummer suggests first before having your friend bring a trailer. This might fix it all.

 

[Quad]

To test the theory, just drive at 8-12 mph for a minute while the bilge pump is running. The boat should change it's attitude to bow up before reaching plane and any water stuck in the bowels should move back and get removed from the boat by the bilge pump. Happens on my SX230 after rain. I keep all plugs open.

We did exactly this for a good 10 minutes today, no dice.

 

[Gym]

Make the fat guy sit in the back.

 

[Quad]

Make the fat guy sit in the back.

I guess that means I’m not driving for a while.

 

[Beachbummer]

Sorry, silly question... All your internal plugs are open right? You may have multiple internal plugs that need to open to allow all water to drain.

 

[drewkaree]

Do you have the plug in the engine compartment? If so, open that one up and see if it will let some of that water in for the bilge to drain it.

 

[drewkaree]

I think there's actually two in the engine compartment

 

[Quad]

Yep. The plug in the ski locker is open and the two plugs in the engine compartment are open.

 

[drewkaree]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the rain was the cause of your issue, but draining it shouldn't be as difficult as it's proving to be in your case.

If it's something that you don't want to hassle the neighbor with, a small pump with a hose could be fed into the ski locker drain to empty it out without pulling the boat.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0181EDCZ6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_naFqFbVXDMZ2A

Koehler hand pump

 

[WestMIJet]

I remember a post from someone a long time ago where they put an 800 lb ballast bag on the swim platform while wet slipped to change the angle enough to force the water to the rear.