Clean out plug actually filled with water?

[Weeb]

I have the new style rotating plugs. Every single outing has the plugs themselves full of water. I pull the plugs before leaving the ramp to drain all that water out. Every single outing, regardless of how fast/far/long I'm in the water.

As to water on top of the plug in the "tube". I've nailed this down to high speed runs. I've NEVER had water come over the upper portion of the rear deck. I've gone from 42mph and literally jammed the throttle into reverse to stop as fast as possible (practicing a panic stop situation) and couldn't get water over the upper portion. If I make a high speed run (38-42mph or higher) it will completely fill the tube. If I keep it below about 35mph for the whole outing then it might be only 3/4 full or so. A little above the natural water line at rest.

This seal between the clean out plug and pump intake will be my next focus of sealing the pump intake. I'm not 100% convinced that some of my cavitation problem isn't caused from pulling air past the seal on the clean out plug. It's just a theory at this point, but I intend to verify at some point.

I'm going to check the water passing by at speed when I put the boat back in and see if that's why the tube takes on water. I'm not taking it on over the back either.

 

[2kwik4u]

Had an interesting experience this weekend and thought I would share.

We went out late, arrived to meet with some friends, and were lucky enough to beat a rainstorm by about 30 minutes. As the storm rolled in, we decided to weather it through, however that meant moving far back into a rather small cove. Since a 19'ft single jet has VERY little control in reverse, and we didn't want to untie from each other, my buddy in his 23ft tri-toon motored us in reverse back into the cove. As we were tied together and moving at a decent speed with windswept waves coming in from behind I took several (I'm going to call them large) waves over the rear storage area. One was VERY close to coming into the boat with us over the back seats. We found our spot safely out of the wind, tossed out 3 anchors to make sure we stayed where we wanted and proceeded to weather the 2.5hrs of medium to heavy rain (.3in in 2hrs according to weather history reports).

That's all fun and good, but that backstory was to show that taking water in over the rear is NOT the cause of the clean out ports filling with water. We returned to the ramp and I had only the "standard" amount of water in the port when emptying it on the ramp. We also never broke about 30mph the entire day.

Taking 4-5 good waves over the back, and 2hrs of rainstorm = NOT full cleanout port. The water MUST be coming from leakage past the seals at high speed.

 

[Matt Phillips]

I always have water on top of my plugs in the tubes. This occurred with my 09 as well as my 17. We do a lot of water sports on the boat so there's a lot of stopping and starting and fast starts and stops. I wouldn't worry about water being on top of the plugs and filling the tubes as it's been pretty normal for my Yamaha's.

If you leave your boat in the water for an extended period of time, pull the plugs out and lay them sideways on top of the tubes. This will prevent them from swelling from being inserted all the time. Just remember to pop them back in before you go out again.

 

[2kwik4u]

I always have water on top of my plugs in the tubes. This occurred with my 09 as well as my 17. We do a lot of water sports on the boat so there's a lot of stopping and starting and fast starts and stops. I wouldn't worry about water being on top of the plugs and filling the tubes as it's been pretty normal for my Yamaha's.

If you leave your boat in the water for an extended period of time, pull the plugs out and lay them sideways on top of the tubes. This will prevent them from swelling from being inserted all the time. Just remember to pop them back in before you go out again.

I'm not really worried about it, but others have mentioned some concern.

Also as a note, if you have a single engine boat you can't lay the plug on top of the hole and shut the hatch. The gas strut interferes with the plug. Tried that this weekend too.

 

[Weeb]

I can’t close my hatch either with the plugs on the top sideways on a twin engine. They must be shallower than the older models.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

this may help, it is normal

 

[Sbrown]

I can’t close my hatch either with the plugs on the top sideways on a twin engine. They must be shallower than the older models.

Yeah, you can. You just have to orient them the right way. I put them sideways across the top of the tube with the handles horizontal and the shorter side of the plug facing down. They kind of sit just right in the tube and you can close the hatch. As a bonus this position also allows the plug to drain, and it drains down the tube and out of the boat. My boat is a 2017 AR240 and my plugs and tubes fill with water, and they have since day one; I just figured it was normal. Nothing I'm stressed about for sure.

 

[Weeb]

Yeah, you can. You just have to orient them the right way. I put them sideways across the top of the tube with the handles horizontal and the shorter side of the plug facing down. They kind of sit just right in the tube and you can close the hatch. As a bonus this position also allows the plug to drain, and it drains down the tube and out of the boat. My boat is a 2017 AR240 and my plugs and tubes fill with water, and they have since day one; I just figured it was normal. Nothing I'm stressed about for sure.

I'll try it again next time out. Thanks.

 

[Weeb]

this may help, it is normal

We're talking about the new style plugs.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I missed that

 

[YamahaKub]

Like this. Cover shuts. However the plugs need to be unlocked (keeps strain on springs as others have noted in other thread). If you lay them down locked, they hit the cover, but it will shut. (I would not propose that approach due to point loading the cover)


I usually just leave cover open with them just setting straight up. However, if I am up and down off back of boat and need easy access to rear deck, I just leave them sit on lower deck and shut the cover.

 

[tdonoughue]

I intentionally leave the cover open. Boat won't start that way--which insures that I put in the plugs before I leave. Otherwise, I may forget. Ask me how I know.

If you should shit your cover, please make sure to clean it thoroughly (sorry--couldn't resist).

 

[msavold]

Just emptied mine out this week end when I noticed they were sloshing around - and, to be clear, I mean emptied water that was inside the actual plugs. They were absolutely full and don't remember noticing that before...
Water in the 'tubes' the plugs sit in? Oh, hell, yeah. Almost every outing. Keep an eye on the swim platform when you hit the brakes to go from plane to no wake mode and unless you do it gradually the platform ends up under water as the wake catches up to the boat. There's a pretty good correlation between amount of water and aggressive stopping. (PS: religiously pull the plugs after every outing - salt water - and spray them with T-9 regularly and gasket lube occasionally.)

 

[MidnightRider]

2017 212x here and tubes full of water after every outing, never concerned enough to wonder if it was blow by or coming over the back - assumed it was over the back (always high speed water sport boating). Also last time I pulled my plugs noticed sloshing and turned the plugs upside down dumping a fair amount of water out of them. Again wasn’t concerned but following this thread in case somone comes up with a reason to be.

 

[Augieol65]

2017 212x here and tubes full of water after every outing, never concerned enough to wonder if it was blow by or coming over the back - assumed it was over the back (always high speed water sport boating). Also last time I pulled my plugs noticed sloshing and turned the plugs upside down dumping a fair amount of water out of them. Again wasn’t concerned but following this thread in case somone comes up with a reason to be.

Same exact experience with my 17 212 LTDS

 

[AboveTheBest]

I forgot to drain my water after my last outing at the end of the season and found about 3” of ice when I opened it up mid December...

I was sure it would crack something in the tube, but everything still performs as it should with no cracks.

Hopefully I don’t ever make that mistake again...

 

[LX210]

Wanted to revisit this post. Had my 2019 AR240 out this weekend and noticed my bilge running way more than it did last year. When looking through the rear hatch between the clean outs everything was soaked. Took the rear panel off and took it back out to find the leak. I rode on the rear platform while holding down the rear hatch kill switch so I could look for the leak. Well low and behold I looked down into the clean out silos and the were filling and overflowing. Stopped and reset them to make sure I had them in correctly but it still happeNed. They seem to fill very fast when you are moving and let off the throttles. I assume this is because the impeller is no longer sucking so the water being forced into the intake is pushing on the clean out ports and leaking around the plugs. Also when the tubes overfill with water it pours into the rear area where the exhaust is. It is not sealed that well from Yamaha and there is no way that deck drain can handle that much water. Im thinking about a plug clean out repair seal kit for $49 but anyone else have this issue? Oh yeah boat has 21 hours on it. Basically new. I will call the place I bought it tomorrow but they are 3 hours away so if they want me to bring it there I will just buy it myself. Not worth the gas to take it there.

 

[Stevepro172]

Wanted to revisit this post. Had my 2019 AR240 out this weekend and noticed my bilge running way more than it did last year. When looking through the rear hatch between the clean outs everything was soaked. Took the rear panel off and took it back out to find the leak. I rode on the rear platform while holding down the rear hatch kill switch so I could look for the leak. Well low and behold I looked down into the clean out silos and the were filling and overflowing. Stopped and reset them to make sure I had them in correctly but it still happeNed. They seem to fill very fast when you are moving and let off the throttles. I assume this is because the impeller is no longer sucking so the water being forced into the intake is pushing on the clean out ports and leaking around the plugs. Also when the tubes overfill with water it pours into the rear area where the exhaust is. It is not sealed that well from Yamaha and there is no way that deck drain can handle that much water. Im thinking about a plug clean out repair seal kit for $49 but anyone else have this issue? Oh yeah boat has 21 hours on it. Basically new. I will call the place I bought it tomorrow but they are 3 hours away so if they want me to bring it there I will just buy it myself. Not worth the gas to take it there.

2018 AR240 and this wasn't an issue until yesterday. First time out this year and noticed the bilge was running more than I remember it ever running before especially since no one was on the lake and it was calm. Should not have been taking on any water from anywhere and noticed the same thing as you, the clean out ports was filled with water. Normally it we were running and then chopped the throttles real fast water would come over from behind and up and cover the drain out hatch and fill with water. that never happened but every time I opened the clean out cover it is full of water. I'm assuming over the winter the seals went bad or got worse. Didn't have time to look after but will spend some time next weekend looking at it. Good luck

 

[Weeb]

Some people on here have had to re seal the decking under the hatch. Some have also used weather stripping to seal it so you can take it on and off easier.

 

[jamesk]

I get water in the plugs and on top. I took the hatch off and tightened every thing up ( the band band clamps) and resealed the hatch.
I still get water in my plugs and on top....but I get less water in my bilge when I pull the plug.
I would think the plugs only seal so well and would think there is a lot of water pressure pushing it's way into even the smallest area of the seal it can get passed. At this point I figure it is what it is and part of it is just the design and it's not that big of a deal.
My last boat was a 19 I/O.....kept the plug in most of the summer and never got more than an once of water unless I pulled in a soaking wet tube and it drained into the bilge.