Water in engine compartment?

[dadofral]

Took the boat out tonight and had a good time. Toward the end of our boating, the boat felt sluggish and unusual vibrations.
At the launch we pulled the boat out of the water, standard procedure is to pull the drain plug as the launch is on an incline.
A massive amount of water started coming out and it was warm / hot. My son opened up the engine hatch after waiting about 5 minutes
And notice both engines had residual water on them in various spots. The water continued to drain for another 7-8 minutes and finally started
To trickle out. I can’t imagine where this amount of water came from, we did try surfing tonight and filled the ballast tanks. What are the
Most common points to check for leaks? Should I run the engines with a hose to see if it does have somewhere with a leak? Run it in
Open water again and see if anything happens? I’m pretty dumbfounded by this as its never happened before.

 

[sunbyrned]

Did you check the clean-out port covers to make sure none of them blew loose?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Clean out plugs is a good suggestion as well as intermediate bearings leaking or hose clamps rotting off in the back near the exhaust systems.

 

[sunbyrned]

Also, depending on how high the water line was, you should check the oil to see if water got inside.

 

[tdonoughue]

Warm/hot water can mean a leak in the cooling system. Check for missing hose clamps, split hoses and the like.

 

[dadofral]

All good places to start. Thanks.

 

[Scottintexas]

Did you have your bilge pump on/did you ever see it pumping?

I would check bilge pump first, then run on the hose and then let it sit in the water at the dock for 30 minutes then run it in the water monitoring it closely

 

[dadofral]

We checked the clean out plugs at the launch and they were still in where they need to be. So thinking that’s not it.

 

[dadofral]

Did you have your bilge pump on/did you ever see it pumping?

I would check bilge pump first, then run on the hose and then let it sit in the water at the dock for 30 minutes then run it in the water monitoring it closely

Will double check all this. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Roof]

Same issue with me. This was my fourth or fifth trip in my boat and all other tines I didn't have a drop of water but today I noticed a decent amount came out. Opened my engine compartment and there was a little water in there as well.
Also, I usually have water in my clean out ports but they are always in tight. I mean, they never cane out and I always have power.
Did you ever figure your problem out.

 

[suke]

Same issue with me. This was my fourth or fifth trip in my boat and all other tines I didn't have a drop of water but today I noticed a decent amount came out. Opened my engine compartment and there was a little water in there as well.
Also, I usually have water in my clean out ports but they are always in tight. I mean, they never cane out and I always have power.
Did you ever figure your problem out.

Dunno about your other problem, but water on top of the clean out ports is largely normal. On my boat there is even a warning sticker stating as such.

 

[J-RAD]

Same issue with me. This was my fourth or fifth trip in my boat and all other tines I didn't have a drop of water but today I noticed a decent amount came out. Opened my engine compartment and there was a little water in there as well.
Also, I usually have water in my clean out ports but they are always in tight. I mean, they never cane out and I always have power.
Did you ever figure your problem out.

Check the drain line from the drain in clean-out port hatch. It runs from the tray under the hatch to the underside of the swim deck. Mine disconnected and was letting water in.

 

[J-RAD]

I still have water in my boat every outing. Never enough to be a concern, but annoying. This season I plan to change the o-ring on the drain plug and check that the anchor locker drain is sealed properly.

 

[svana]

If a cooling hose popped off, run the hose through the engine and you'll see it dumping in the engine bay. That's what happened to mine and it was a super easy fix - finding a suitable replacement clamp was the bigger challenge lol. It doesn't sound like this was the problem with yours, on my way back in my engine threw an overheating light and shut down. I assume that was the moment the hose popped off. If something happened that would be one way to track. If it went unchecked the water would've gotten pretty high and definitely wouldn't have gone unnoticed - especially with additional ballast bags on I think.

 

[Benjamin Bailey]

If you haven't replaced the plastic Scupper Valve #1 check it and #2 replace it with a SS one. I chased a similar problem for 2 years and blew an engine from taking in water before nailing it down.

 

[Roof]

Yes sir, ill Google beat that to death as well, lol.

 

[F.M.]

I had water in my bilge from day one also. I filled my bilge with water one day in the driveway and discovered a pretty significant drip/flow of water coming from the drain plug. I bought some silicone grease at home depot (it's in the faucet repair section) and covered my drain plug o-ring and cleanout plug seals with it. I also used silicone to seal around the inspection hatch in the cleanout plug compartment. I haven't had any water in my bilge since.

 

[Roof]

Im gonna do just that, thanks for the input

 

[Roof]

Ok....so, this would seem obvious, but the water was actually coming in from the clean out ports. There is a drain hole but that doesn't handle all the overflow so the water just fills up the space and then gies between the screwed on, not sealed, cover.
Should/can I go ahead and seal it?

 

[Levi Weatherford]

Ok....so, this would seem obvious, but the water was actually coming in from the clean out ports. There is a drain hole but that doesn't handle all the overflow so the water just fills up the space and then gies between the screwed on, not sealed, cover.
Should/can I go ahead and seal it?

That's where my water was coming in from. I removed the tray and placed a bead of silicone sealant under it. I also replaced all screws with one size larger screws because some of the factory screws wouldn't tighten up when I replaced them. After screwing the tray down I then placed more sealant around the edge of the tray. This fixed my water intrusion issues but made it hell trying to remove tray when I started my Wakemakers integrated ballast install. I will do the same thing when I reinstall the tray after the ballast install.