Water in Ski Locker but not in Bilge

[Crazy Acadian]

I've got a strange situation that I'm hoping the forum can help.

2009 SX230.
Atlantic Ocean

Put boat in the water for the first time this season last Saturday. Boat ran for about 25 mins before rain got us back to the dock. Left in water Saturday night. Sunday we were out for about 3 hours. Left in water overnight. Monday I had about 8 kids aboard and pulled a tube most of the afternoon.

When going back to the dock, my buddy started taking the fenders out of the floor locker when we found a good 6-8 inches of warm water in there. I've had my boat for 4 years and it's never done this. The plug was not screwed it. I've never had it screwed in in the past. We then checked the motors and there was water up to the underside of the motors. It looked like the bilge pump did not kick in. We took the boat out of the water Monday. On the ramp when we took the drain plug out it took a good 25-30 mins for all the water to drain out.

Boat was left out of the water all day yesterday and cranked up to an angle so any more water should have drained out.

Yesterday night we brought the boat back to the dock. Backed it in and started both motors. Let them run for a good 10 mins. Checked for leaks in the engine bay but everything was bone dry. Also no water was coming in from the back when it was half way in on the trailer. Bilge pump area was dry as well with back half of boat in water.

Next we left for a little sail. Just in drive we made our way out of the wharf. In the engine bay there was no water at all coming in from the back next to the bilge or from the front. Once we cleared the rock wall and started to get into some 1/2 foot waves we noticed water coming into the ski locker from the plug hole. As we went up and down with the waves the water would come in more and more. Engine bay continue to be dry.

Turned around and made are way back to the dock and loaded it back on the trailer. When we had it on the ramp, I was sure that water in the floor locker would make it's way into the bilge but it did not. Bilge and engine bay stayed dry. When I removed the drain plug I got about 15 mins of solid water coming out. This for a less than 10 min sail at only no wake mode.

I'm thinking scupper but it's not making sense to me why the water would not be going into the bilge. Would a boat ramp be enough angle to get all of the water out if it would have had a lot of rain in the past few weeks? It's been outside for about 1 month before I put it in the water.

Any suggestion would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Marc

 

[MNdrifter]

There is a plug in the floor locker that you need to remove to allow the water to drain. Some people leave the plug out. Then it will drain the way you expect.
The plug is there as a safety feature. Officially the plug should stay in place so that the floor locker becomes a floatation chamber in case of a hull breach.
Many features on a boat have to be a compromise between normal operation and emergency situations.

 

[Crazy Acadian]

Thanks for the response MNdrifter. I've always kept the floor locker's plug unplugged. I just learned this weekend by reading trough many posts that it should actually be screwed in when running the boat. When we did our test run yesterday night all plugs where out and water should have been free to go where it needs to. The Bilge was dry but water was coming into the floor locker trough the plug hole.

 

[Janosjanosjanos]

I have a scarab 255id, 2017 build. My ski locker seems to be constantly with water, several inchs. When take all the water out I get back flow through drainage pipe from the engine bay. When I step on the back of the boat it activates the float pump and quite some volume comes out. I keep it on the river all year. I wonder where all the water is coming into the engine bay although enevr high enough to threaten the engines. Does the engine bay have a drainage hole and how do I find it to take a look at whats going on. I can't take it out the water for the time being.