242 Getting Water in bilge

[AK242]

Having an issue with my 242 taking water when running. Do not have any issues when the boat is sitting in the water. When running the boat and especially when going above 5000rpm having to turn on pump every 5 minutes to pump out. Pump runs about 15-20 seconds each time. Any ideas on where this is water is coming in? I've had it into the dealer twice and they keep claiming it is fixed but no luck yet.

 

[GoVols01]

I think I have the same issue as you on my 1 year old 212X. Dealer sealed all screw holes holding on the rub rail by the swim platform and replaced the exhaust through-hull seals because both locations were "gushing" water. I've taken the boat to the lake twice since then, but I counted well over 1 minute that the water was gushing from the plug whenever I pulled the boat from the lake at the end of the day. I'm starting to think it's the shaft seals while the boat is operating. I leave my bilge on auto while on the water and since the cooling ports' dump next to the bilge port, it's practically impossible to know when it's dumping bilge water. I haven't seen it dump while anchored, but it must be doing it while the boat's operating.

 

[McMark]

It’s pumping past the clean out plugs and dumping in through the inspection panel

 

[AndyD]

Had a similar issue yesterday. In 2 1/2 seasons I’ve never seen my bilge pump out. Usually only have about a gallon or so at the end of the day in the drain, nothing much. Yesterday though it came on about 4-5 times during a 6 hour float for about 3-4 seconds each. Not much, but enough to make me say hmmmm. We were kinda sitting broadside to the majority of the wakes and some were rocking us pretty good. I’m hoping it was just from the anchor locker drain, rub rail screws, and maybe over the swim deck and nothing worse. This was our last outing before Bimini so wewon’t get another chance to see if it persists til then

 

[AK242]

It’s pumping past the clean out plugs and dumping in through the inspection panel

that is what I have been thinking. Any thoughts on fixing that?

 

[AK242]

confirmed not getting a good seal on the clean-out ports. when i fill them from the outside I can see the water running out underneath the boat. Anyone got ideas on what needs to be done to get a good seal? Is it primarily because of dirt build-up?

 

[McMark]

New rubber on the cleanout plugs? Make sure no dirt or corrosion in the sealing groove down in the hole. They seal downward not outward.

They all tend to have some blow by though. I get no water on top of my plugs unless I’m running hard then I get blow by and ultimately water in the bilge.

 

[Scottintexas]

having to turn on pump every 5 minutes to pump out..
,

This statement concerns me, did you actually turn your pump on looking for water or did you just mean it cycled and found water about every 5 minutes? once you hit the water you should turn your bilge pump on auto and leave it there until you take the boat out of the water so it's always looking and available to pump,

if you're only taking on water under way my first concern would be a cooling line, did you know if the water coming out of the bilge was hot or lake temp? that would be your first indicator because if you have a cooling line leaking it could fill you up fast,

what were your boating conditions? was it extremely rough or taking water over the back? that's a lot of water to make it through the cleanout tray, what about people in the bow to submerge the anchor drain hole?

You've seen how much you can rely on your dealer, I think I would suggest so self diagnoses If you want this fixed, maybe remove the cleanout tray or at least the inspection port and run the boat at speed to see if you see any leaks, you'll have to hold the cleanout hatch switches down and as a safety precaution don't lean over the cleanout plug holes, if and it's a very slim if, they happened to blow you don't want a body part above them.

update your location on the profile screen, maybe there's a member around that could give you an extra set of eyes to help look


.

 

[ToddW850]

I'm with @Scottintexas on this. We can narrow this down for you. I'd also like to suggest checking all of your hose clamps under your swim deck. I found a few in my boat had rusted and snapped. That caused warm engine water to go into the bilge and kicked my bilge pump on. I ended up replacing all of the clams with new stainless steel clamps. Good to go now