Still leaking

[Pullen724]

Ive fill the bilge with water and cant see any water leaking on the outside.

Ive tried to completely dry it out and narrow down where water is coming from but it seems to be from somewhere that I cant see through the few openings on boat.

I plugged the anchor locker drain and the drain for the stern storage compartment where the clean out plugs are to rule out intrusion there.

There does seem to be water standing on both port and starboard side on the outside of both clean out tubes. There is a small pocket on both sides that I can feel water in but cant see due to the clean out tubes. If these "pockets" are filling up with water from somewhere I cant see, where would it be? It looks like water may spill over out of the pockets and get into bilge.

Dealer says they cant find a leak so it must be fine. I get 20-30 seconds of water draining after a few hour outing with nobody getting in or out of the water.

2016 242 Limited S.

Ive searched all the threads I can find on this topic and gone through all the checklists of common areas.

Anyone found a secret troubled leak spot that is hard to locate?

Thanks

 

[Britboater]

https://jetboaters.net/threads/water-entering-through-clean-out.12988/

Take a look at this thread, might give you some pointers.

 

[Bennie]

@Pullen724 - odd question... how often are you coming off of plan while being out? I have noticed that when we slow down alot (and rather quickly) the "returning wake" catches up and covers the swim platform, quite often also covering the hatch over the clean out plugs. When this happens I believe that it is going under the hatch, and into the hull via the center cover between the clean out ports.


.... and @Britboater beat me to it. Yep - I would bet that is your problem, had the same on my 2015 242.

 

[jdonalds]

About one to two gallons of water drains from the transom plug hole at the end of most of my boating days. I've determined the water spills over the top of the clean-out tubes. On those occasions when the tubes are dry the bilge is also dry. If the tubes are full there will be water in the bilge.

 

[Pullen724]

Thanks for the replies so far.... Ive paid attention to the wake coming over the platform. I get water even when no water doesnt come up to the second level of the platform and made sure the tray is bone dry when checking afterwards. I noticed the drain in my tray was allowing water to come up into the tray initially but I capped the drain with a rubber stopper. Apparently I have water coming in from more than one place.

 

[Bennie]

@Pullen724 - If you are still having problems then I would get a nice sunny day, park the boat with the bow at slight incline and pull the bilge drain plug at the pack. Then I would take a garden hose and concentrate the water flow in different areas that you believe may be leaking. That should help you find where your opening to your bilge is at.

I would plug each compartment and check them individually until you see water coming out the back - BINGO, there is your leak.
.02

 

[CAM212SS]

try replacing the drain plug. that was my issue. no problems since

 

[tdonoughue]

I have also heard that the rub rail at the back is another popular leak spot. But really, I think @MrMoose is our leak expert....

 

[MrMoose]

@Pullen724, I have felt your pain. Boats shouldn't leak. Water can get into these boats from so many spots, and even rain water has ways of lingering in various spots in the bilge for extended periods until it finally sloshes its way to the drain plug. One of the most common ways to look for a leak is to fill the bilge with the boat on your trailer and look for leaks, but that didn't work for me.
So, assuming that you don't have hull damage, there are 3 ways that water gets into your boat:
1. Cooling/exhaust leak.
2. Deck splash and rain.
3. Below water level hull fittings.

With respect to #2, the clean-out tray, and the clean-our tray drain are major culprits as well as the cup holder drains. One of my swim deck cup holder drains was disconnected by my dealer when they stuck a wire down it to unplug it. I ended up fixing it myself; it wasn't plugged, it was kinked. Your deck drain and the drain at the top of the engine hatch are also likely to leak.
If possible, you need to start with a dry boat, and a day with calm seas and no rain. This scenario removes deck splashing and rain as sources.
Next you need to do sea trials. The shorter, the better. Start by just soaking the boat for 15 to 25 minutes without running the engines. This could help you isolate leaks from any of the following: drain plug, deck drain hull fitting, and drive shaft hull fittings. While the boat is soaking, open up the access hatch between the clean-out tubes and use a flash light to see if you can spot any water in the bottom of the bilge, near the drain plug. If there's water down there, then try to see where it's coming from.
If the soak doesn't produce any water in the bilge, then start the engines and see if that produces water in the bilge. If it does, then you're likely dealing with a cooling/exhaust leak. If you still don't get water in the bilge, then take it for a spin at a reasonable speed for a minute or two. If you end up with water in the bilge, then you might have leaky drive shaft hull fittings. That was my major leak, both drive shafts. The dealership said that it seemed like the silicone had failed.

In order to find my driveshaft leaks, I puffed a bunch of baby powder into the stern bilge area below the clean-out tray, then I took the boat for a short spin on a rainless waveless day, then I brought it directly to the dealership. They removed the cleanout apron and immediately saw the problem that was highlighted by water tracks in the baby powder.

My drive shaft leaks produced a couple gallons in the bilge every outing.

Good luck

 

[Julian]

GoPro cameras, phone cameras etc can also be your friend in finding leaks.....put the boat in the water dry, and as MrMoose says, quickly get in the stern and stick a camera in there and look for water...the baby powder trick is a good one to show where it is coming from.

 

[MrMoose]

@Pullen724, you mentioned that you plugged the anchor locker drain. It could still be leaking between the thru-hull fitting and the outer shell. Although I don't expect that this will be your 2 gallon leak spot, if I were you, I'd pop the fitting out, clean up the factory silicon and re-install it making sure that it's properly sealed to the inner and outer shells.
And... on the bright side, starting off with a leaky boat is just a convenient way of verifying that your bilge pump works.

 

[Pullen724]

Did some more digging after reviewing some of your responses. Potentially isolated two leaking spots.

Boat was bome dry and I just backed it into water, leaving it on trailer. Waited several minites but didnt notice anything significant.

Started engines and let idle for 3 minutes then looked again.

1) The "pocket" directly beneath the port side exhaust (I think thats what it is) had filled up with water and had just started to trickle down into drain plug area. The water was cool to touch so I dont think it is coming from exhaust, Im thinking the leak was just more pronounced by the engines running while sitting on trailer.
- Possible rod that opens and closes the reverse bucket?

2) when I pulled it out of the water and looked again, I noticed a stream of water from above, right in the center that came from the void under the swim platform.
- I felt in there and could feel dampness in this area.
- Someone mentioned possible leak behind rub rail and that may be what this is from- How would they reseal this?
- The only other thing I can see it entering this area is throught the bolts holding the ladder assembly on.

Boat is going to dealer Thursday for connext replacement. Hopefully narrowing it down to this will help them resolve at least most of my leak problem.

 

[Pullen724]

Looking at it closer, item #1 above wouldnt be the rod opening the bucket but rather some type of water line that goes through the hull???

 

[tdonoughue]

#2 sure looks like the rub rail to me. Pull the rub rail (it is held on with Philips head screws), apply 3M 5200 (or 4200 or similar, but I would go with 5200 as you won't want to undo this ever), let dry and reinstall the rub rail.

Of course, you could ask the dealer to deal with it, but then you have to check if they did it (which they won't, or won't have done correctly), then take it back, etc. In these 'simple fix' situations, I usually just do it myself. Then I know it was done right.

On #1, I will defer to those smarter than me...

 

[MrMoose]

Before you go working on the rub rail, consider whether your rub rail was under water during your sea trial. Keep in mind that you might also be seeing residual water from previous outings that may be the result of leaky cup holders. If I were you, I'd make sure that the area of interest is dry, then repeat your sea trial taking note of which parts of the hull/deck are under water.
When my drive shaft fixtures were leaking, there was enough pressure/spray to get water onto the ledge areas located at the outer edges (starboard and port) of the clean-out bilge area. I initially thought that it might have been a water leak from the exhaust/cooling system, but I couldn't feel any moisture on those components.

 

[Pullen724]

Finally found my leak. Sprayed water on back side of rubrail from inside and immediately water started coming out. (See pic)

Has anyone removed the rub rail before to fix this? What is the long term fix? Seal inside and outside somehow?

 

[Britboater]

Finally found my leak. Sprayed water on back side of rubrail from inside and immediately water started coming out. (See pic)

Has anyone removed the rub rail before to fix this? What is the long term fix? Seal inside and outside somehow?

That is a real concern, what is Yamaha playing at?

I'd personally take it to the dealers to get the fix completed, you may have a complete break down of seal between the upper and lower moulds, have you checked any other areas along the rail?

 

[Pullen724]

I havent checked other areas of the rub rail. It was consistently coming in from that side so Im hopeful it is a simple fix. I dont know what it looks like behind the rub rail to know how it should be sealed from the factory. I think I will let the dealer try to fix it so that it is documented in case of future problems.

 

[mraz72]

if I understand all above correctly, you sprayed water from the inside and it is leaking out as visible in your picture correct? I wonder if any of us did the same would we see the same results?

 

[Pullen724]

Thats correct. No high pressure either, just stuck the water hose in the small void beneath the swim deck from the inside and watched the water start coming out.

I was steadily seeing water coming in from that side of the boat.

My clean out tray is removed right now(for the purpose of locating the leak) which made it easier to get hose in there.