Water flowing up from under the swim deck hatch while underway

[dmincheff]

So we took our 2019 212x out today and while under way (~20Mph) I noticed the bilge coming on about every 5 min.... after a while I stopped opened up the swim deck hatch, and the entire area was underwater (I had plugged the drain last year) and I could hear water it pouring into in the secondary hatch (the one you can pop off to see the exhaust). I pulled the drain plug and checked the clean out ports, they came out easy and went back in easy.

Fired up the boat and kept going and the bilge kicked in again and again.... then my wife looked back and saw water pumping out from under the swim deck hatch off the back of the boat. I searched and didn't read of anyone actually seeing water flow off the back from the clean out ports. I'm hoping its something simple. We never had this happen last year and we have about 60 hours on the boat.

 

[Scottintexas]

Where are you at?

Do you know how much water was in the engine compartment?

I would guess you had a cooling hose come loose,

I wouldn't take the boat out again until i knew what the problem was

 

[Scottintexas]

Look in your engine compartment for loose hose,
Look thru your manhole covers to see if anything is obvious

If you don't see anything then run it on the hose with engine hatch open, if nothing then pull the cleanout tray for a better look,

Then would put it in the water at the dock and see if any water comes in while floating, if nothing then start engine and monitor it

 

[Julian]

If your bilge isn't full if water, only under the hatch, then your port (s) are leaking. Check the rubber seal at the bottom of both to be sure they arent malformed/damaged. Or perhaps they arent actually locked in all the way.

 

[4x15mph]

It sounds like you definitely have a larger issue of something being disconnected. Can you run the boat in the water, take out the mini removable hatch, and see where water is coming in from? Like others have said, you may have something disconnected or after having been in the bilge recently, you have some sealant missing, etc.

Once you figure it out, you will want to caulk up that bilge tray since water definitely comes in through that... not as much as you are talking about but I think it is a large part of what some see with water like in the ski locker.

 

[dmincheff]

Thanks for the quick responses, and we were out on Lake Winnebago in WI.

I'll pop open the back hatch and take a better look as well as looking at the seals again. I did open the engine compartment when I pulled the cleanout ports on the lake, and there was only a little standing water down by the bilge, no standing water by the engines. I figured since the bilge was cycling, that it was keeping up with the water coming in. Also it wasn't pumping water up while less than 5 mph, so I'm thinking it's water pressure related, so my guess was cleanout port seals as well. I'll post an update soon.

This is an awesome support group!

 

[Beachbummer]

I did not fit understand what was filling up first. It sounds like the area under the large hatch is filling first, and that is trickling down to the enclosed exhaust cavity.

Any chance one of the clean out plugs is not sealing fully and is allowing water to enter?

At your own risk...

If you open the hatch and press the latch electrical switch to trick the boat into thinking the latch is still closed someone else can start that motor and rev up a little bit so you can see if water gushes/oozee's out of the clean out plugs.

The safety switch is there for a reason and if you bypass it bad things could happen, but if you are willing to accept the risk and keep your face away from it in case it blows while your are looking, it might be a risk worth taking.

 

[dmincheff]

Talked to the guys at Team Winnebagoland and they said they had someone with the same issue. Clean out port seals need to be replaced. Running them down in the morning and things should be back to normal.

 

[Scottintexas]

Bad cleanout plug/seal shouldn't put water inside the boat to make the bilge run, unless your cleanout tray is that poorly sealed

I would proceed with caution because if you have a loose hose that can be BAD

keep us updated,
.

 

[biglar155]

Bad cleanout plug/seal shouldn't put water inside the boat to make the bilge run, unless your cleanout tray is that poorly sealed

I would proceed with caution because if you have a loose hose that can be BAD

keep us updated,
.

An improperly seated cleanout tray sounds plausible. I have to put a knee in the middle of mine while tightening the big hose-clamps to put it all back together. I know that if I don't get those clamped down properly and a clean-out plug starts leaking, water would certainly be pumped into the boat.

Another thing to check would be to see how many of the screws are actually "biting" into the fiberglass. I had so few that were holding it together that I went through, back-filled all of them with marine epoxy and re-drilled the holes.

Some folks like to seal that area with a sealant but I consider it something that gets opened regularly for inspections and equipment installation so I just screw it together. I would imagine it leaks a little. If half the screws weren't holding, it would probably leak a lot.

 

[tdonoughue]

I replaced my sealant with weatherstripping...

But I can easily see where untightened band clamps or a loose cleanout tray or a tray where the little drain hose is disconnected could cause flooding into the boat...

 

[dmincheff]

Checking in... we brought the cleanout ports in and had the seals replaced. Team said it was the 3rd boat they've seen with the same issue. Haven't tried it out yet since woke up to 34 Degrees and a chance of snow tomorrow.... I'll share an update when we test it.

 

[WREKS]

20mph puts your stern pretty low in the water, I think. Is it possible that water is backflowing up through the stern drain, flooding over the cleanout tray, and down through the inspection cover?

 

[tdonoughue]

Haven't tried it out yet since woke up to 34 Degrees and a chance of snow tomorrow....

That is the problem with these northern boaters... No commitment.

[Ducking and running]

(In my defense, this was posted from Minnesota)

 

[dmincheff]

*Update* the new seals did the trick, no water seeping up and the bilge didn't go on once in 2 hours of running the boat. In fact, when I went to pull the clean out ports, it was the least amount of water I have ever seen back there.

 

[dmincheff]

That is the problem with these northern boaters... No commitment.

[Ducking and running]

(In my defense, this was posted from Minnesota)

LOL! I worked in the twin cities a few years back, and remember one spring weekend the kids were swimming one day, and snow skiing the next!

 

[Five Faces]

*Update* the new seals did the trick, no water seeping up and the bilge didn't go on once in 2 hours of running the boat. In fact, when I went to pull the clean out ports, it was the least amount of water I have ever seen back there.

Wow, it's a 2019, I wouldn't expect that. Was it covered under warranty?

 

[biglar155]

That is the problem with these northern boaters... No commitment.

[Ducking and running]

(In my defense, this was posted from Minnesota)

Oh, we OTTA be committed for living up here.

No need to duck and run yet. Our arms are too tired from shoveling to become violent.

 

[dmincheff]

Wow, it's a 2019, I wouldn't expect that. Was it covered under warranty?

Yes or covered by our dealer, and the nice thing was that they only wanted the plugs and not the boat. So 5 min to unscrew the cap and 15 min to get the seals swapped out. Team Winnebagoland said they had 3 - 2019s with seal swap outs already done. Thankfully that was all it needed.

 

[anmut]

Yes or covered by our dealer, and the nice thing was that they only wanted the plugs and not the boat. So 5 min to unscrew the cap and 15 min to get the seals swapped out. Team Winnebagoland said they had 3 - 2019s with seal swap outs already done. Thankfully that was all it needed.

Was it the clean-out plugs that had the bad seal or the tubes the clean-out plugs sit in?