Water in my floor locker

[RForester]

Yesterday morning I lifted the floor locker after my boat being on the water for a few days (still in the water) and there was about six inches of water in it. After I emptied the locker and dipped and toweled all the water out I found that water is coming in around the drain plug housing. ( the plug isn't leaking, it's the seal around the housing). I was just wondering if I seal this with marine grade sealant if this will just mask a bigger problem. Where is this water coming from? Where does the water go when you open the plug? My engine compartment was flooded also(6"), but when it got pumped out, no more leaked into it.

 

[ToddW850]

If I understand what you are saying correctly, you are saying your floor locker plug was installed, but water is coming from the seal of the plug. That means water is below it and coming up into the floor locker. Which in turn means you have water in your bilge and the bottom section of your boat. Not good. 6 inches is a lot of water to find in your floor locker while the boat is on the water.

Questions so we can help:
Did it rain? It's possible rain water got into your floor locker. Unless you are confident it came from under. How did you determine it's the plug seal?
Could the water of been from washing your boat on the water?
Was your bilge on? Your bilge should always be on while the boat is on the water.

If the above don't answer it, then you obviously have water coming into your boat from another source. More than likely coming in from the back of the boat. One way is to get your boat on the trailer and jack up the front as high as possible. With your transom plug in, fill the bilge with water (not up to your engines) and let it sit. Look for leaks at the rear of your boat around your plug and exhaust holes.

 

[SCSTWG]

I had a few inches of water in my ski locker earlier this year and determined it came from extensive rain. Hopefully that is your issue as well.

 

[RForester]

It's not rain water. it's been in storage with a cover too!

I have the boat home now. At lunch I am going to put water in the floor locker with the plug in and see where the water goes. It wasn't the actual round plug seal that was leaking,
it was leaking between the bottom of the ski locker and the plug housing. you could see it coming in. This is all while my engine compartment had water in it. I don't know where my engine compartment water came from. I had my plugs in but I must have had one loose. I'm thinking that the water in the engine compartment was backing up into the floor locker. When I fill the floor locker with water (with the plug in) I can see if water leaks into the engine compartment. One thing I will need to do is put sealant around that plug housing. Also, make sure the plugs seal so i'll put some water in the engine compartment with the plugs in! It is still a mystery as to how so much water got in with the engines. After pumping it out more didn't leak in and I never tightened the drain plugs.

 

[Evil Sports]

I may be totally wrong here but I have seen water in my ski locker and for no good reason. I keep the plug open in the ski locker. One thing I can count on, when I find water in there the cleanout ports are usually full of water. Thats either from wet kids reboarding and all the water dripping into the wet storage area or from coming off plane and water coming up the swim deck. I get enough to cause my float activated bilge pump to go on when I punch it to get up on plane. My boat sat in the water for 10 days and didnt have water in the ski locker until we had 6 kids on board tubing. Thats my take

 

[RForester]

I can't wait to see where the ski locker drains. you would think to the bilge pump.

 

[Julian]

The ski locker drains to the bilge.
If you had water in the bilge, then you had the drain plug in the stern of the boat? You say the boat was out of the water? If so, then the plug should be out. Seen post of people who left plugs in their boat....and submerged their engines.....as with the plug in...you create a bath tub....enough rain and you have an expensive problem. Not to mention the mold and mildew that will result from that much moisture trapped inside the hull.

Doesn't surprise me that the ski locker drain leaks a little...they all will. They aren't intended to be perfect seals....just to slow water movement down when taking on water. You can seal them if you like.

 

[Eric Popper]

Yesterday morning I lifted the floor locker after my boat being on the water for a few days (still in the water) and there was about six inches of water in it. After I emptied the locker and dipped and toweled all the water out I found that water is coming in around the drain plug housing. ( the plug isn't leaking, it's the seal around the housing). I was just wondering if I seal this with marine grade sealant if this will just mask a bigger problem. Where is this water coming from? Where does the water go when you open the plug? My engine compartment was flooded also(6"), but when it got pumped out, no more leaked into it.

It sounds to me like you are getting rain water in the boat. I rarely keep mine outdoors, but when it's been outside in the rain, even when covered, I get water. The water always ends up in the floor locker. I've seen it nearly full before.

When you open the plug in the floor locker, the water drains into the bilge and slowly makes its way to the stern to be pumped out.

 

[Floyd]

My boat is in the lake on a mooring and every time it rains I have to bail out the ski locker, which can get several inches of water in it before the bilge pump kicks on. I considered putting a bilge pump into the ski locker, but there are unseen voids below that which are also holding water.
This morning I thought that I would try my kayak pump to get the water out of the ski locker, so I pumped the water onto the floor and it ran into the floor drain. I was surprised to find that all the water that goes into the floor drain goes back into the ski locker. So, the floor drain isn't a scupper that drains outside the boat. It makes sense, since the floor drain isn't much higher than the waterline, if it's even higher at all. Maybe on larger models the floor is higher than the waterline?

 

[Billtex2000]

I concur...Even covered, my forward floor locker is always the first to fill. That is actually the "lowest" spot on the boat when it's in the water. I usually pull the plug and when I get underway, the water drains into the bilge and gets pumped out. I've had my forward locker all but full and the middle locker to at least half after heavy rains. It amounts to quite a bit of water/weight and takes some time to pump out!

 

[Matt Phillips]

Same here. My center ballast bag leaks a little ...not enough for me to pull the boat out of the lake and tow it down 6500' of elevation to the dealer. So if I pull the plug while it's sitting in the slip, there will be some water...like just enough to back up into the locker. I also know there's water in the bilge of the boat as we've been boarding and surfing all summer and since the boat is in the lake, only as much as the bilge pump will remove leaves.

Like others, I've learned to pull that floor locker drain before heading back to the dock. Then all of the water will drain out of the locker, and the bilge takes care of it.

 

[sky11sky]

Yesterday morning I lifted the floor locker after my boat being on the water for a few days (still in the water) and there was about six inches of water in it. After I emptied the locker and dipped and toweled all the water out I found that water is coming in around the drain plug housing. ( the plug isn't leaking, it's the seal around the housing). I was just wondering if I seal this with marine grade sealant if this will just mask a bigger problem. Where is this water coming from? Where does the water go when you open the plug? My engine compartment was flooded also(6"), but when it got pumped out, no more leaked into it.

So how did u fix the problem?