Sources of water intrusion?

[bashr52]

My newly purchased boat has a Mercruiser I/O which I am unfamiliar with, all of my previous boats were outboards. I had it in the water for the first time over the weekend, and I noticed about every 30 minutes I was running the bilge pump to pump out water. There is a float switch which never activated, I just happened to lift the engine cover and saw water. After it had sat overnight I went out to check it on Sunday, and it was full again. It never gets above the level of the bilge, so whatever is letting in water leaks in until the level in the bottom of the boat is even with wherever it is coming in at. When I pulled it out of the lake yesterday and pulled the drain plug, it drained for a while, like a few minutes it was a solid stream.

When I was cleaning up the boat before I put it in the water, I noticed that there was a plug in the right side deck drain, which I thought was weird and pulled it out. Saturday when we were out on the water I noticed a little water on the deck and figured out the check ball wasn't sealing completely which with letting water in, which is why the plug was in there. When we got back to the dock I put the plug back in and pumped the water out. Sunday there was still water getting into the bilge, although not at the same rate.

I'm going to replace both deck drains to rule out that issue, but is there anything on the drive system that may be letting in water I should check out?

Thanks

 

[thumpar]

Check your shift and u-joint bellows.

 

[alldodge]

Don't know what year the boat is, but take a Phillips screw driver and try to push it into the transom on the inside. If you can, the transom is soft

 

[H20Rat]

After it had sat overnight I went out to check it on Sunday, and it was full again. It never gets above the level of the bilge, so whatever is letting in water leaks in until the level in the bottom of the boat is even with wherever it is coming in at. When I pulled it out of the lake yesterday and pulled the drain plug, it drained for a while, like a few minutes it was a solid stream.

Leaks don't work like that... They will leak faster as you take on more water. What was happening was that your bilge pump was probably keeping it at that level.

In any case, there are LOTS of spots in the drive/engine that could let water in. After doing alldodge's test, the next thing is just stick your head in the engine compartment and look/listen. It should be 100% dry, ANY drips are a sign of a leak.

Keep in mind a leaking boat is just another way to say you are slowly sinking!