Leaving the plug IN

I stopped to look at an older Bayliner Capri a few months back - sitting in a yard, snap cover on. I look over the outside, and it looks decent. Needs a good buff and wax, but it may be manageable...I pop a few snaps and peek under to see how the interior looks...not bad. Seats are in pretty good shape for it's age. Dash doesn't look bad....carpet doesn't look too terrible, just a little shiny. Wait. Carpet shouldn't be shiny. I stare for a minute, very confused, and start unhooking more snaps to get a better look - in the process, I rock the boat, and the floor starts moving - there is 3-4" of standing water above the floor, meaning a good portion of the IO was also submerged. I went to pull the plug as a favor, but it was a screw in and I didn't have any tools, and no one was home at the house. I emailed them and told them about it - they thanked me repeatedly and said it had been overlooked.

Fast forward about a month, they email me and say the boat is still for sale and that the price is VERY negotiable. I'm still looking, so I decide to stop and look again, see what the damage looks like, see if it might make a good project. Pop the cover, carpet is still shiny. Plug is still in. Guy comes out, I point out the plug in place and the now 6-8" of standing water, and the guy says " Oh, yeah....someone mentioned that before....I never got around to taking it out"

Wow. It was probably a $3000 boat when it was parked mid summer. I wouldn't touch it now.

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Oh well...you can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!

Nice try, though!

Happy boating!

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Bayliner and full of water are not words that should go together.

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I saw something very Close to that. A very nice late 90's early 00, 20 ft ski boat sitting on a trailer. What got my attention was the trailer tongue jack wheel was folded over and the trailer tires were flat. When I walked up to the boat it was full of water clear to the brim. I went to the guys house, talked to his wife (She seemed concered) and a month later they still hadn't done anything about it. I would guess the boat was worth 15k before they turned it into a bird bath!

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swimming pool on wheels

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wadouglas said:

I saw something very Close to that. A very nice late 90's early 00, 20 ft ski boat sitting on a trailer. What got my attention was the trailer tongue jack wheel was folded over and the trailer tires were flat. When I walked up to the boat it was full of water clear to the brim. I went to the guys house, talked to his wife (She seemed concered) and a month later they still hadn't done anything about it. I would guess the boat was worth 15k before they turned it into a bird bath!

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I think someone was looking for insurance payment. Does insurance covers deliberate negligence?

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gonefishie said:

I think someone was looking for insurance payment. Does insurance covers deliberate negligence?

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Not deliberate, but it DOES cover stupidity.

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Thad said:

Not deliberate, but it DOES cover stupidity.

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It may pay for it but don't fix it

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I went to look at this one and the owner had just pulled the plug a solid stream for the five min I was there he declined the $500 offer I made for eng. http://kokomo.craigslist.org/boa/1438951664.html

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a guy i used to work with, left the plug in over the winter and we had a bad winter that year. he left the boat covered sitting in the yard. well about april he went out and noticed the trailer tires were flat, pumped them up to 50psi, still flat, then peeked inside the cover, water was up almost to the top. had to replace the motor(covered in water) and every last bit of electrical, it was a 02 sea ray.

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i leave the plug in my boat cause im to lazy to put back in and take it out. i get no leaks in the boat and no need to take it out. its in a lft under a covered dock and all sides. but you see i wont let it sit nor not look at it for more than 2 weeks....


if i know a hurricane is comeing then yes i take it out or if its been raining a lot lately

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I accidentally left the plug in mine, on the trailer, and left it unattended for 2 months. Even though it was covered, it still got water in it, and tipped back onto the motor (which was down and on soft ground, luckily). So the stern was right full, and the bow up in the air when I went back in the spring. I had disconnected the battery, so no pump.
One thing it did was fill my VRO oil tank, so it looked like it was full of oil. Good thing I checked, adn that I seldom top it off, because there was an inch of water on the bottom of the tank--where the pick-up is!

Re: Leaving the plug IN

Quote:
Originally Posted by gonefishie View Post
I think someone was looking for insurance payment. Does insurance covers deliberate negligence?

Thad said:

Not deliberate, but it DOES cover stupidity.

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No, insurance Co's will NOT cover leaving a plug IN and flooding the boat.

Customer brought his 18' alum in for repair, said that his Ins Co was coming by to write it up.

Wrong, they denied the claim and CANCELED his policy, operator error.

That boat was 'wrapped' bent down around the bunks, trailer and axle was bent. Hopeless.

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How about a $35.00 solution to this problem , Run down to LOWES or HOME DEPOT and get a plug in fountain pump that flows at 100 gph and has a low water shut off built in . That is what I use and it is plugged in at the dock , Less wear and tear on the bilge pump. We just got done with a week of rain from the hurricane a week or so ago and my bilge bay only had 1/2 " of water in it after we got about 10" of rain, Roads were flooded as was the canal I keep my boat on . I also keep it plugged in when the boat is on the trailer .

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That works great if there are never any power outages or blown fuses or kicked plugs or...

Leaving the plug out and having the bow up is free

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When considering a used boat, one of the first things that a potential buyer should do, is to look for obvious signs of neglect.

So, just what kind of shape would you expect the engine and other accessories to be in, when the owner is too lazy to pull a drain plug? That's a boat that I would have walked away from in a heartbeat.



???

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i had come home to find my boat bow up in the yard... seems one of the kids had left a stray bottle cap in and it got lodged in the drain hole, then we had heavy rain...

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seems to be well worth leaving an aux battery on with an auto bilge pump

joe

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Sitting seems to be the worst thing for a boat. My father left the plug in last winter on his boat while sitting on the boat lift. Wow, what a mistake! There was at least 80+ gallons in the boat and the boat lift didn't work well after all that weight. I offered to take the kayak out and remove the plug but he didn't seem too worried about it.

A little extra effort will save you many headaches in the future!