My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

johnv100 · Oct 13, 2009

I bought an 87 22" Chris Craft a while ago, but took it out on the maiden voyage last weekend. I was just cruising it around on the water for more than an hour. When I pulled it out of the water and removed the drain plug, there was about a quart of water came out. I understand all boats, new or old leak to a certain degree. Is mine considered normal, or excessive?

Update: Thank you for your reponses. My boat is a deep V-hull with cuddy cabin. I did not bring in water from outside. It's an in/out motor. I checked inside the hull but could not see any wet spots under the motor. I also checked the outside hull below the water line. I only found a few small chips of the gelcoat but did not see any obviuos spots. My rubber drain plug has a T brass at the end, and I only finger tightened it. How can you tell if the seal around the outdrive is bad?

QC · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Did you get in and out of the water at all? Swimming?

Knightgang · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

What kind of plug do you have. It is a rubber plug with the Flip ring on the end? I use a rubber plug that you tighten the T-handle up and I have very little leak. One hte water for only a few hours, unless water is brought into the boat, I have almost no water. If you have th flip up rubber plug type, you might need to tighen the plug to that when it is flipped to press agaist the plug hole, it makes a tighter seal.

If you have a brass screw in plug, then I do not know. You have a leak somewhere you need to find..

RotaryRacer · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

johnv100 said:
I bought an 87 22" Chris Craft a while ago, but took it out on the maiden voyage last weekend. I was just cruising it around on the water for more than an hour. When I pulled it out of the water and removed the drain plug, there was about a quart of water came out. I understand all boats, new or old leak to a certain degree. Is mine considered normal, or excessive?

Who told you all boats leak?

Fiberglass boats that are properly cared for and get the appropriate amount of maintenance shouldn't leak. If the boat really is leaking you need to find out where it is leaking from. Some leaks are worse than others. If it is leaking at the bellows or around the outdrive you need to get it fixed right away. If you don't it could lead to much more costly repairs.

1 qt of water in more than an hour of cruising around doesn't sound aweful but if you don't find out where the water is coming from it could get a lot worse and could possible lead to much bigger problems.

There are a few sources of water that are unavoidable and if these are why you had 1 qt of water there is nothing to worry about.

1. Rain. If it is raining when you are using the boat water will collect. When not in use the boat should have a tight fitting waterproof cover to prevent rain from entering the boat.

2. Spray. If you are boating where ther are waves and wind it is normal to get a small amount of water in the boat from the spray.

3. People. If you are sking, tubing, swimming or partaking in any other activities in which wet people are getting into the boat it is typical to get some water collection from them.

QC · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Yeah, what he said ^^^^ the problem is the list of other stuff is long and you need to chase them down in order of disaster priority. With an I/O (I believe that's what you have) I would defintiely be concerned about the shift and U-joint bellows; especially the U-joint bellows, when they fail the good news is that it is expensive; the bad news sounds like blub, blub, blub . . .

Thad · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Boats with holes leak, boats with livewells that have loose hose fittings leak, boats with a loose or worn drain plug leak.

I have two boats. A fiberglass bowrider and an aluminum flat bottom. Neither of my boats get water in them unless I bring it in.
As was said, if you were swimming, or brought onboard a tube or skis, or left in uncovered and not have had the bow raised far enough to allow for complete drainage that account for the water, you may have a problem.
Something else that could easily be overlooked as a cause is a cooler. If you have a leak in the drain plug, thawing ice willl drain out and find its way to the bilge.
Be sure to let us know what you find.

180Fisherman · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Quit scaring the poor guy. I wouldn't worry about a quart. It obviously wan't even enough to trigger the bilge pump. Besides, the water may have already been there from a previous use. Just have fun with it and keep an eye on it.

RotaryRacer · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Not trying to scare the guy.

He has a new/old boat that he used once. He noticed some water and we let him know where it may be coming from. Worst case is that he has a leaking bellows. Likely case is that it is from some other non-critical source. Regardless, it is important to find out where the water came from to confirm that it won't lead to bigger $$$ issues.

RotaryRacer · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

johnv,

It is best if updates are posted as a reply instead of editing your original post. I didn't even see your update until I went back to re-read your original post.

a70eliminator · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

It's definately not normal for water to accumilate, except as already mentioned splash ect.
If your transom seal is leaking it will cause rot thats very bad. I would much rather a bellows leak, that little annoying accumilation of water would worry the crap out of me if I didn't know where it was comming from.

grahamh · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

Keep an eye on it, but a quart doesn't seem like much, it would be easy to take on that much water from spray, waves, etc.

That said, be aware of it, and see if it gets worse or keeps happening.

Capt'n Chris · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

180Fisherman said:
Quit scaring the poor guy. I wouldn't worry about a quart. It obviously wan't even enough to trigger the bilge pump. Besides, the water may have already been there from a previous use. Just have fun with it and keep an eye on it.

I think I would ask myself this question: "If I were to buy a boat, would I buy or want to own it if I knew that it leaked?" The only acceptable leaks in any boat would be a shaft log, but now the majority of them are dripless. More modern boats should be completely leak-free... so no, leaks are "abnormal" and the sign of a problem and should be found and corrected sooner than later. Leaks do not get better...they get worse and manifest into much bigger problems. Water always causes damage. The 2 culprits which eventually cause leaks are, lack of proper maintenance and placing fasteners below the waterline or other areas where water accumulates. Water that you can see is one matter, water that you can't see is entirely another.

Captain Chris

KC4YIN · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

One thing to definitely check are the drain plugs on the engine itself. I had a 135 Mercruiser that had a plastic drain plug on the side of the block. Like you one day after a 3 hour tour, Sorry Gilligan, I had a couple of gallons when in the past I had a completely dry bilge. I hooked up the muffs and let it fast idle and immediately found the problem. Water squirting out around a broken plug in the side of the engine. Yours could be a smaller but similar leak.

fixb52s · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

It could be something as simple as a little water getting in behind the rub rail. The hull and cap are screwed or rivited together there, and sometimes the sealant might fail due to the movement of the boat.

It also could be water getting through holes at the transom where the speedometer pitot screws in or where the line comes through.

QC · Oct 13, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

fixb52s said:
It could be something as simple as a little water getting in behind the rub rail.

Yup, even with minimal visible spray . . .

stylesabu · Oct 14, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

my aluminum boat was almost under water, the first night i left it on the lake.it took 45 minutes to pump it out with blige pump. so a qt seems like nothing. but i did full my boat with water to find like. i just bought it in june. I had it out 5 times but never left itb docked. there were 3 holes drilled in transom for speed sensors and depth finders. and never re-sealed.i found 3 1/8" holes sealed them up and stopped leak.point is find source of leak, and determine what you need to do to fix

WAVENBYE2 · Oct 14, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

I had water in the bilge too when I first bought my boat, turned out to be a cracked exhaust manifold, not saying thats your problem but ya I would keep an eye on it if it isn't from natural causes, rain, spray, tubing etc..I now have water coming in from a hole in my Y-pipe. At least know why.

jdlough · Oct 14, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

One quart is not enough to know if it is really leaking, or if it's a problem.

If you're REALLY paranoid, park your boat on its trailer in your driveway. Stick your garden hose in it. (Add Easter Egg dye - optional) Fill your boat. Observe. If there's a leak OUT, THAT's the leak IN.

If it was me, I wouldn't worry too much. BUT, my last boat sank at the pier, so I DEFINITELY wouldn't listen to ME!

If you're lucky, it May be just something like your drain plug not seating too well. For the minimal amount of your leak, I'd check that first.

PitchFork · Oct 15, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

It takes pulling the back end of the boat out seats and engine cover and getting behind the engine to find the leak. It took me an hour on the lake to find my trickle of a leak. It was a very small trickle coming from the middle bottom of the transom plate. I looked all over the bellows and they look good except that the shift cable bellow was missing the clamp at the end towards the Bell Housing. I put a clamp on it and waiting for the weather to clear to test again.

While looking at the bellows I noticed I had a trim fluid leak as well. I tighten the connection and tested not leaking now. Although the fluid was very light pink in the trim tank. So I sucked it out poured in new ATF sucked it out again a few times more until the pink was gone.

I think you have already checked for holes in the hull. When I first bought my boat I had a 1/8" x 1/4" cut in my hull and the bilge would fill to the top with water. Sealed it and had pretty much no water.

johnv100 · Oct 15, 2009

Re: My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

jdlough said:
One quart is not enough to know if it is really leaking, or if it's a problem.

If you're REALLY paranoid, park your boat on its trailer in your driveway. Stick your garden hose in it. (Add Easter Egg dye - optional) Fill your boat. Observe. If there's a leak OUT, THAT's the leak IN.

If it was me, I wouldn't worry too much. BUT, my last boat sank at the pier, so I DEFINITELY wouldn't listen to ME!

If you're lucky, it May be just something like your drain plug not seating too well. For the minimal amount of your leak, I'd check that first.

Hmmm... I've never thought of doing it this way. How much water do you fill on the inside of your boat? With so little water inside the boat, is there enough water pressure to press the water out? I don't know how the engine shaft connects to the outdrive, but if water gets in there, will it do any damage?

My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

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