Inexperienced boater with a used boat - almost swamped it today. Advice please.

jetnick · #1 July 31st, 2002, 05:02 PM

Hi. I confess. I'm an inexperienced boater. I bought a used 1975 Glassmaster tri-hull, 17 foot ski boat. 100 HP OMC I/O.

To date, i've had the carb rebuilt (engine hums pretty nice), repainted the boat top and bottom, and most recently re-installed the wooden support under the motor mount (old one was rotten).

Today, i had a bit of a scare and am scratching my head as to what happened exactly. After reading, if you can advise - please do... (ultimately, i'll take it to the shop but i'd like my fellow boater's to help educate me if possible).

After dropping the boat in the water today - FOR THE FIRST TIME -, it started just fine and so off my two sons and i went.

After about :10 minutes of things pretty normal, we stopped in idle and my 16 year old geared up for some tubing.

As he did so, i noticed water accumulating in the stern.. in my opinion, a good bit of water. I determined that the drain plug was still in - and so decided to high-tail it back to the dock as the water was coming in appreciably faster with anything loose aft floor area floating around.

(as a dramatic aside, as soon as i got my son back into the boat - the engine did quit as i powered up. It started right away, but for a moment, i had a flash of the boat swamping or sinking with the 3 of us in the middle of the lake

).

The boat was way nose high and was reluctant to plane off and so i thus had my sons move forward. This helped.

Got the boat back on the trailer, and by now i'd say the boat was about 1/8 or more full of water (water over ankle high in aft area of boat). Again, the drain plug was in and when i pulled it the water of course ran out..

Any ideas what might likely happened? Checking the rubber boot around the engine (100 horse OMC I/O), i can see no obvious holes.

Wow, what a letdown after so much work getting the boat ready.

If you took the time to read this and have any suggestions or comments - thank you in advance.

Please feel free to post here or email me at jetnick@yahoo.com

Nick

epresutti · #2 July 31st, 2002, 05:43 PM

Obviously there is a leak.

Was the bildge pump running?

Did the water come in faster when you were under power?

Are there deck drains, and were those plugs in?

You can put the drain plug in and start putting water into the boat. Then you will be able to see where the water is coming from. Obviously do this with a hose with the boat trailered. Be careful not to flood the engine compartment to the point where water can get into any vital components.

I have also heard of people using food coloring in the water (the water you are adding) to get a better idea of the source of the leak.

Capt. Bob · #3 July 31st, 2002, 05:57 PM

Another idea...check the raw water intake for leaks in the hose etc. and around the heat exchanger. The raw water pump may be pumping water into the boat.

blifsey · #4 July 31st, 2002, 07:46 PM

Had similar incident when on about our 3rd outing last summer. I have a fish and ski boat with live wells and a drain hose had come loose. End of hose was below the thru hull so whenever we all were jumping/swimming at back of boat, thru hull went below water level and we took on water. Do you have a bilge pump and did it work pumping out some of the water? Very important to have one that works. After fixing the hose (and to be sure there were no more leaks), I filled bilge with water hose. Then I took boat to lake on weekday (not busy). I left transom strapped down and backed boat into water. With the transom strapped down, boat couldn't float well and was pulled a little deeper into water. Then I opened bilge hatches and started looking for leaks with flashlight. Luckily, didn't find anymore so the hose was indeed my culprit. Also, you may need to determine if leaking is more when at rest with motor off, slow running or wide open running. Be sure to have some type of bucket or manual pump just in case also.

Good luck,

BL...

sloopy · #5 July 31st, 2002, 07:58 PM

its like when I installed aGuzzler pump backwards to a true hull 2 inches above the water,when at full throttle that hull is 2 iches below! the pump acts like a syphin and water comes pooring in!

jetnick · #6 July 31st, 2002, 08:02 PM

Ed, Bob, and Blifesy

Wow, thank you all for your replies. I found this website quite by accident and was somewhat skeptical that anyone would respond.

Thank you very much for your advice.

I'm trying to get smart about this boating, and with shop manual in hand i will investigate all of your ideas...and then let the boat shop check it out just to be sure.

again, thank you for your kind replies.

Nick

Bob_VT · #7 July 31st, 2002, 09:06 PM

I agree with CPT Bob (yes all us Bob's stick together

)

Put a set of muffs on your motor, remove the cover and start your motor. It just may be a leak in the water intake. Normally it is just a gasket or worst case a brass cap that needs to be replaced due to cracking.

Bob