17.5 FT 1980s Fiberglass - Water Accumulates in Bilge... While On Trailer in Parkade

[GreenAndPoor]

My boat is on at trailer in my underground parkade. The boat is bone dry. I go down to grab some gear and notice a trickle of water running under the boat (I took it out on the salt for a few hours last week - very chill, no water got onto the deck). I follow it to the drain plug and notice about an inch of water in my bilge that is lower than the drain hole but is leaking around the seam of the hole. I think no biggie and I sponge it out and give the bilge a good dry with a shop towel and leave. I came back to it tonight (a few days later) to find another inch of water in my bilge and the same drip from the bilge drain seam. Now there is no drain or cracks (that I can see) coming from my hull. Where is this water coming from? Do I have a waterlogged floatation? If so how is water getting from my inner hull to my bilge? OR is there some design aspect to the boat that I'm missing that makes this issue "normal". This is my first boat and I've only owned it for a month or so. It has an OB so I don't think the water is coming in from the motor.

 

[tpenfield]

There are usually drain tubes and other holes in the bulkheads that allow water that gets in the boat to drain towards the stern. If you can do some searching below deck, perhaps you can trace the water back to its source. Since the boat is older, there is also the possibility that there is water trapped in the structure of the boat.

Do some searching and post some pictures of any evidence that you find for further comment.

 

[Scott Danforth]

doubt its normal

I would pull the transom drain assembly and start looking.