My boat is leaking. Is it normal or excessive?

[RotaryRacer]

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

I don't know how the engine shaft connects to the outdrive, but if water gets in there, will it do any damage?

I wouldn't fill much beyond a few inches in the bilge with any boat especially an I/O boat. You don't want so much water that the motor gets wet at all. You would be better off just floating spending as much time as neccessary to find the leak....if there is one.

One of the concerns mentioned about leaking bellows is that the u-joints and bearings on the shaft between the engine and the outdrive will get corroded due to exposure to water. If this happens and isn't attended to quickly it can lead to additional problems.

 

[QC]

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

Typical method for an aluminum boat, but it would only work on anything below bilge level. The waterline could easily be higher than the bilge that you might fill.

Yes, ANYTHING involving the outdrive and the transom is bad. The U-joint bellows is precisely where the "engine shaft" goes through.

This pic is from a thread here. This drive is seriously broken due to impact damage, but you can see the bellows real well here. The "engine shaft" is really the drive shaft into the drive itself, but it goes through this hose (bellows) and that is what seals water out of the boat and out of the metal rotating parts. Yours would be visible from under the drive when tilted up. Needs to be inspected anyway . . .

 

[johnv100]

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

Thanks QC. A picture is worth a thousand words. Is there any product like Armor All that keeps the rubber boot from drying out and cracking?

 

[Boss Hawg]

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.

Yeah- Lets just tell him it's OK for his boat to leak a little

 

[a70eliminator]

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

Yea.. and once the wood in the transom has become saturated it no longer has the ability to soak it up so a little water begins to collect in the bilge (worst scenerio).. Do this, dry up the bilge really good with a paper towell, boat on trailer out of the water, let it sit a day and see if any water appears.

 

[amanphoto]

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

if it was your maiden voyage you might of had rain water in the boat that made its way to the back of the boat while you where driving and moving it around. I think if your bellows where going bad you would have a lot more water in there then that. I would check your rub rail and make sure that when its been raining, its not seeping in threw the rub rail's attachment points.

 

[180Fisherman]

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

Yeah- Lets just tell him it's OK for his boat to leak a little

We don't yet know his boat is leaking.