Tahoe Deck Boats and Rainwater

[TwoCamSam]

Does anyone know for sure how rainwater (or any other deck water) is supposed to drain on Tahoe deck boats? I have a 2007 Tahoe 215. From what I can tell everything drains into the bilge which seems a bit silly.

Right after I bought the boat, I left the cover off in a rain storm. I found a fair amount of water in the bilge that was up to the starter (which I had to replace). The bilge pump wasn't working at the time.

We got a lot of rain yesterday and I went down to the boat several times to check the bilge and it fills fairly quickly if a pump isn't running. I was using a spare manual pump until I mounted my new auto pump (auto pump is now wired so I at least have something, but it isn't mounted to the bilge yet)

With the rain yesterday I had the cover on and still had a fair amount of water the first time or two I went to pump it out.

I guess my question is, are other deck boat owners experiencing same thing? And, does everything in this boat always drain to the bilge, or am I missing something? Seems silly that I'm going to rely on a bilge pump for rainwater and if the pump happens to fail it won't take much to ruin a $225 starter.

I've noticed areas on the front deck, specifically the anchor well that does not have a water tight lid, which just drains to the bilge.

Am I missing something? It's really annoying to be so worrisome every time it rains hoping the pump is working and it's not going to ruin a starter or worse...sink.

thanks!
-Sam

 

[Scott Danforth]

like most boats, water from the deck runs to the bilge

most people invest in good covers, multiple batteries and do a periodic check on the bilge pump.

 

[TwoCamSam]

Got it. I need to get my dual batteries hooked up. I have everything I need, just need to mount the new tray and hook everything up. Went with dual AGMs.

Probably will invest in dual bilge pumps as well, just in case. Fuse both auto wires separately, and in the event we are getting a lot of rain, I could always move one to the other battery as well. 2 pumps, 2 batteries, fused and wired independently. The bilge on this boat isn't very large. It can fill close to the starter fairly quickly if we are having a decent rain.

The cover is a good point. My only issue is, where my snaps are located, it leaves things like the anchor well open to elements. I noticed water likes to channel off the cover to the front of the boat and I would assume it just runs down into anchor well from there. The bilge/engine cover/cushion also has no seal on it. Even though the cover snaps over, it channels water where lid meets the boat and there is no seal. Going to invest in some type rubber seal for various compartments.

I know I can't keep all of the water out, but I'm trying to proof it as much as possible.

 

[Scott Danforth]

your anchor well should drain out your hull first, and have a secondary drain higher up that leads to the bilge

when was the last time the cover was water-proofed? I usually re-water-proof my canvas once every 6 months

On my sea-ray 190, with water-proofed covers, at most I would get about a half gallon to a gallon of rain during one of our gully-washers (4" or more in an hour). it usually run in along the window and front bow cover. without water-proofed covers, you could see the water draining thru the cover.

on my Cruisers Rogue, the anchor locker had 3 drains, 2 interior that lead to the bilge and one out the clamshell drain on the exterior. the clamshell drain was 2" higher than the one interior drain. so I plugged the lowest interior drain and re-located the clamshell when I did my restoration. that keeps most of the water out of the Rogue.