Water in my bilge when it is sitting

[ChargerMan1]

hey guys,
so I rebuilt my boat and have had it in the water.
Problem #1: it leaks. So if i leave it sitting at the dock for an hour and come back it will full up to about the bottom of the deck of bilge. So i run my bilge pumps and a few mins it's empty again. So when I got it home and it was on the trailer, I filled it up with water. No leaks outside the boat
Ughhh what could it be?
I don't have a lower bellows, could that be where water is coming in?

#2: it has issues losing power or trouble going. Someone told me that it could be water in the fuel. So I just need to put some Heet in it and that should fix it. We will see.
any help would be definitely appreciated it.
thanks guys

 

[GA_Boater]

#1 - What do you mean you don't have lower bellows?

#2 - It could be you to need rebuild the motor. That's as good someone telling you it could be water in the fuel. Have you sampled the gas?

#3 - Add an automatic bilge pump in case the boat is tied up at the dock dock longer than an hour.

Since a lot of replies are going to be "What is moving the boat?", what is moving the boat? Outboard, stern drive or inboard?

 

[ChargerMan1]

I mean that there isn't a lower bellows on the boat. The exhaust one. I have a mercruser 4.3 alpha 1.

No i haven't sampled the gas yet..

Hmm that is a good idea with the auto pump.

 

[H20Rat]

There is NEVER a good time to fill your boat up with water to find a leak. 99.9% of the time, the leak is above the floor of the bilge. You would have to submerge your engine to find it.

Your boat isn't leaking, it is sinking. That is a lot of water in a short time. Next time you have it on the water, stick your head in the bilge and look/listen. Use a cell phone to see behind the engine. Shouldn't be hard to spot a leak that big. I seriously wouldn't leave the trailer with it leaking that much.

 

[ChargerMan1]

There is NEVER a good time to fill your boat up with water to find a leak. 99.9% of the time, the leak is above the floor of the bilge. You would have to submerge your engine to find it.

Your boat isn't leaking, it is sinking. That is a lot of water in a short time. Next time you have it on the water, stick your head in the bilge and look/listen. Use a cell phone to see behind the engine. Shouldn't be hard to spot a leak that big. I seriously wouldn't leave the trailer with it leaking that much.

Ok, so not having a lower bellows on cause water to come into the boat?

 

[GA_Boater]

No bellows, an exhaust tube or an exhaust bellows mean nothing. In any of the three, water will be in the exhaust up to the water line when sitting with the engine off.

Next time you're on the water with the engine off, stick your phone down behind the engine with the camera recording and look for the trickle.

 

[Chris1956]

Prime leak places on MerCruiser are raw water intake hose, driveshaft bellows, shift cable bellows. They crack and leak, and are a regular maintenance item.

Exhaust bellows cracked or missing will not allow water into the boat. However, the exhaust manifolds to "Y" pipe connections can leak, and where the "Y" pipe mates with the exhaust fittiing on the outdrive mounting plate, can leak.

When you installed the outdrive you did put the "rectangular" oring and gasket on the outdrive, right?

 

[ChargerMan1]

Prime leak places on MerCruiser are raw water intake hose, driveshaft bellows, shift cable bellows. They crack and leak, and are a regular maintenance item.

Exhaust bellows cracked or missing will not allow water into the boat. However, the exhaust manifolds to "Y" pipe connections can leak, and where the "Y" pipe mates with the exhaust fittiing on the outdrive mounting plate, can leak.

When you installed the outdrive you did put the "rectangular" oring and gasket on the outdrive, right?

Yes I did put new ones on

 

[JASinIL2006]

A selfie stick and a smart phone are invaluable for getting a look at places that are hard to see with your eyes...

 

[Scott Danforth]

in addition to the info above, bright LED flashlights, mirrors and a bone dry bilge to start with. I have used sawdust or newspaper in the past to see where the leak is first starting from

 

[mike_i]

GA_Boater said " #3 - Add an automatic bilge pump in case the boat is tied up at the dock dock longer than an hour." make sure you have the battery power to keep it going without killing the battery used for starting. Could the reason you don't see water leaking with the boat on the trailer be either you didn't fill the boat up enough or there's more water pressure forcing the water in when the boat is in the water?

 

[JASinIL2006]

It is so rarely that you hear of anything good coming from filling a boat with water... it's just a terrible idea. There probably is something to the idea that the water pressure is greater on the hull when the boat is in the water. But that isn't the reason filling your boat with water is a bad thing to do; it just introduces water to places it probably shouldn't be, and you can never get enough water in the bilge to really test all the thru-hull connections that might leak.

 

[emoney]

I didn't see mention of it, but have you inspected your garboard drain?