Boat is Leaking Advice needed.
 

I put this thread on the Drives and Lower Units I didn't get a good response. My boat was leaking for many years after replacing bellows, etc. I thought it might be in the upper seal.

This year I installed brand new transom assemblies with 1 new 1 used XR drives. My wet bilge finally dry YES. Well NO,
my bilge pump turns on every 10-15 minutes pumps strong for 15 seconds. Not a small amount of water.
Brand new transom with new bellows, new everything. Water is coming intoward the middle of the transom assembly kind of near the drive oil fitting. Constant flow I can see the water pissing in. It may be traveling from somewhere else don't know.

Any advice on where to look for leaks. I can take the drive off again and all I see is a brand new bellows no rips or holes a brand new shift bellows no holes and all clamps are tight.
Gaskets seals o rings all in place. ???

Any help is appreciated. After all the work I put in i would like a dry bilge.

Exhaust port if you have thru hull an the port has a block off plate? Bravo I assume?

I checked the exhaust block off plate before putting in the new transom assemblies. Everything seemed tight and sealed. I have thru hull exhaust. I can see water coming in by the drive oil line area just not sure where it is coming from.

speedo tube

It can only come from a few places.

- Drive Shaft Bellows
- Shift Cable Bellows (doubtful - this is normally a small leak)
- Up through the thru-drive exhaust system (sounds like you checked this)
- Swivel Seal on top of the Transom Assembly (sounds like this is a non-issue with new TA's)
- Water Intake Line - This line flows through the transom assembly and into a barb fitting on the inside of the transom assembly which has a gasket, and 2 bolts that hold it TO the assembly. A hose is then fitted to this fitting, held on by a radiator hose clamp and feeds to the water pump. This is in the general vicinity of where the drive oil line goes down thru the assembly and SOUNDS Like what your problem is.

Bellows Leaks aren't going to put THAT much water in your boat no matter what.

It would be murder getting to that water hose with the engines in if you have coolers/etc... bolted to the back of the engine over the flywheel, but it could probably be done. MIGHT be worth pulling the engines out and making sure the water intake hoses are installed properly. I think I used a gasket maker in addition to the gasket when I installed mine!!

That's a possibilty. There is a 1/16" NPT tapped hole for the speedo tube on the inside that will have a small hose barb fitting screwed in. Are both drives speedos tee'd together on the inside, or just 1 drive is used and the other is plugged with a pipe plug? If I recall correctly, it'll be to the right of the drive shaft, looking backwards, right under a flat casting. Can't see w/o use of a mirror.

exhaust block off plate or spedo tube. Often forgotten when gps or hull mounted speedo pickup is used.

Had a similar problem last year on a different boat. The exhaust Y pipe was loose and could only tighten the 2 top bolts and took about 3 hours to tighten best I could without pulling the motor. There was no way I could get to the bottom bolts, but it did cure the leak about 95%. There was about a 1/4" stream coming in before, and after the bilge pump would only kick on if I left it in overnight. Sold the boat this spring though and told the new owner about it, he didn't seem too concerned though...

mine was leaking, was the shift cable boot..Rob

I am familiar with the water hose. When I installed the new T/A's I put the plastic hose barb/fitting on the inside of the Transom assembly where the hose connects and goes to the sea water pump. I did not notice any other area to tighten prior to the hose fitting I don't think its leaking there as I tightened that fitting really well and it has an inset rubber gasket. prior to that I'm not sure I will have to check further. It's not the speedo tube that is connected and tight. Only using 1 tube. Port side is plugged off.

??? if water is coming by the bellows wouldn't you always see some residual water in the grooves of the bellows after pulling the drive.

My exhaust block off plate is installed no Y-pipe

Probally forgetting the drain plug after too many cocktails. I have seen this guy in action.

are the bolts holding the t/a to the hull good and sealed? Just had a boat in the shop that was leaking there, weve been chasing this leak all summer and found it was those bolts...

good luck!

I did not load up the bolt holes through the transon with caulk but the T/A rubber seal was brand new. If I remember correctly all the bolts are inside that seal. I don't see any water leaking from bolts.

For your information I only did that once. The other time the bilge was filled with beer I spilled while drinking trying to fix the starters.

Ok, but there are still bolts that hold it on tight right? Just a thought, but might want to check anyways, you never know...

Check those bottom 2 bolts that come thru from the outside and will always be under water. I don't trust those TA seals and caulk them as well. Sometimes it pays to start over. Maybe several times. It's amazing how much water can come thru a pin hole.

I caulked mine as well when I reassembled....