water in the bilge
 

My boat is a 92 baja islander . When I bought it last year I was surprised at how dry it was. When i pulled it out of the lake and poped the bung no water ever came out. Now I turn the bilge pump on about evry 1/2 hour and toss about a quart out. Where is the 1st place i should look??? Thanks sj
ps .... there is no holes in the hull :-]

You should check you bellows in the drive, and any through hull connections. If you don't see anything there, check around the motor while it's running. You may have to get someone else to drive and watch while under power. One time I had a Mercrusier 260 that had a hair line crack in the port exhaust manifold. It would only leak water above 1/2 throttle and it was a small mist coming from the bottom.

shift bellows,ujoint bellows, steering arm, tabs

it is not unusual to take a little water in via the air vents on a ruff day from spray does it leak just sitting in water or only underway, check the others for cracks replace if in doubt

water in the bilge
 

The first place I would check is the water circulator pump mounted on the front of the engine. I have replaced several on different boats. Use a mirror and light to see if any signs of water or rust are evident at the weep hole on the underside of the pump. You can also have someone drive the boat at cruising speed and look for water dripping and being blown back. At idle you may not see much of a drip but as the rpm increases, so will the drip if the pump seal is bad. Good Luck.

Thanks guys !!!!!!! I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

I have spent a long time tracking down some leaks in my boat. All of my leaks have been at the Bravo 1 drive.

Here are the key culprits:

Small bellows that holds shift cable
Large bellows that hold U-Joint - never had one here but other people have.
Steering pin at the top of the gimbal ring - really hard to find!

Take the boat out of the water and dry it out completely. Put it in the water and try to see where the water is coming in. You don't even have to take it off of the trailer. Don't start the engine yet. Just wait a few minutes and see if it starts collecting. If the leak is on the drive you will find it here, but you may not be able to tell where on the drive it is coming from.

If the boat is still completely dry after 15-30 minutes then your leak is probably on the engine somewhere.


The easiest way to find the leak in the drive is to fill the boat with water and then look for the leak on the OUTSIDE of the boat! Put the boat on a hill if possible or crank the tongue of the trailer all the way up. Put a hose in the bilge and start filling it up! Be careful not to get the starter or any electrical components wet. Look on the outside and you should see the leak. I couldn't believe how much water was coming out of a tiny pinhole in the shift bellows that I could not see with the naked eye. (Everything that will get wet in this procedure is probably already getting wet from your leak)


Happy Hunting!

Steve

Stevel I like your last leak test! Reminds me when I was about 8 years old and we bought our first boat. Old inboard with a ford flat head 60 cu in motor had water standing in the bottom of the hull. I remember my dad saying if it will hold water on the inside it should hold water out!! :)

I bet if i would have told you guys my speedo had recently quit , you would have figured it out. I did like you told me and got in the engine bay at low speed. It is the line that feeds the speedo that popped off. That sucker wizzes a fair bit of water into the boat!!!!!
Thanks again guys sj

DAMN that was going to be my guess!!!!! I have had that happen and a couple people on the board I know have had that happen. You are right a LOT of water can come out that thing. It popped off my speedo at WOT once and you would have throught there was a fire hose under there!!! :D:D

Jon

Hey Steve, do people swim from your boat? Swimmers getting in and out will put quite a bit of water in the bilge