stephentyler20
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2008
- Messages
- 117
Hi guys... sold my old Wellcraft, and this summer picked up a 1990 MasterCraft Maristar 240SC, inboard ski boat. Very interesting boat. New engine, rebuilt transmission, new prop. Pretty solid boat overall, although I know I'll be spending a couple seasons correcting some of the trim work, wiring and such that looks like a twelve year old installed.
Over the course of the end of summer, I've picked up on an unfortunate water drainage issue. I've put a diagram below to help explain. Basically, I believe that the boat sits in the water with the bow lower than the stern. As a result, water seems to sit away from the bilge pump (under the motor, mid cockpit), and does not get bailed. It sits there, adds weight to the boat, and every time you accelerate it gets pushed back and bailed out by the bilge pump. The other annoying side effect of this is it backs up into the cabin floor through the floor's "drain", which effectively bails water from the bilge straight into the cabin. There is NO access to this drain to remove it. Eventually, I stuck a cork in the drain which helped a bit, but then rain water or sea water (from wet towels, etc) had no place to go.
There's also an anchor locker on the bow of the boat, with a drain that drains into the bilge underneath the cabin (accessible by a short hose connection between the locker and the cabin floor). No idea where it goes from there. The locker isn't remotely water proof, so big waves, rain, etc fill it with water and it drains into that dead space, worsening the problem.
When I pulled the boat for the season, I decided to pull a power move, and diced a 6" hole in the cabin floor to see what was underneath, and install a pie plate. Unfortunately, it's all foam. So, I dug out the foam underneath my hole, ran a hose into that anchor locker, and sure enough the hole immediately filled with water. So that's at least part of the problem.
Basically, I'm wondering what I should do to alleviate this. I kind of want to try and install a backup bilge pump in the hole I made. Problem is, this 1. seems odd, and 2. may be extremely difficult as it's encased in foam. I'd somehow have to route a hose and wiring to it, and I can't even fathom how I'd do that blindly through a bunch of foam, a bulkhead, with just a 6" opening. I was also thinking I'd re route that anchor locker drain into a through-hull scupper at the bow right next to (and lower than) the drain itself, so that would auto bail straight into the sea. I imagine that would reduce the water burden significantly. Perhaps that alone might be enough?
Really appreciate any other thoughts!
Over the course of the end of summer, I've picked up on an unfortunate water drainage issue. I've put a diagram below to help explain. Basically, I believe that the boat sits in the water with the bow lower than the stern. As a result, water seems to sit away from the bilge pump (under the motor, mid cockpit), and does not get bailed. It sits there, adds weight to the boat, and every time you accelerate it gets pushed back and bailed out by the bilge pump. The other annoying side effect of this is it backs up into the cabin floor through the floor's "drain", which effectively bails water from the bilge straight into the cabin. There is NO access to this drain to remove it. Eventually, I stuck a cork in the drain which helped a bit, but then rain water or sea water (from wet towels, etc) had no place to go.
There's also an anchor locker on the bow of the boat, with a drain that drains into the bilge underneath the cabin (accessible by a short hose connection between the locker and the cabin floor). No idea where it goes from there. The locker isn't remotely water proof, so big waves, rain, etc fill it with water and it drains into that dead space, worsening the problem.
When I pulled the boat for the season, I decided to pull a power move, and diced a 6" hole in the cabin floor to see what was underneath, and install a pie plate. Unfortunately, it's all foam. So, I dug out the foam underneath my hole, ran a hose into that anchor locker, and sure enough the hole immediately filled with water. So that's at least part of the problem.
Basically, I'm wondering what I should do to alleviate this. I kind of want to try and install a backup bilge pump in the hole I made. Problem is, this 1. seems odd, and 2. may be extremely difficult as it's encased in foam. I'd somehow have to route a hose and wiring to it, and I can't even fathom how I'd do that blindly through a bunch of foam, a bulkhead, with just a 6" opening. I was also thinking I'd re route that anchor locker drain into a through-hull scupper at the bow right next to (and lower than) the drain itself, so that would auto bail straight into the sea. I imagine that would reduce the water burden significantly. Perhaps that alone might be enough?
Really appreciate any other thoughts!
