water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

[nickcasa]

being a new boat owner with zero prior experience i find this forum invaluable, so thanks to all the members..

89 cobia odyssey 230cxl 5.0 merc i/o with brand new se106 outdrive...boat runs great but i do notice i gotta turn on the bilge pump every half hour or so while out there and about half a liter of water comes out...i do leave it on the trailer with ou the plug and always leave it on the ramps for a minute or so to drain before putting it in the water so i know the bilge is dry....not sure where the water is coming in from...i do have the freeze plugs in the engine being in south florida...from what i read on here, bellow is a big thing, so is the transom ring, i am the 2nd owner and the boat came from new jersey in extremely great shape....i guess my big thing is should i be worried about this?? dont all boats take on some water? isn't that the purpose of the bilge pump...maybe im just lying to myself, but i am not in a financial position where i can pull the engine and what not...im going to check the bellows for cracks..i had merc replace the shift cable but am not sure if they replaced the shift bellow as part of the repair. any advice would be great...im sure don s will chime in and yell at me for thinking water is ok in the boat, and i expect that kind of tough love...

 

[Fishermark]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

I would certainly find out where the water is coming from. If it is coming in through the drive bellow (as I suspect) it will cause a lot of problems if left unchecked. Pull the drive off and see if there is any water in the bellows area. If you don't know how to pull the drive off, do a search here - it is an easy job.

 

[nickcasa]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

i should have said some other things in my original post. i did pull off the drive a couple of times to try and fix my reverse which ended up being a shift cable that merc replaced...i spun the gimbal bearing and it was smooth as silk and that was just 2 months ago, so i think i am good there or should i pull it off again just to check anyways? im terrified it is the transom ring....i would sell the boat before i pay merc to do that job....

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

Pull the drive & inspect....
If there is any water in there, the bellows is bad or the sealing ring (large o ring) was improperly installed when the drive was reinstalled .....
A bad shift cable bellows can leak wate rinto the boat as well....
But first, (& you may need to pull some seats/upholstery out)...
Is get a flashlight, mirror or anything that will aid you in looking at every nook & cranny & put the boat back in the water & look......
A bad bellows will weep water through the small hole just above the input shaft.....
If you are getting .5L per 1/2 hour, that is quite a bit I would think that is not the bellows, but.......
It could be a hose or a core plug or.......
You will just have to get in there & do as thorough a visual inspection as possible.....​

 

[thrasher]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

Just to be clear, unless you have a lot of very wet people climbing in and out of your boat, it is NOT normal to have a half liter of water in the bilge every few hours. I can leave my boat in the lake all day and when I remove her from the water and tilt the nose up, no water comes out the drain.. You definately need to find the cause of the leak, water in the hull will damage mechanical parts and rot wood and foam parts. The bellows are the most common source for leaks, but there are many others.. You really need to put the boat in water and then climb around the motor and outdrive with a mirror and torch to see where the water is coming in.

Gary

 

[flabum]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

Put the boat in the water and get down in the engine compartment with a flashlight and mirror. Try to locate where the water is comming in at. It could be: Exhaust pipe, U-joint bellows, Shift bellows, Water tube/hose or the steering shaft seal. All of these will give you a drip at the transom, just follw the drip. Any drips from the engine can be traced to it's origin as well. The drain plug can also be leaking, to find out, you can put 2 -3 inches of water in the bilge and see if it leaks around the plug outside the boat (with the plug in). It could also be a breach in the hull somewhere.

 

[baytro23]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

I hate to throw this out there but this was my problem. I was getting about the same amount of water as you are describing. I looked everywhere, mirror, pulled drive, whole 9 yards, no clue. Someone suggested to me it was probably the y-pipe gasket. They were right. The engine has to be pulled and the y-pipe removed by taking out 4 bolts using a 12 point socket. There is an o-ring sealing the y-pipe to the inner transome assembly. O-ring costs about $5, labor??????? My brother and I pulled the engine (5.7 V-8) and did the simple fix. Pulling the motor is the pain. We removed the engine mounts from the stringers so the engine went exactly back in where it was and my drive slid in like butter so I didn't worry about engine alignment, this was about 150 hours ago so I must be ok on alignment. 1994 mercruiser alpha 1 gen II

 

[180shabah]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

....my drive slid in like butter so I didn't worry about engine alignment, this was about 150 hours ago so I must be ok on alignment. 1994 mercruiser alpha 1 gen II

Don't count on it.

 

[baytro23]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

Don't count on it.

You think I may have a problem sometime? Is 150 hours not a good test? I'm not messin with it, it's fine. Thanks for your concern though.

 

[brazosboater]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

Why not try and run it on the hose in the yard with the muffs. Check to see if water gets into the bilge after a little while. If it does, do all of the above bellows and other lower gear stuff. If not then you know that it is getting in through a more basic area, like a drain plug not sealing or something. I have an '87 model boat and I guarantee you that there is more than one place that water can get into my bilge. Next, again assuming that you don't want to take everything apart, put it in the water without starting. just sit at the dock with your eyes looking towards the bilge. lets just say that there is still no water. Now you would know that it is from bellows and what not. I did this same process and discovered that it was from a cracked block that was superficial. lets water out, but doesn't seem to affect anything else yet. I went 70 miles on the water with it, and though it leaks alot more than yours, I'll deal with it instead of replacing my old motor. Hope I helped, basically take your time and eliminate variables.

 

[180shabah]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

If the bellows are leaking, it will not matter if the engine is running or not, they will leak as long as the boat is in the water.

Leaking bellows WILL NOT put water ito the bilge when running on muffs.

 

[BAYLINER185]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

I just had my transom seal replaced.....I t also needed a lot of other things but its all done now and the leak is fixed.

I still got some water in the bildge but it was MUCH less then its ever been. I could physically see no water leaking in where it previously was POURING in.


The transom seal is a big job my my machanic did it in 2 days. All the belows have been replaced as well. Sure labor to do the motor extraction is expensive but if your boat is in good shape you may want to concider the job. If your transom has rot that can be a deal breaker though Im sure.

 

[brazosboater]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

If the bellows are leaking, it will not matter if the engine is running or not, they will leak as long as the boat is in the water.

Leaking bellows WILL NOT put water ito the bilge when running on muffs.

oops, sorry. I gave misinformation, I was trying to get across to try and eliminate variables, but that wouldn't help if it was wrong. Thank you for clearing it up, and I hope that I don't have to deal with that stuff anytime soon.

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: water in bilge, not sure where its coming in..

If water gets in while running it out of the water on muffs, then it could be the Y-pipe. If the Y-pipe is leaking, it will leak in or out of the water..

FYI - the Y-pipe is where the exhaust comes down the rear of the engine compartment and joins together to exit the rear of the boat (through the outdrive).

Mine was leaking, turned out that it wasn't the gasket, the pipe itself had rusted out and had a pinhole sized leak. Your really have to get down in there with a flashlight to see it.. but it's worth a look.