Water in Boat

[jeffersw]

Anyone - How much water is typically in the bottom of the boat after a session that the bilege won't pump out? I have a 2007 220 and the water seems to stay right at the top of the drain plug. The bilge pumps are working as when the water gets to a certain height is does pump out the water but it seems as if a lot of water is left. Any ideas?

[DanielC]

RE: Water in Boat

With the Sport Nautiques, (late 1990, mid engine boat) you had two bilge pumps. One near the transom, and one by the front of the motor. If you would turn on the bilge pumps with the boat going near max wake size speed, or wake surf speed, with the boat pitched bow high, all the water would go to the transom, and you could pump out a lot more water than if the boat was sitting level.

[jeffersw]

RE: Water in Boat

I will try that next time I'm out - I just wasn't sure how much water people typically had in the bottom of the boat. I had a Malibu previously and had almost no water in the hull after boarding and washing it down. Thanks again for the info.

[BKinSoCal]

RE: Water in Boat

I have been told that the bilge pumps don't come on until there is about 6" of water.

[jmo]

Re: RE: Water in Boat

I have been told that the bilge pumps don't come on until there is about 6" of water.

I hope thats not the case, given a back of the envelope calculation tells me that translates to having almost 200 gallons of water (1600 lbs) in the hull!

Assume a small subsection of the boat is holding water: 10' * 5' * 1/2' (length, width, depth) gives you 25 cubic feet of water!

[jeffersw]

RE: Re: RE: Water in Boat

Actaully BkinSoCal is probably correct in my case. Like I said when I wash down the boat after boarding and look down into the hull where the drain plug is the water will be at the top of the drain plug. Which is probably around 4-5in and then adding a little more water for testing purposes to see when the bilge would actaully turn on, it seems as if another inch or more does it. The bilge kicks on and then pumps it down to right at or a little below the top of the drain plug. I'm not sure why the placement of the rear bilge would be so far back and at the angle at which it's installed. Seems a little weird to me. One would think you would want the pump located where the most water would gather at the lower part of the boat. Any 2007 220 owners seen this before? It's not going to be as much of an issue when my lift gets fixed as I will just pull the plug but til then it sucks trying to get the brakish water out.

[cdrymalla]

RE: Re: RE: Water in Boat

I just drained the block and I would guess that a good 2+ gallons of water or more came out of the engine and into the bottom of the boat. I tilted the nose of the boat up with the jack and not a drop came out of the drain plug in the rear. I used a shop-vac to suck the water out directly below the engine (DD 2001 AN) and I got about 1/2 gallon. I pulled the rear compartment up and looked at the rear/bottom at the propeller shaft and there is no water. Turned on the bilge and nothing....where does it all go??? Is there a low pocket in the bottom of the boat where it collects? Can this water do damage to the hull if it freezes or is there enough room for it to expand?????

[jmo]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Water in Boat

Is there a low pocket in the bottom of the boat where it collects? Can this water do damage to the hull if it freezes or is there enough room for it to expand?????

A little water in the hull that freezes won't hurt anything for the reason you stated - it has room to expand - the volume of space occupied by ice is about 9% more than when the same amount of water is in liquid state.

[cdrymalla]

Re: RE: Re: RE: Water in Boat

A little water in the hull that freezes won't hurt anything for the reason you stated - it has room to expand - the volume of space occupied by ice is about 9% more than when the same amount of water is in liquid state.

Yeah, I know it should be fine if there is room to expand, but is there any sort of sump are or small pocket where it collects? I would like to know for other reasons besides the cold...I just don't like the idea of water sitting in the boat, period. Several boats I have owned have a nice pocket for the bilge so it gets almost every bit of water out, but I can't see one anywhere, but the water does not appear to collect anywhere either.

[jmo]

Have you tried using a 2 ton floor jack to really raise the nose up to see if you can get it all to drain to the rear? With 2 gallons in there I'd want it out too...

[cdrymalla]

Have you tried using a 2 ton floor jack to really raise the nose up to see if you can get it all to drain to the rear? With 2 gallons in there I'd want it out too...

Typically, I stop on a hill near the boat ramp and let most of the water drain out. Right now, it is a bit cold so I am tring to minimize moving the boat out of the garage, and although I can use teh jack to get the front end up pretty well, I have not tried a jack as the prop gaurd on the boat is bottomed out and I don't want to jack it much higher and put anymore stress on it. Some water collected under the engine (DD) and I used a shop vac to get about 1/2 to 1 gallon out from under the engine, but my guess is that there is more somewhere in the boat.