Advice

[husker4u9899]

Need help/advice/suggestions

I have a 1991 IO Model 1950 Spectrum, by Blue Fin with a 3.0 Merc Cruiser engine. In July the boat sat in the water 24/7 while in Minn., absolutely no problems.
I put the boat in the water for the first time since July, has been in the driveway, down at Bull Shoals, Ark. a week ago, just got back homre yesterday. After being in the water over Sat night to Sunday AM, I had about 8-9" of water in the bilge. Pump was
running when I got to the dock. Took the boat out when the water was out and within 45 min had 1-3 inches of water again. Took the boat to a marina and they replaced the boot etc, which did have a split and a thumb size hole. They tested for 15 to 20 min, no water. Tuesday put the boat in the water and agin with in 45 min water. Yes, the plug was in, in fact a new plug. This is what I tested with assistance from everyone in the resort and a retired marine mechanic. Filled the boat to just below the starter with water, sat for 2-3 hours, not a drop out. Put a plug in the drain from the live well, didn't help. Filled the drain line with colored water, and plug in,left for two hours no water into the bilge. Even put a rubber plug on the live well inlet. Nothing helped. Last test on Wed, PM put the boat in, used the trolling moter to the dock, thinking vibration, still water in. Watched the area thru hull where the drive shaft comes thru, never saw water. By this time the bilge pump had failed. Going to take to my dealer here in Waterloo, but looking for any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

[Surface Tension]

I still wouldn't rule out the bellows. Something else to look into is the area where the hose running from the water pump goes through the transom. Theres a boot on your exhaust and shift cable too.

How far above the waterline is the outlet for the bilge pump. Also there should be a loop in the line, meaning the discharge hose should run well above the the outlet then loop back down to the outlet. It may be possible this loop fell.

Leaky rivets? I know you put water in the hull but look for loose or missing rivets.

[Big-Al]

I had a situation that I was taking on about the same amount of water. Turned out I had popped a rivet. Had a hard time finding the problem even when trailering the boat and filling with water. The rivet was high on the bow and when on the trailer the bow was much higher than when in the water. Didn't find it until I put the bow downhill.

I used the two part epoxy putty type stuff as a temporary fix. That was a couple years ago and it is still just fine.

[Steve Bakken]

We get alot of these types of jobs in the shop. Most of them do turn out to be leaky rivets. Try dropping the tongue of the boat onto the ground and re-filling it with water. Like he said, sometimes the rivet is high enough that it doesn't leak if the boat is hooked up to the truck.

------------------
Steve @ Bakken's Boat Shop www.bakkensboatshop.com

[Steve Bakken]

After thinking about this one, the rate at which the water is coming in seems just too fast to be just rivets. I second the theory of it having something to do with your I/O.

------------------
Steve @ Bakken's Boat Shop www.bakkensboatshop.com

[husker4u9899]

Thanks for all the suggestions. When I took the boat into the dealer, one of the service tech's solved the problem in about 10 seconds. My boat has a welded seam coming down both sides and across the bottom of the transom. Right above the right side bunk, he showed me a hair line crack in the weld. While the boat is in cherry condition with only 300 hrs on the engine it is 13 model years old and has been up and down the road alot. The crack is caused by vibration, hitting bumps etc. The tech said the cracks are always above the bunks. They took it to a top flight welding shop here in town and the cleaned out the crack and re-welded, they also redid the area on the weld above the left side bunk. IT WORKED, NO LEAK