Possible water leak

[jsonova99]

I notice that whenever I take the boat out, it takes on some water. Not enough to sink it, but after a good run, I probably have 1 or 2 inches in the bilge (probably closer to 1) that I know wasn't there when I started. It's not enough for the bilge pump to kick on for, but I'm wondering if anybody else notices this. It must be coming from the stern of the boat, either the drive shaft or rudder probably. I'm just afraid that it might be a seal that could suddenly pop out and really leave me with a big problem in the middle of the lake. Let me know if anybody has any thoughts on this. :confused:

[jsonova99]

To clear it up, this is without doing any skiing at all, so this water is getting in through the boat somewhere not from wet people getting in and out. I'm wondering if it could possibly be a water hose or fitting, should probably check all of those, too.

[causewayskiier]

Unless you have a dripless shaft packing you will have some water coming into your boat throught the shaft packing. This is not a problem, it is supposed to driip. I don't remember the exact rate but I believe it is something like 1 drop every 3 seconds. By the end of the day that will add up to a fair amount of water in your bilge. As long as you have only an inch or so in your bilge you should not be concerned. If you have significantly more you may need to adjust your shaft log. It could also be coming trough the rudder post which has a grease fitting. You may need to add a squirt of grease.

[jsonova99]

Causewayskiier,

Thanks, I figured it was normal, but you never know, this is my first inboard so I get a little anal about things. I will definitley check the grease fitting on the rudder.

[86PowerSlot190MC]

It could also be coming trough the rudder post which has a grease fitting. You may need to add a squirt of grease.

If you’re going to grease your rudder check the hose clamps around the rubber pipes on your exhaust. I've found they like to loosen off if they’re old and corroded!!!!!! :twocents:

[jsonova99]

I didn't think of that, I will definitely give that a look, too, thanks.

[Tom023]

I get even more than that, so I started to investigate. I had some leaks on the underside of the rubrail at the back of the boat. Every time water water would splash up the backside of the boat, some would leak in. May want to take a garden hose and squirt it up under the rub rail to find the leaks.

[G-man]

Tom023 is correct, there were quite a few boats in the late 80's that had the rubrail leak in the back. I wouldn't be to concerned but dry out or drain the water so moisture doesn't collect between uses. I like to leave my throwable between the floor and motor box so air can circulate during storage.

[nashvillematt]

Check your exaust.

There should be 2 exausts running out the back of your boat. Look on the inside of the boat (V-drive) right inside of the hull at the back. Make sure that they are on tight and everything looks good. I had one of mine to come off and talk about scared!!! With a little help...all was good!

MS

[east tx skier]

My father in law's boat had a little leak where the muffler attached to the tail pipe hose. The muffler had cracked at the connection and was causing quite a leack. When you check your prop nut for drip rate (with the boat in the water), do a little visual inspection. Crank the boat up and look for the leak. If there's an unusual amount of water in the boat, it won't be hard to find out the source.

Probably not much to be worried about though if that is from a full day on the lake.

[jayderwin1]

should you check for the shaft drip when the boat is in gear or neutral? is it one drip per 3 seconds?

[east tx skier]

My 1991--1993 Prostar manual states that no "static" leakage is permitted. It states that with another person operating the boat at cruising speeds, a normal drip rate is 10--15 drops per minute. I thought I'd heard that, in neutral, there was a decreased drip rate, but the manual doesn't seem to suggest that.

[adirondack]

Some other places that you could look for a possible leak would be the circulating pump on the motor. If the seal is on its way out you can get a pretty good drip out of the weep hole in the bottom. This happened to me and it would only drip when the motor RPMs were above 2000. In an afternoon,that leak put about the amount of water in the bilge that you are talking about. Another place to look at is the rub rail on the sides. On my boat the rub rail was pop riveted thru the shoebox joint between the deck and the hull. Over time some of the rivets got loose and water that sprayed up would come in under the rub rail and thru the loose rivets. you also might want to check if there are any snaps that were put into the hull to secure a cover might have worked loose. If there is water comming in the carpet on the sides should be wet. You can also try and wiggle the rub rail. On my boat in the areas where the rivets were loose I could easily wiggle the rub rail.

[PeteS]

One more thing, to add to the list of many already, to check could possibly be the ballast resovoir for your speedo. If you have Airguide speedometers, there are two copper resovoirs, one on your port side and one on starboard. They are located in the very back corners of the boat.

On my '88, a few years back water had frozen and expanded, causing the copper to crack. I was taking on an inch or two of water everytime I went out on the boat, and couldn't figure it out. Turned out the water was simply coming up the speedo pick-up and directly into the boat. Let us know what you find out!

[Lance]

On my '87 Prostar I once had a problem with a lot of water in the bilge. At first I thought it was people bringing in wet skis etc. Then I thought it might be the shaft seal. It turned out to be the caulking under the rub rail where the two halves of the boat come together. Basically the caulking had deteriorated and then when cruising around at about 15 to 20 mph water would spray up the side of the boat right into that opening. At certain speeds it would come in at about the same flow rate as a garden hose.

In my case I ended up doing a little more than just replace the caulk because the whole rub rail (aluminum part) on the starboard side of the boat was relatively loose. I had to drill out all the pop-rivets on the drivers side and then put new ones in to tighten up the rub rail then re-caulk.

I suspect that ultimate cause of this was that since the MC is much better at backing to the right we always approach the dock on the drivers side and that rub rail gets a lot more work.

Once the rub rail was tightened and recaulked the problem went away. To check this simply look at the condition of the caulk on the underside of the rub rail.