Stingrayaxe
Active Member
- Oct 29, 2015
- 347
- Boat Info
- 2009 Sea Ray 205 Sport
2015 Chevy Tahoe, Max Towing
- Engines
- 5.0 Merc Alpha 1
I took my boat to Skipper Bud's in Volo, IL last week to fix a nagging problem. Skipper Bud's originally thought it was the exhaust flapper but found out it was the exhaust manifold gasket that was leaking and creating an ever increasing tapping noise. Since they had repaired that same gasket a year ago they fixed it under warranty. Good news I guess!
Picked up the boat on Friday and took the Admiral and my daughter to the lake on Saturday. About 3 hours in my daughter opened up a rear storage area and found water where it shouldn't have been. I opened the engine hatch and there was water about 1/3 of the way up the block. Remembering my boating basics class from about 30 years ago where they explained that it was better to have more water outside of the boat than in, I immediately headed for the launch. I flipped on the bilge pump wondering why it didn't come on by itself.
The amount of water in the boat wouldn't allow me to get on plane. The pump started to catchup an we made better progress. I just couldn't see where the water was coming from. All I knew was the water was hot and there was a lot of it.
We made it back to the ramp, pulled the boat and took out the plug to drain the rest of the water. I called Skipper Bud's from the parking lot and told them I was coming right over.
They were waiting for me. They had a service bay already opened up and the original mechanic and the Lead mechanic waiting. The lead mechanic found a hose clamp that was missed. That fixed the problem. They tested the bilge float and found it slightly stuck. Fixed that all while we waited. They were very apologetic.
So what I learned:
Picked up the boat on Friday and took the Admiral and my daughter to the lake on Saturday. About 3 hours in my daughter opened up a rear storage area and found water where it shouldn't have been. I opened the engine hatch and there was water about 1/3 of the way up the block. Remembering my boating basics class from about 30 years ago where they explained that it was better to have more water outside of the boat than in, I immediately headed for the launch. I flipped on the bilge pump wondering why it didn't come on by itself.
The amount of water in the boat wouldn't allow me to get on plane. The pump started to catchup an we made better progress. I just couldn't see where the water was coming from. All I knew was the water was hot and there was a lot of it.
We made it back to the ramp, pulled the boat and took out the plug to drain the rest of the water. I called Skipper Bud's from the parking lot and told them I was coming right over.
They were waiting for me. They had a service bay already opened up and the original mechanic and the Lead mechanic waiting. The lead mechanic found a hose clamp that was missed. That fixed the problem. They tested the bilge float and found it slightly stuck. Fixed that all while we waited. They were very apologetic.
So what I learned:
- Inspect any recent work more quickly after we launch the boat.
- Test the bilge float more than just once at the beginning of the season.
- How clean 170' water can get a bilge.