Every year I do the shake down check up before hitting the water for the first trip. Last weekend I took the lad to Lake Michigan to chase coho and when I pulled the rig out and pulled the plug I was like humm that is a more water than I have seen before. Well no big deal maybe it is just some from when I filled the bilge up and ran all the pumps to clear the winterizer out. Took it out later again and decided to do my usual check on the bilge while out by turning in on and WTF! It pumped for a good minute or so. Definitely not normal.
Now let me tell you about my rig. 2012 Alumacraft Competitor with 150 Yamaha and kicker. Purchased new. The boat has been rock solid. Love this rig! Family loves the Rig. Friends love the rig (before social distancing). I am thinking ok what is going on. So i think back to all the posts on this site where people troubleshoot problems and share their stories. So remembering that I started small. Pulled the boat on the street where it would be level and got the garden hose. Put the drain plug in and filled the live wells one at a time till the overflow was flowing and watched the bilge. Nothing in the bilge. Empty live wells and check bypass switch. Nothing. OK Fill the bilge up to where all the transom penetration were covered and then some. Hummm. Constant fast drip coming from the back of the boat…again what the!!!
Checked rivets…nothing. Checked livewell intake nothing, check livewell drain, nothing, check livewell overflow discharge..Humm…bingo. But why is there water coming out of the discharge when the livewell is empty? And when I close push the flapper close there is still water coming out.
Hop in the rig and dig down and find that the hose clamp was way way loose (which is why water is coming out of the discharge hose as the bilge was filled and leaking out) and then determined that the silicone around the same valve penetration also failed.
Fixed all that and look to get it back on the water to test our the repairs after the silicone fully cures. Thanks to all you good people for all the posts over the years about troubleshooting boat issues. I am a firm believer that I have to try to fix it myself unless I believe I am over my head.
Or after I break it in the first place.
Hopefully that is it…we will see.
BTW the pic is me repairing it not it coming of while on the water…that would be a different story.
D
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