Where did that water come from?

[Nathan Mayo]

We had a major Florida rainstorm after Thanksgiving and my '97 Speedster was sitting wide open at the dock without an automatic bilge pump. I found my 2 precious 717's with water 3" over the plugs and 12" of water in the passenger compartment. It was floating, but barely. I baled out about 200+ gallons of water and got the passenger compartment clear, planning to come back the next day and pump out the engine compartment and storage area.
Yipes ! 12 hours later the the passenger area was full again to the same level as before and there had been no rain. I've cleaned it all up and got the motors running again, but now I'm scared to put it in the water until I find out what happened. It's sitting on the trailer and I put some water in the bilge to see if it would leak out somewhere, but got nothing.

It has a ball-type scupper valve. If the boat takes on a certain amount of water from rain, can the scupper just fill up the rest? I did just have both motors replaced, but it was in the water for three days before the deluge and had no sign of leaks. Is the scupper the source of the leak, or could there be something else?

Thanks , Nathan Mayo

 

[feld1128]

My guess would be that water in other places filled the passenger compartment again, it depends where things drain. I assume you checked for water in the oil etc? It is not expensive to install an automatic bilge.

 

[noswal_j]

Expansion boot

Check your rubber expansion boot on the exhaust that could be rotted and torn leaking water in.

If it was coming in your scupper valve than you would only have it in the cabin area, not the engine compartment unless your hose from the scupper valve has a hole or crack in it....

Best way to check is back your boat in and watch see where the water is coming in....that's the best way to do it.

 

[kcr357]

re

As soon as you remove the water, you need to run the engines. Once the motors flood and the water is removed, the crank bearings will rust overnight, as well as the cylinder. Now that I think of it, there could also have water in the rotary chamber(not a good idea to run it if so) and mag housing. You should probably plan on taking the whole motor apart, maybe have an oil bath waiting for the internals. Damn that sucks.....