we went out riding sun. and mon. albeit the water was cold. I noticed the boat having tremendous trouble coming on plane. then we noticed there was 8 inches of water in the bottom of the boat. (yes, we had the drain plug tight!)we had to keep running the bilge every five minutes. Anyone had a similar problem? Anyone know of anything common?the boat only has 60 hours on it!

exaust? freeze plugs? balist intake? did you winterize? packing gland on drive shaft? packing gland on ruder? check for leakes on all hoses?

Grrrrr!.. no such thing as freeze plugs.<img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" border=0> <BR> <BR>B-

I winterized with -100 rv antifreeze. this wasn't the maiden voyage for the 03 season. I checked the hoses, the water intake ballast intake etc. nothing obvious. Couldn't visually verify any leak. but, there's definitely a leak somewhere.

do you have a dripless packing gland on your through hull for the drive shaft? what about the ruder through hull?

"no such thing as freeze plugs" on that engine or in existence? <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/happy.gif" border=0>

Usually water starts leaking in through the the packing gland on the drive shaft. I don't have the dripless on my Tige' but you can just tighten the packing nut and it will stop leaking. Pop the access cover (or if it's a V-drive I guess it's back with the engine) and you can usually see the water dripping out.. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by bigd on April 01, 2003)

Did you hit something? Do you have a heater in the boat? Maybe the core cracked. Was it wet under the drivers feet? There might be a leak in the actual ballast pump. If you can't figure it out quickly, take it to your dealer. Maybe it is under warranty

Utah Rider, <BR> <BR>I have had water come into my 02 SAN on three separate occasions. Two times it was the heater core that failed. The second time I knew right away because the carpet under the driver's seat gets wet and hot. The third time it was the tubing from one of the two speedometer pitot tubes. Tubing comes into the boat through the transom and then connects to a box which is mounted inside the boat on the transom. Once the tubing came off the box inside the boat it was laying in the bilge below the waterline. This caused a constant pencil sized flow of water into the bilge. Took me a while to find that one. Drop me an email if you have any questions. <BR> <BR>Good luck!

I,m not sure about the packing gland. I don't believe it's dripless. even so, it shouldn't drip that much water. carpet under drivers feet isn,t wet. heater is working fine. shower didn't appear to be leaking. couldn't see any visible leaks. razzman has some good ideas. being an auto tech, I still like to find out what is going on. The more I know about my boat the better. so if something happens again on the lake, I may be able to fix it there. If I was at Powell, and the boat was in the water all night, it would probably be on the bottom. It's still got 5 years on the warrranty. If I find out any thing I'll post it. Thanks

I had a similar problem in my 99 Pro Air but it turned out to be one of the ballast tank hoses came off and was draining right into the hull.

I had the tube come off the back of my speedometer once and started shooting water into the boat. I figured I had hit something and had a hole in the boat so I drove it as fast as I could to the dock to try and get it on the trailer before it sank. Water flowed the entire time, then when I got to the dock and slowed down, the flow decreased. this changed my opinion of what happened, so I started looking under the dash and saw the line hanging there.

Does the boat leak while sitting, or only when running?? <BR> <BR>If it leaks while sitting I would check for leaks in the shaft log, rudder packing, ballast tanks or in the hose from the thru hull to the water pump. <BR> <BR>If it leaks when running, then check your engine and cooling system closely. Don't forget to check the exhaust system. I would start by looking closely at the engine water circulation pump, as they can leak badly when they start to go. <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>If it is leaking enough to run the pump every minutes it should be easy to track down. After the bilge pump has run you should be able to look at the bottom and see which way the water is flowing!

tried looking for something obvious, like water flowing in, or something leaking. nothing was obvious. you all have good ideas. thanks again.

utah rider <BR>a leaking drive shaft seal will not be obvious. if it needs to be adjusted it will let a lot of water in, a water lubricated packing gland should only drip a few drops of water per min if properly adjusted. <BR> <BR>check the packing gland, I have to readjust mine at least once per year. after a lay up the wax rope seal will shrink.

Can someone post pics of what their packing gland and packing gland nut look like? I think mine needs to be tightened, but I want to make sure I'm looking at the right thing here <img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/clipart/blush.gif" border=0> <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR>Trash <BR>

Just an idea.... I have a 2001 Air, I went out the other day and had the same problem (taking on water). It turned out that my "Empty" ballast pump had a crack in it I guess it froze during the Colder months. It was a $14 fix and now she's NICE &amp; DRY!!! Good luck!

just incase your serious <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/65921/60914.jpg" alt="NUT">

Matt, You need to clean out your bilge!

Bouv, <BR>It was you ballast pump had a crack and is getting fixed under warranty. I know you talked to Ralph about it so he probably calmed your fears. It is still on for next week though right? Tell dawn Hi and I'll start stretching so I can ride next week with you. <BR> <BR>Peace <BR>

It's on my list

Ya, Darin,I talked with ralph. he told me what's up. Tripp hit the nail right on the head. Ralph said the packing was all good. I asked him to look at the brass plate where the rudder goes through the hull. I'll find out about that. We can go ride next Tuesday if you want. I'll wait to see what the weather is going to do. The temp dropped 30 degrees today. I'm hardcore, but not that hardcore! Keep in touch.

im having the same problem with my malibu...just not as bad. after being in the water for a few hours the bilge pump comes on and we have no idea were the water its coming from.

Check to see that your bow eye hook is tight. (The thing your trailer bow strap hooks to) If it is loose, every time it gets below the water line, water will gush into the bildge. Sounds simple, but happened to me and I searched and searched for a leak in the engine compt and it was just the stupid eye hook. Tighten and silicone around it and see if it helps.

Be sure to check the transom of the boat. Had a couple of leaks on my Malibu. Apparently when they put on the exhaust flaps and speedo pick ups they drilled all the way through the transom so water was coming in from the screw holes. A little silicone and it was good to go. You'd think that they would at least check to see if your new $40 to $50K boat is water tight...nice quality control guys!

You wuss! <BR>Coop and I will be there on Tuesday if the weather holds. It should be 70 by Tues. Ralph has got your back and so do I. We will talk later. <BR> <BR>L8

darin, If the pump is fixed in time we can make it work. bog is ready to go if he doesn't have to work. I can probably get spencer and sam to go also. That would be a decent crew. Coop feeling better? You gonna use taylor's truck to pull the boat up here? I'll have to pick it up mon. or tues. morn. no leak at transom or bow eye. Thanks everyone, but the leak was found.