Water level - scuppers - new engine

SkunkBoat said:
My point is that you should not add weight to fix having too much weight. Adding weight puts more boat below the waterline.
Shifting or moving weight may accomplish something very useful. Your experiment moved bodies.
yes, there is a pivot point. Yes, in some displacement hulls adding ballast is important. Its not because the vessel is too heavy, its because some area of the vessel is too light.

But in the case of an outboard planing hull where you have too much weight aft, adding extra weight forward is not "the fix".
Eventually you will add temporary weight like gear and fuel and bodies and then you will have too much weight forward.

So using your experiment. Suppose you sent a 100 pound person forward and it raised the scuppers right where you want them.
So you add 100 pounds of sand to the bow. What happens now when a 200 pound person goes up to the bow?
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I agree that ideally the boat would be designed for the added weight but it isn't. Yes, adding ballast does have trade offs, but in this case it isn't the end of the world. Hell, GW actually sold at least one model with ballast for this exact same issue.
 
I may be better off posting this as a brand new thread but I figured I’d start here.

Quick recap- I have 1989 Overnighter 20.

Repowered with a new 200 hp Suzuki for this season. (Replacing 1989 Yamaha 175). Thought I had been pretty thorough in my research. Talked to a few people and did some online research. Now I’m starting to think I could have been a bit more thorough

Will try to make a long story short. Boat has been in the water since early June. I’ve put 20 hours on the motor (not as much used as I was hoping for)

I’m definitely aware of the fact that the new motor is significantly heavier than the old one. I’ve seen my same boat with same / similar motor and in all my research I never had someone steer me away from it. (Until I saw a recent post on here about GW dealer advice about going with lighter motor on older GWs. Not sure what my options would have been anyway. )

Ok. On to my present situation.

Was concerned about that extra weight and what it would mean for drainage through scuppers so when I put boat in water I added weight upfront - 150 pounds- sandbags etc. I recently removed them after seeing posts here advise against doing that

Boat was doing fine for several weeks. Was relieved after some heavy rains in July when I saw that all was good.

Fast forward to last week -

Had some heavy rains last week and noticed quite a bit of water in bilge when I got to boat. Ran bilge pump - quite a bit pumped out. Wasn’t too concerned. This happened twice. Only thing that seemed odd was that this hadn’t happened after some heavy rains earlier in summer. Pretty much let it go but what happened next has me concerned.

I was anchored with a heavier load on board compared to other outings. Auto-bilge came on and pumped out a decent amount of water. 2 hours later it happened again. When I pulled up main floor piece and checked bilge the next day there was a good amount of water there. It measured about 2” deep at hatch near cabin door. I ran the bilge and got rid of most of it.
I’ve been monitoring the bilge the past few days as the boat has been docked. It does not look like I’m taking on any water in bilge during periods of no rain. (I may be getting some on after it rains - not 100% sure ). But based on what happened with my heavier load the other day I’m thinking that water is getting in either when I’m under way or at anchor.

I had my through hull fittings replaced with stainless steel 3 years ago and new hoses installed from main scuppers in the stern and had a faulty hose from one of the live wells fixed. (Before that was fixed I would get water in bilge with a heavy load. Since that was fixed it has been fine until this past week.). I’ve done a quick check of some of the through-hulls and I don’t see any obvious culprit.

Right now I’m leaning towards taking it to a well regarded shop that did the work 3 years ago and see if they can find any issues. I’m sure it will cost a bit but I can’t enjoy the boat til I get to the bottom of what’s going on.

Going to mention a few specifics to get some feedback

Focusing on the through-hulls (which I figure would be most likely source of any water coming in)

The 2 hoses that drain from main scuppers on each side are new from 2020 and seem to be fine. When I have people on board I have each scupper plugged up so I don’t get water backing in. That system has worked for me all season. (I've seen the suggestions on this thread about going with the ping pong style scuppers. That sounds like good advice.)

The scuppers definitely sit lower (pretty much submerged) with the heavier motor. Even with old motor I’d get some water backing in with heavy load. Despite my concerns earlier in the season they seem to be draining ok with the rain.

As for the two drain holes on the transom - they sit pretty low - only about 1.5 “ above the water line. I’ve wondered if I’ve gotten water in when under way or at anchor with heavy load. I’ve thought about plugging them up when out and leaving them as is at the dock. Or maybe having a flapper device installed that would let water out but not in. It doesn’t seem like this is the source of my problem, but it’s something I thought worth mentioning.

I’ve noticed that the outlet for my bilge pump sits lower than it used to. It’s about 4” above the water. I don’t think water has backed in through there, but is that possible? Would it be smart to have that moved up ? There’s only room for it to go up by an inch or two. Or maybe a flapper device that lets water out but not in would make sense there too ?

I know this has been a long post, but I really appreciate any advice that can be offered from people with lots of experience and expertise. The repower for me this season was a major investment, but until I find out what is going on, I can’t really enjoy using the boat. Thanks in advance for any input you can offer.
 
I'm not sure it can happen with a bilg pump, but with oir old 248 the sink would mysteriously get water in it. When running in the rough, waves would hit the port side just right and push water into the sink from the drain line. The outlet was about 1.5' above the water line. With your boat sitting lower and knowing how much your stern drops getting on plane, I wouldn't rull it out.
 
Do you have ping pong ball attachments to your scuppers? I added some before I re-powered my 192 (because I'd get water backing in from the scuppers when somebody was seated at the stern while at anchor) and they were pretty effective. That may be the first thing to try since it's an inexpensive potential solution (in case your submerged scuppers are the issue).
 
Even if the thruhulls are completely underwater...

if the thru hulls are sealed to the hull
and the hoses don't leak
and the connection of the hose/hose barb/elbow to the deck drain doesn't leak
and the deck drain is sealed to the deck
then the only place water could go is on deck.

you say you are plugging the deck drains because you had trouble with water on deck. I would get an eyeball on the things listed above.

Also, if you are heavy and your motorwell (if you have one) gets an unusual amount of water, it could be leaking 6" deck ports in the motorwell.

I have found Rule livewell pump leaking where they twist onto their plastic housing that screws into the valve.
 
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when I was running down a leak on my Grady, I wrapped blue paper mechanic towels around all the thru fittings inside the hull. You can quickly tell which ones are leaking. My leak originated from my port side bait tank, I closed that one up and I'm in good shape. I also had a leak at the hose from my port side deck drain, I resealed that. I keep a close eye on how much water sits in the bilge at every outing. My boat sits on a trailer though.
 
Keep an eye on that valve. Since it is brass, it might be subject to faster electrolysis.
 
seasick said:
Keep an eye on that valve. Since it is brass, it might be subject to faster electrolysis.
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As I posted in a different thread, I had it apart recently (there was a twig in there keeping it open) and there was zero corrosion, it was like new. And the boat gets fished once/week on average.

This solution works so much better than brand new rubber flaps, I'll check it annually and if it goes bad, I'll just put a new one in there.

Remember, I wash my boat after every trip, that's a lot of fresh water going through there. And I put the hose right on the drains, full blast, at 75PSI. Not a lot is going to stick after all that.
 
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Thanks for these responses. Some really good suggestions. Going to keep at it to see what's going on.
 
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