Mystery Leak

[Anonymous]

JimCT,

I have posted the pic of the drain in my transom for you as a reference.

Hope it helps.

pbailey

[JimCt]

pbailey, thanks for posting the picture.  Looks like your scupper thimble flare is right up against the transom.  judging by that, mine's definately been pushed out by the motor clamp.

By way of a temporary fix, today I loosened up the motor bolts & eased the clamp away from the transom with the aid of the power tilt.  Cleaned up around the scuppers with acetone & buttered 5200 around the perimeter of the openings & around the motor bolts.  Not an elegent fix, but hopefully will stop the leak 'til I can get into it this fall.  Will take her out for a few hours fishing tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

Again, thanks for taking the time to send the picture.

[JimCt]

Went out fishing (not catching, just fishing) today for four hours and not a drop of water in the bilge!  Now that the leak's stopped, the transom will start drying out in anticipation of the job of putting things to rights.  Ain't it nice what a little dab of 5200 will do!

[Anonymous]

Hello, I was reading your previous posts concerning your unknown leak and I thought this would be a good place to post some information that I recently discovered concerning a leak that I had in my 1988 170. I discovered ( after much investigation ) that my leaks were coming from my two above deck scuppers. I bought two 1-1/4" drain plugs and put them in these scuppers and my leak went away. I never did determine exactly how the water went from the upper deck into the bilge.  John

[JimCt]

Thanks for the tip, John...

  I'm finding that water also leaks through the trough deck cover screw holes.  I do not fasten the cover down so one of my fall projects is to seal all the holes.

  Concerning the scuppers, the leak I had was coming around the outside of the scupper thimbles.  The motor bracket ('03 Merc 75) had displaced the thimbles inward and therefore had broken the seal around their O.D.'s.

[ddd222]

brand new member, first post, i have a mysterious leak as well, but in my case i believe its from the check valves that are below the water line. I alo ripped out the live well plumbing which slowed the leak but after that if its not the check valves i'm stumped, good luck. BTW I just repowered last year w/ brand new 250hp yamaha, no way my rigs goin down...

[JimCt]

If I learned anything from the education handed to me in this thread it is that EVERY thru-hull fitting is a suspect.  Even if you're positive a particular fitting is not the leaker, keep you're eye on it anyway.  I was absolutely blind-sided by the scupper leak I had.  I was convinced the problem was somewhere else.

I was wrong.

[DEFIANT]

ddd222,

My 83 222 had two slow leaks before I rebuilt the transom. Leak one was thru where the base of a trim tab was attached to the transom. Leak 2 was coming from the stern live well. My boat had a fitting that went straight through the transom into the well. The well rubbed the fitting until both the glass and the bronze fitting wore down allowing the water to enter the well then run into the bilge. The bronze fitting was worn down so far it was about to break. If this had happened in the 1 inch space between the well and the transom, I am certain the boat would have sunk!

If your boat has a fitting like this, please check it!!! I do not know how many years the 222 was set up like this.

In my rebuild I attached the well directly to the transom.

[ddd222]

defiant, my transom is solid and had it checked out before new motor hung. Livewell has been a discussion w/ just about everyone i have heard from. Ripped out the plumbing, outfitting from transom, and plugged up w/ another drain plug, slowed down the leak which tells me that was only one of the leaks. As I've mentioned before, the check valves on the port and starboard side, as well as the one from the coffin box are my immediate suspects, and really my only ones. Just like the livewell and bilge access, the check valves are impossible to get to, i am anticipating major cuts if i have to replace them. You would need 6-7 foot arms the thickness of a candy cane to get to them. I don't know exactly what sort of material they are made of, some sort of composite, plastic, starboard, does not really matter, whoever designed the boat should have thought that unless they are made of nuclear material, and sit under the waterline in salt water, they would need to be replaced. Anyone who has done this any help would be appreciated. I feel like i've found a support group, thanks for the insight