Water in Middle Compartment and Transom

[Wally413]

I'm leaving for Powell this Sunday with my new boat I've owned for a little over 1 month. The middle compartment (where the T-plug is located) regularly fills roughly 2" - 3" of the way up. I noticed this weekend that my transom/engine compartment gets a little water in it when I use the wedge for an extended period of time.

I of course realize my bilge should address this when necessary, but since I'm going to be on the Lake for 1 week straight I'm a little nervous about the water getting into the boat.

Question: Is it normal to see water in both of these areas of the boat, is this cause for concern? Is there any preventative maintenance I should do before leaving (i.e. plumbers tape around my plugs)?

Any thoughts/ideas are much appreciated, would hate to be on vacation and have to worry about things like this.

Thanks.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Yes, it's normal. But it should be addressed.

With the boat on the trailer, fill the bilge with the garden hose. After the hull, trailer & driveway are dry, where is it leaking out? My guess is either the prop shaft or rudder. There are packing around boat that can be tightened. You can see the prop packing by lifting the back seat off. It's under the trans on the bilge floor.

Next test, with the boat on the trailer, drain the bilge. Fill up the center ballast. Does it leak by the T plug? Repeat with each ballast tank to see if you can isolate one that is leaking. To fill them you may need to pull the fill hose & hook up a garden hose to it. Or fill the ballast on the lake, load it on the trailer & drain the bilge. Then start watching the tanks for leaks.

My center ballast fill line leaked quite a bit. I pulled the hose & fittings, reassembled with plumbers tape & it's all good.

The whole process might take some time so I'm not sure how much of it you'd be able to accomplish in a few days.