richg99
Well-known member
I had my "new to me" boat out for a REAL outing today. The very first time was just a --drop her in the water...make a circle..and put her back on the trailer-- dip. It took all of ten minutes.
The next outing was an hour on the lake...getting to know her idiosyncrasies.
I found out that she ran straight and true; she had an issue with corroded wires on her fish-finder...and I later found out that the trolling motor had an on-&-off switch. Imagine that! All seemed well....I thought...!
Today's trip was a bit different. I spent a half-hour putt-zing around Lake Como (part of West Galveston Bay). I had fixed her issues from the earlier trips. Her trolling motor now worked; fish-finder worked; launch went well off of her newly refurbished trailer. The fish weren't biting, but, you can't have everything.
THEN..I took a two mile run to the West. I put the GPS on and timed her in the low 20's. Hmmmmm....I noticed some water on the deck, near my feet. Wonder where that came from?? Maybe I had dropped that wet towel I used on the storage locker ????
I arrived at the next bay and decided to putt to the back ( tides were very low). After ten minutes...I noticed that the little puddle had grown on the trip over. Grown enough to be getting my feet wet. I jumped to the stern and checked the bilge. Some water, but not too much. I turned on the bilge pump and a small stream came out. Not bad, said I....
When I changed locations again...I put her up on plane, and the puddle grew! Oh my God...I am taking on water! I pulled her up onto a near-by reef.
After calling and not finding my fishing buddy at his bay house, I decided to turn the bilge pump on, leave it on...and run back to the ramp, nearly three miles away. Keeping very close to the shoreline, I should never be running over more than five feet of water.
Off I went, at full throttle...and the puddle grew and grew and grew. I planed right by the NO WAKE ZONE signs and blasted all of the way across Lake Como. As I slowed down near the launch, I had a thought. If the bilge never got very full...how is the water getting into the boat?
Then, it dawned on me. The speedometer wasn't working. I had thought nothing about it, until now. The Speedo's pitot tube works by water forcing a column of air up to the gauge. I'll bet the tubing was loose or split, right under my seat. That could be where the water was entering.
That theory would also explain why I had no prior water intrusion. I hadn't had the boat up on plane for more than a few minutes on each of the other two outings. Also, on this trip, I had purposely lowered the speedo's pitot device on the stern...to try the speedometer out. I also had, for the first time, run the boat at full speed for a couple of miles.
Sure enough, when I looked beneath the small console, there was the tube, disconnected and hanging down right where the water was gathering. Putting the boat back up on plane, I was able to watch a constant stream of water coming out of the tube. It didn't leak a drop at low speeds, but produced a fountain at higher speeds. I cut a quarter inch off of the end of the tubing and reattached it to the back of the speedo.
Problem solved...
regards, rich
The next outing was an hour on the lake...getting to know her idiosyncrasies.
I found out that she ran straight and true; she had an issue with corroded wires on her fish-finder...and I later found out that the trolling motor had an on-&-off switch. Imagine that! All seemed well....I thought...!
Today's trip was a bit different. I spent a half-hour putt-zing around Lake Como (part of West Galveston Bay). I had fixed her issues from the earlier trips. Her trolling motor now worked; fish-finder worked; launch went well off of her newly refurbished trailer. The fish weren't biting, but, you can't have everything.
THEN..I took a two mile run to the West. I put the GPS on and timed her in the low 20's. Hmmmmm....I noticed some water on the deck, near my feet. Wonder where that came from?? Maybe I had dropped that wet towel I used on the storage locker ????
I arrived at the next bay and decided to putt to the back ( tides were very low). After ten minutes...I noticed that the little puddle had grown on the trip over. Grown enough to be getting my feet wet. I jumped to the stern and checked the bilge. Some water, but not too much. I turned on the bilge pump and a small stream came out. Not bad, said I....
When I changed locations again...I put her up on plane, and the puddle grew! Oh my God...I am taking on water! I pulled her up onto a near-by reef.
After calling and not finding my fishing buddy at his bay house, I decided to turn the bilge pump on, leave it on...and run back to the ramp, nearly three miles away. Keeping very close to the shoreline, I should never be running over more than five feet of water.
Off I went, at full throttle...and the puddle grew and grew and grew. I planed right by the NO WAKE ZONE signs and blasted all of the way across Lake Como. As I slowed down near the launch, I had a thought. If the bilge never got very full...how is the water getting into the boat?
Then, it dawned on me. The speedometer wasn't working. I had thought nothing about it, until now. The Speedo's pitot tube works by water forcing a column of air up to the gauge. I'll bet the tubing was loose or split, right under my seat. That could be where the water was entering.
That theory would also explain why I had no prior water intrusion. I hadn't had the boat up on plane for more than a few minutes on each of the other two outings. Also, on this trip, I had purposely lowered the speedo's pitot device on the stern...to try the speedometer out. I also had, for the first time, run the boat at full speed for a couple of miles.
Sure enough, when I looked beneath the small console, there was the tube, disconnected and hanging down right where the water was gathering. Putting the boat back up on plane, I was able to watch a constant stream of water coming out of the tube. It didn't leak a drop at low speeds, but produced a fountain at higher speeds. I cut a quarter inch off of the end of the tubing and reattached it to the back of the speedo.
Problem solved...
regards, rich
