Can't Get Water Out!

[bswesey]

Hello All,

I have water in the toons and have jacked the boat (on trailer) up with floor jack and have allowed all water to drain out (not over night). When I lower it back down I can shake the boat/trailer and can still hear water in toons.

Obviously they have separate compartments/baffles, so how do I get all the water out!!??

I have thought about dilling and tapping drain plugs in the fornt....

I am experiencing terrible performance from the boat (21' Party Barge w/90hp Merc, 13.25x15p Prop) and have only hit 18-19mph with the wife and I @ almost 6000rpm. Had the boat loaded up this past weekend and 14mph was it @ 5000rpm. Could've given it more throttle but speed didn't change.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

[goboating]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

I have heard other members tell people to find where the baffles are and drill a small hole(big enough to get a hose into) to get in there and suck out the water. Then you get some screw-in plugs to seal it back up with. If I remember right there are some plugs that also double as vents. Man I feel for you, I have a 12 1/2ft War Eagle with 2 people and gear with a Mercury 25 that GPS says I do 23MPH. You must have alot of water! Any cracks in your tubes...that you know of?

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

I am experiencing terrible performance from the boat (21' Party Barge w/90hp Merc, 13.25x15p Prop) and have only hit 18-19mph with the wife and I @ almost 6000rpm. Had the boat loaded up this past weekend and 14mph was it @ 5000rpm. Could've given it more throttle but speed didn't change.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

Are those speeds taken with a GPS or a speedo? It doesn't add up that you are only getting 19 MPH at 6000 RPM's with a 15" pitch prop. Like goboating suggested, there should be vent plugs on the top of the toons that you could remove and pump the water out of each compartment. May be hard to reach them though, but worth a look.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Welcome to iboats.

The correct permenent way to fix this is to take it to a welder and have him drill each section right beside the keel and let them drain, if you do this at the back of each section and jack the front up as far as it will go you will 99.98% of the water out, then air check the boat and repair the leaks, once this is done you have a dry boat again.

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

I appreciate the feedback and have an update.

Speed was taken with GPS and I knew there were some cracks where the brackets are welded to the top of the toons.

I proceeded to drill a hole at the front of each toon and I didn't even get the hole all the wat through before water obviously came gushing out. Drained close to 10g per toon!

Threaded the holes with a 3/8-16 tap and pug a plug in and then a dab of expoxy for good measure.

It appears there are two separate compartments as the starboard tune released a boat load of air pressure when I removed the rear plug again for good measure.

Can't wait to get it out and see how she runs....

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

OK...

So i had it out and still can't get the boat over 20mph. I am also experiencing a good bit of prop ventilation. Not that I'm throwing full throttle to it extremely fast but I have to slowly ramp it up or it will blowout and the engine revs like crazy.

Once I'm moving we got up to about 20mph (via GPS) on a calm day at around 5600rpm and that was it. I could take the rpm's up to around 6000rpm or so and it did not increase the speed at all.

The boat was lightly loaded with just the wife and I and no gear (we're both fairly skinny).

I did notice a good amount of water spray under the deck and am thinking about skinning it but that can't be the issue, can it?

According to others, my prop should yield at least mid 20's if not more.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Good job getting the water out. I have a theory. It sounds like you might have a spun prop hub. Do you know how to check for that?

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

I thought I had spun the prop as well and broke out my white paint pen and marked it up. Took it out and ran it and the line was still straight.

I was looking and WOT is 5000-5500 and I'm 6000rpm. I know you've got the same rig but could there just be something different where I may need to go to a 17p?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Yeah, 6000 is too high, but a fifteen should be about right. That's what I'm swinging and it gets me to about 5400 WOT. Seventeen is worth a shot, but is it possible the motor's mounted too high?

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

It could be. I remember looking at it but don't remember where it was. Where is yours located? I'm thinking that may be it as it wants to vent. Because if I've got all the water out of the toons and the engine's running good, there really isn't much more to it, correct?

 

[lncoop]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

If you're experiencing that much ventilation that would be my guess. We frequent a lake with a large sand bar. It's very popular with the kids, so we invariably make several stops there every trip for our daughter to splash and play. I always glide in with the motor up in order to keep the sand out of it. Occasionally I'll forget to trim it all the way back down after we return to the deep water for tubing and when I let the hammer down it sounds like the prop is about to go into orbit. The first time it happened the admiral nearly jumped out of the boat it startled her so much. Any way, I'll try and remember to throw up a pic tonight and you can compare and contrast. One more thing; are your toons nice and clean?

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Too funny!

We had the same experience. The first time it cut loose I thought I was a goner. I figured it was due to the water in the toons (which obviously didn't help). But then it did it again after I finally got all the water out.

The toons are in decent shape. The boat sat in the water for several years before I bought it, so they did have some funk to them. I took a fairly stiff brillo/green scrubbie to them and knocked everything down pretty good. There is still a water line discoloration but no growth.

I appreciate all your help.

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Just looked and the motor is all the way down.

Now what?

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Sorry for the triple post....

But I broke down and bought a new 13.25x17p prop and hub this afternoon at West Marine.

It is installed on the boat and will be in the water this Saturday for a nice fishing trip with the boys (9 & 4).

I will maintain radio silence until Sun/Mon.

Thanks again for the help Incoop.

 

[cc350]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Sounds like you may want to check the motor height. With the prop blowing out. That 17p may be to much for the 90.

 

[cc350]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

ie: I run a 15x13p on my 90 Johnson, rpms 5200 top speed is 26mph gps, 2 people and a full tank (26 gal.) Top drops to 23-24 mph

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Well we had the boat out this past Saturday and the results are in.

22mph (GPS) @ 5200rpm, 2 adults, 3 small children, full tank of gas, bimini down, and into the wind....

That was with a 13.25 x 17p prop with engine all the way down.

I pulled the hub out of the old 13.25 x 15p prop and it looked ok but I may put it back on with the new hub just for S's and G's. Then again, I might just leave it alone now that I've learned how to throw my cast net again and the shrimp are still running.

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

That sounds more like it. No more ventilation?

 

[bswesey]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Not that I could tell.

It would grumble a little bit when throttling up but no big blow outs like before.

 

[lncoop]

Re: Can't Get Water Out!

Well, then I'd say you cracked it. If you get bored later you might experiment a little more. You've got room within the RPM band.