holes in bellows/taking on water??

[jason9080]

My boat takes on about 2inches of water every 24 hours or so. my pump can handle it no problem. interestingly enough when i took the boat out of the water to repaint the bottom i raised the drive and the bellow/boot has about 10 big holes in it. seems like a no brainer that the water has to be coming in through there, however the holes are so big that water would be pouring in the boat if that was the case. Is that bellow possibly for the exhaust and has nothing to do with water coming in?? what would make the water come in so slow if they did go though those holes. ps. its a omc outdrive with a 460 omc motor. 27foot boat.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

That is the exhaust bellow......
I'm not an OMC guy, but I would think that two inches a day is not good....
Some of the OMC guys will be along to help I'm sure......JK

 

[Don S]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

The exhaust bellows always has water in them from the exhaust. The Y pipe is what keeps the water out of the boat in in the exhaust.
You probably have a ujoint bellows leaking, and it will leak into the boat. The major problem with a leaking ujoint bellows is water gets into the gimbal bearing, and the ujoints and even into the drive, and can get real expensive to fix when everything goes bad.
Time to pull the drive and check that ujoint bellows for water.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

I forgot the complete formula,but maybe .......

27'x(24/7){2"}=bad news.

Gotta find that leak !

DHP

 

[jason9080]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

i forgot to mention that i have thru hull exhaust so that bellow is not being used i guess. maybe the water is coming in from the metal plate that blocks the hole from where the exhaust would come out if it wasnt thru hull. well if its not that bellow then im not replacing it cause i dont use it. wonder where else it coud be coming form. have the boat out of the water now so maybe i can do some tests. any suggestions?? my auto bilge pump is killing my batteries !!!

 

[Scaaty]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

You have an impossible question to answer without a personal inspection

 

[Don S]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

wonder where else it coud be coming form. have the boat out of the water now so maybe i can do some tests. any suggestions?? my auto bilge pump is killing my batteries !!!

Like I mentioned in my first replay, it's probably coming in through the ujoint bellows. Pull the drive and look!

Could also be the transom shield gasket, hose for the shift cable, the plate blocking off the exhaust, who knows. You have to put it in the water and look for the leak.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: holes in bellows/taking on water??

disconnect the batteries,fill the boat with water and see where it leaks out >

DHP