Boat Issues Today

[cbboarder]

We had our "first no boating today" issue. The weekend had been fantastic except for a few jerks on the water. I did a ton surfing with 8 peeps on the boat. Wave was nice for a stock OBV (at least from what I could tell). Since we're new to the whole surf thing I was finally able to stay in the wave for more than 30 seconds. Getting better and that's what counts. In any event, so we go out after lunch to do some more surfing. We start filling the bags and notice the left rear bladder was a little over filled and still pumping. We turned off the pump and got ready to surf. Then we noticed the bilge pump indicator on and sure enough the plastic fitting on the bag had blown out and to make things worse the bilge pump was working. Luckily we have a lift, so we nursed her back, lifted, pulled the plug and took a shop vac to suck out the remaining 60 gallons in the engine compartment. We have a Sahara S500 bilge pump that uses 2 plastic clips to hold the pump in place to the mounting bracket and unfortunately one of them had broke. So the pump ended up sucking all the garbage from the engine compartment thus clogging it. What really irritates me is that it mostly likely came from the dealer that way. Since it's under warranty I'm hoping I can stop by Atlanta Marine pick-up a replacement and do the install myself before next weekend. We have 8 guests coming to the lake house.

We were out all day Friday Saturday and Sunday. So the weekend wasn't a total loss.

[deerfield]

cb - Your post states that the bilge pump was working, making things worse. Did you mean not working? Also, what is the normal location for the bilge pump in your OBV? Mine sits right on the floor of my Outback pretty much under the engine. Your post just got me to wondering. - Deerfield

[cbboarder]

Sorry, mean't to say "not working". The pump is located near the v-drive and is easily accessable (when it's not under 18" inches of water).

[MartinCaron]

Running the engine with 60 gallons of water in the bilge in not a good idea... You may want to unplug a ballast drain hose and use it as a shop-vac instead

[kaneboats]

That's what occurred to me. Why not improvise and use the ballast drain pumps to pump out the bilge and save your day.

[jmvotto]

Greg, should be under warranty, my bilge broke in the off season as well and found out the hard way too. but they are available at walmart for 50 bucks if the dealer does not come through. actually i have the plastic housing i can send you since i just changed out the pump part from the sahara s 500. pm me you address if you want it.

[cbboarder]

Thanks for the help! I picked one up from the dealer (no cost) Thursday and installed on Friday. Had another great time on the water this weekend with no issues. Had 9 people in the boat on Saturday and the surf wake was "HUGE" thanks to my two 250 lb cousins.

How do you guys dry out your ballast compartments? I always leave the compartment doors open when parked and use Damp-Rid when covered but it's not getting the job done. Any suggestions?

[kaneboats]

I take out my bags and leave the locker doors open with a fan blowing in one of them the first night and the other one the second night. My garage gets over 100 degrees in the summer time so they dry quickly.

[cab13367]

I take out my bags and leave the locker doors open with a fan blowing in one of them the first night and the other one the second night. My garage gets over 100 degrees in the summer time so they dry quickly.

Same routine except I have two fans. The $15 box (square) fans at home depot fit perfectly in my rear lockers.