Live well filling with water from drain tube

Post by **Bass Addict** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:45 pm

Buddy of mine bought a new boat a couple of weeks ago ,, its a legend
model 16 foot excalibur with a 75merc four stroke.

The other day he took it for a good spin and noticed water overflowing from the live-well

So he drained it and this time drove with the lid opened and the water is

coming in the live-well from the overflow tube.

He contacted the dealer where he bought it and there telling him

that its impossible and goes against the law of physics

Never heard of such a problem in 25 years they say

Any heads up ,,he has a 140mile drive to take it back to the dealer

and they have no idea what could be wrong with it

Thanks

Post by **Dartee** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:22 pm

The only thing I can think of which would make sense is the overflow was installed to low to the water line .

Post by **jsdx** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:10 am

How did he manage to drain the live well if the water was coming in the overflow tube ?. Did he have to take the boat out of the water ?

That livewell may be different but the way my livewell works is there is a drain hole on the bottom of it. When I want to use it, I manually insert a small tube into the hole (fancy!) so that the water doesn't flow out unless it overflows the tube height. So in my case, if the water was actually coming up into the drain, I would not be able to drain it like your friend was able to.

The question to answer is whether or not water is coming in when the boat is just sitting in the water. If so, the overflow is lower than the waterline. If not, the only other theory is that while under power, your getting some weird current which is pushing water into the drain in the back of the boat and into the live well.

Take the boat out of the water - check all the holes and drains and then use a garden hose to test the various water paths.

and hey, it never hurts to check that the drain is not hooked up to an intake pump or circulation pump or something silly like that.

Good luck and let us know what happens with this mystery and them unbreakable laws of physics

Post by **orrsey** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 8:33 am

I have never heard of this problem either. I had the opposite happen to me, with a full livewell I would lose water while going at higher speeds. Water was getting syphined (spelling??) through the pump and out. I had to unplug the pump until I wanted to drain the well or until I was going to go any distance. As for help for this problem I wish I had a clue but the ideas already presented seem to be a good start.
orrsey

Post by **Bass Addict** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:27 am

With the boat just sitting there, lets say at the dock for a week

absolutely no water will enter the live well..........

Its when he accelerates after a minute you will see water coming in the live well by the over-flow tube ,, after 10 minutes the live well will overflow with water

Post by **SixStringHack** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:11 am

Pull the boat out of the water, overfill the live well with a hose or just shoot water directly into the overflow. Find out where the water comes out of the boat and see if it is

1. facing the bow
2. hanging below the bottom of the boat where it could get pressurized while moving

Almost sounds like the overflow is plumbed to the speedometer water intake...
My feet and legs got a pretty good soaking one day when my speedometer tube popped off behind the instrument panel.