220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

A conversation among Whalers
ChrisL
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220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby ChrisL » Mon Jul 11, 2022 10:00 am

Q1: should the drains in a rectangular sump just forward of the engine [on a c.2006 220 DAUNTLESS] be plugged while underway?

Q2: who was the OEM of the deck access ports in 2006?

The size of these access ports is about 10.75-inches by 14-inches; the port has two latches; there is no hinge.

The gasket is dried out and the cover is slightly warped. Water might be getting into the sump area there.

BACKSTORY
I store my [c.2006 220 DAUNtlESS boat] on a trailer in the marina.

After a day of running my [c.2006 220 DAUNTLESS boat may] have perhaps three gallons of water in the aft sump area. I have owned many boats and this seems like way too much water to collect in the boat.

I know the self-draining design also allows for water to come into the boat, but I just hate having all that saltwater in the sump.

What I have done to stop water from getting into the sump:
  • I caulked the deck-to-aft-seat joint to force water [on deck to flow] into the drains
  • I inspected both deck drains; they look good;
  • I replaced the gasket on the aft Port circular deck access hatch;
  • I repaired a crack in the livewell

--Chris

[Moderator's note: a Boston Whaler Unibond hull does not have a bilge space between the outer hull and inner hull. That space is sealed and filled with foam. Water collects in sump areas molded into the hull liner.]

jimh
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby jimh » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:04 am

If your boat is a 2006 220 DAUNTLESS and the gaskets on the deck access ports are original, then they are 16-years-old. The gaskets on deck access plates are a routine maintenance item, and they should be replaced periodically. The replacement interval probably will depend on where the boat is located, how much exposure to sunlight it gets, and other influences. If the removable ports are warped they probably are not making a good seal and need to be replaced.

If the boat has scuppers that drain the deck directly to the sea, and if the boat has a static trim that causes the scuppers to be immersed in the seawater, then water may be flowing into the boat instead of out of the boat.

Q3: If you are trailering the boat, do you see the water in the sump right after you haul the boat out at a ramp?

Perhaps the steep upward angle on the ramp causes water from somewhere in the boat more toward the bow to shift aft and drain into the stern sump area as the boat comes up the ramp.

ASIDE: I used to chase mystery water that only showed up after I hauled the boat and drove it home on the trailer. The water would appear in a sump area in the cabin, well forward in the boat, and that area was always dry when I hauled out the boat on the ramp. I finally figured out the water was coming from an aft sump and draining forward when I descended a long steep downhill grade on the route from ramp to home,

jimh
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby jimh » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:12 am

ChrisL wrote:Q2: who was the OEM of the deck access ports in 2006
Those rectangular deck access plates may be made by Viking. See this prior discussion about a source for them:

Source for Viking Hatch Replacements
https://continuouswave.com/forum/viewto ... f=6&t=6763

A good source of information about OEM parts is from Sue at Twin Cities Marine in Wisconsin.

Nauset Marine in Massachusetts is another old-school Boston Whaler dealer with a good parts department.

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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby jimh » Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:20 am

ChrisL wrote:Q1: should the drains in a rectangular sump just forward of the engine [on a c.2006 220 DAUNTLESS] be plugged while underway?
I had a bit of trouble understanding your description. If you are asking about drains in the engine splash well, then normally those drains are always kept open to the sea.

If you are asking about other drains perhaps located below deck in some other compartment like a live well, please give a clearer description.

ChrisL
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby ChrisL » Tue Jul 12, 2022 1:53 am

jimh wrote:I had a bit of trouble understanding your description. If you are asking about drains in the engine splash well, then normally those drains are always kept open to the sea. If you are asking about other drains perhaps located below deck in some other compartment like a live well, please give a clearer description.
[The 220 DAUNTLESS boat has] two drains in the engine splashwell right in front of the engine. A standard plug would fit in both drains.

Does that make sense?

I am not talking about the large floor drains that have scuppers at the transom.

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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby jimh » Tue Jul 12, 2022 9:14 am

ChrisL wrote:[The 220 DAUNTLESS boat has] two drains in [its] splashwell [just forward] of the engine.
Thanks for making clearer that you were asking about whether or not to plug the engine splashwell drains. I have already replied on my assumption that you were asking about engine splashwell drains; see above.

ChrisL wrote:A standard plug would fit in both drains. Does that make sense?
I think you will need two plugs, one for each drain. The plugs can be found in different sizes. You have to match the diameter of the drain to the plug. The typical drain plug used on a Boston Whaler splashwell drain is a rubber plug with ridges than can be compressed by a screw mechanism or by a lever mechanism to become larger diameter and fit more tightly in the drain to make a better seal. But as I mentioned before, the engine splashwell drains are normally not plugged.

ChrisL wrote: I am not talking about the large [deck] drains that have scuppers at the transom.
Yes, the cockpit deck on some Boston Whaler boats has open drains to the sea to allow water on the cockpit deck to drain off directly to the sea. The general name for a drain like that is a scupper. A scupper would normally not be closed. As I mentioned earlier, the scupper acts to drain water off the cockpit deck unless the boat has been very heavily loaded and its draft increased so much that the cockpit deck scupper becomes immersed in the seawater.
That would be a very unusual situation for a Boston Whaler boat. If your 220 DAUNTLESS has that situation, please clarify further.

In some instances, the scupper outlet has a one-way valve that tends to close the drain automatically if the drain becomes immersed in the seawater in order to prevent the backflow of seawater onto the cockpit deck. These one-way valves can be in the form of a flapper or can use a buoyant object, often a ball, that acts to close the valve if seawater tries to backflow into the boat.

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Phil T
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby Phil T » Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:13 pm

It is not atypical to have water in the splashwell.

It is not recommended to have the drains of the splashwell plugged.

Many owners not familiar with Boston Whalers will be concerned with the presence of water in any area of the boat given the ability of other brands of recreational boats to sink. Given the design of all Boston Whalers, water being present in the splashwell, sump, bilge, locker or deck in small amounts is not a concern as the boat cannot sink.
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ChrisL
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby ChrisL » Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:45 am

Phil T wrote:Given the design of all Boston Whalers, water being present in the splashwell, sump, lockers, or on deck in small amounts is not a concern as the boat cannot sink.
I am not worried about sinking, I just dislike having seawater in the [the engine splash well, the sump, the lockers or on the deck in those areas of a Boston Whaler boat that are designed to collect water].

Since a rectangular deck access plate made by VIKING is no longer available, I first will try to replace the gasket on the one I have.

Thanks for the help.

jimh
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby jimh » Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:37 pm

Again, there is really no bilge space on a Unibond hull. The space between the outer hull and the inner hull on a double-bottom boat would be called the bilge, but on a Boston Whaler boat with a Unibond hull that space is closed off and filled with foam. As mentioned before, the hull liner is molded to have sump areas built into the liner so water collects in those areas. The hull liner is really the main deck of the boat, with some sumps or other structures molded into it.

The only way to stop water from collecting in the areas on the boat designed intentionally to collect water is to keep the boat on land and stored inside, so no rain can fall on it. When the boat is on the water there will be some water that comes aboard, even if it is just a tiny bit of water that gets past the rubber plug in a through-hull drain. There will be a small amount of water in most of the sump areas. If the through-hull drains for the sumps are closed, and if there is no lift pump to move water up and out of the boat, the water will just sit there. That is why the general instructions from the factory are to leave open the through-hull drains in sump areas that do not have a lift pump in the sump to remove the water. In that was the water drains to the sea.

Even if a sump area has a pump, the typical lift pump will never be able to evacuate all the water. The typical lift pumps are centrifugal pumps and they will never be able to pump all the water out of the sump area because a centrifugal pump can not lift any water into its inlet. A centrifugal pump only pumps as long as water is flowing downhill into its inlet.

When you describe a situation where three gallons of water are sloshing around below deck somewhere, then a leak must be causing that water, or you are taking spray aboard or water is coming over the transom, or some other situation is occurring that was not expected to happen on a Boston Whaler boat.

padrefigure
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Re: 220 Dauntless: Water in Sump

Postby padrefigure » Thu Aug 04, 2022 1:28 pm

On the 220 Dauntless, there is a [sump area] that is below the deck in front of the transom. [This sump area] has a through-hull drain at the bottom of the V and is below the waterline while the boat is at rest. My 2001 Dauntless has a [sump] pump with a float switch that keeps the [sump] relatively dry.

My starter and house batteries are also located in this space on the Starboard side of the hull

If you store your boat on a trailer, it is easier to plug the [the sump drain] from the outside of the transom before launching. My Dauntless is stored on a lift and we install the plug from the inside by removing the inspection plate you mentioned above.

The console of the Dauntless is a step-in console with the floor below the waterline as well. I believe this is similar to the older Revenge models (abeit without the berth or other amenities.) This floor will drain to the [sump]. The scuppers you see at the transom are at the deck level and above the waterline. They will drain any water that gets on the deck to the sea.

If you are collecting multiple gallons of water in the 220 DAUNTLESS [sumps] over the course of a day of use, I suspect you have a leak. The leak could be from a deck seam (over the fuel tank) that is not caulked correctly, or from a through hull, or from a leaking hose in the plumbing system of your boat.

Options for the 220 DAUNTLESS included fresh-water wash down, raw-water wash down, and bait well. The intake for the baitwell is on the bottom of the boat about 18-inches forward of the transom on the Port side. I am not sure where the raw water intake is located.

I hope this information will help you.