CONTINUOUSWAVE

Q1: on a 1997 21 OUTRAGE, what might cause all fish lockers to sporadically fill with water?

I am certain that the drains in the fish lockers are plugged. But some days the fish lockers will be topped with water and other days just a little bit of water will accumulate. The pumps in the fish lockers work well.

Q2: should I further tighten the drain plugs?

Q3: on a 1997 21 OUTRAGE, how can all the fish lockers be kept as dry as possible?

Q4: from where could the water come from that occasionally fills the fish lockers?


I feel the cause [of the sporadic accumulation of water in the fish lockers] is something simple, but I just have not found the remedy.

BACKSTORY
In Spring 2026--about three months before this post was written--I bought a 1997 21 OUTRAGE. I am new to ownership of a Boston Whaler boat.

Generally by 1997 Boston Whaler was providing an owner's manual specific to a particular boat model and length. The owner's manual should explain how the pumps and plumbing are configured in the fish lockers.

However, with the boat now almost 30-years-old, to rely on the configuration of pumps and plumbing being exactly as it was when the boat left the factory could be questionable.

If there are through-hull drains in the fish lockers, and if the plugs for those drains are not tightly sealed, then sea water could enter the fish lockers via the drains. The level of water in the fish lockers would then rise to the level of the water line of the boat. But this path should be simple to detect if you can start with the locker dry, and monitor the ingress of water to identify the source.

In some instances fish lockers may be configured to have pumps circulate sea water into the locker, allowing the water to rise to a predetermined level, at which point the water would flow overboard by gravity via another drain passage.

Also, if the boat has been re-powered with a newer engine (or engines), the replacement engines very likely could be significantly heavier than the original c.1997 engines. The increased weight in the stern could create a static trim with the boat sitting farther down by the stern. This situation could allow passages, which were originally intended to flow cockpit water to the sea, to instead allow sea water to enter into the hoses for those drains and flow into the boat, collecting at the lowest point. That lowest point could easily be the fish lockers.

The position of the crew or passengers in the boat when the boat is at rest could also affect the process of the drains becoming sources for water. If several people move to the far aft end of the cockpit, the amount of freeboard at the transom will decrease. The deeper immersion of the hull at the stern could cause water to flow into the boat via the drain passages instead of those passages acting as a path to drain water from the cockpit.

Stoepker wrote:Q4: from where could the water come from that occasionally fills the fish lockers?

I don't think a 21-footer would have a fresh water holding tank, so any water that appears in a fish locker would have to come from the sea (if the boat is in the water) or come from rain (if the boat is stored on land or on a lift and not covered).