Water in hull?

[gergg]

I'm new to these fancy bass boats, I bought a used 2004 Stratos 295XL Pro and after running today I pulled the plug and LOTS of water drained out, I peeked in the rear compartment and there was a few inches of water in the center channel....how the heck did all of that water get in there?
By the way, 1st time out in this boat......the boat ran like a charm, near 60mph with a Johnson 150 on it....3 people in the boat and a full tank of gas, so not too bad.

Thanks,
Greg

[cubswin]

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gergg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm new to these fancy bass boats, I bought a used 2004 Stratos 295XL Pro and after running today I pulled the plug and LOTS of water drained out, I peeked in the rear compartment and there was a few inches of water in the center channel....how the heck did all of that water get in there?
By the way, 1st time out in this boat......the boat ran like a charm, near 60mph with a Johnson 150 on it....3 people in the boat and a full tank of gas, so not too bad.

Thanks,
Greg

</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you come off of plane did you let the waves over run the back of the boat? Fairly easy to do and will add a good amount of water. Other choices could be a bad livewell fixture, plug not tightened up or cross threaded, rain from the past.

Lots of ways to get water in the boat, and most are easy fixes.

[fishnfool38]

Did you have ice in the cooler? Mine kept getting water in it occasionally, then I realized it was from the cooler!

[stratorod]

Next time before you put it in the water, make sure your livewell switch is turned to "recirc." Then open the back compartment lid where the bilge is located. Watch to see if you have any water coming in around the livewell pumps or valve. I just about sank my brand new 2004 275 pro xl (first time out) because of a cracked Rule brand livewell pump housing (these pumps are a two-piece unit that includes the removable/replaceable pump and the housing that seals off the outside water. Remember the only thing separating the bilge area from the outside water is that o-ring inside the pump housing. The dealer replaced the housing at no charge. About a year later, the same thing happened again with the same pump. I was at a loss as to what was happening. The pump housing was cracked in the same place--near the hose connection where the outlet spout comes out and extends from the pump housing. There was no obvious stress on the housing from the hose as it was laying nicely. I decided to take pictures of my setup and send to the Rule company that makes the pumps. I thought there may have been a bad batch of pumps that made it past quality control. They e-mailed my back and told me they believed they knew the problem. According to Rule, when petroleum prices increased somewhere along the line the hose manufacturers began making the livewell hoses with cheaper ingredients. As it turns out, one of these ingredients was incompatible with the plastic that the pumps were made of. According to them, the hose material would "leech" out a substance that would effectively soften the plastic the pumps were made of. They assured me that the newer pumps were made with this in mind, and that the incompatibility issues were resolved with the later models. In my case, they sent me ALL new Pro-Series pumps (2 livewell/1 bilge) and I have had no problem since. Not sure if this is your problem or not, but it is worth taking a quick look.




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