2001 Air Nautique Leak

[pdxCC]

I have a leak in my Air Nautique. What are the possible leak points?

Rudder, Shaft Packing, Water intake, ballast thru-port (not likely due to seacock)

Any ideas?

My auto-bilge goes off every 15-20 minutes.


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[jbach]

Could be all or one if the above. Close the seacock to eliminate that, but I would assume it's the packing in either the shaft or rudder or both. You can inspect the rudder by removing the side compartment. The shaft, you may need to pull the seat and floor section. It should drip every couple/few seconds while turning and not at all or very little while stationary.

[EchoLodge]

Also check your water lines to your heater if you have one. It was driving me crazy trying to find why my bilge kept coming on. I had a leak in my heater line. Last place I checked.

[kend]

Is your boat v-drive or direct; If it's direct you can just open the round black port in the floor look at the shaft seal to see how much water is coming in.

[pdxCC]

Direct drive. It has about a drip per second when sitting still at the packing but I'll check how it does underway this week. My burst guess is that the rudder packing needs a redo.

Anyone know how to remove the hard ballast tanks to get at the rudder? (I'm ok with cutting ten out and replacing with bags if that's the best option)


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[shag]

A drip per second is way too much.... Should be about a drip every 6-8 seconds.....

[charlesml3]

A drip per second is way too much....

Oh come on now. One drip per second? That wouldn't total a half a gallon over an entire day. I don't even bother until they start producing a steady stream. Anything else is just making work.

-Charles

[surroundsound64]

Oh come on now. One drip per second? That wouldn't total a half a gallon over an entire day. I don't even bother until they start producing a steady stream. Anything else is just making work.

-Charles

Yea... I'm lazy too. Lol

[pdxCC]

Ha! I agree. That's what a battery maintainer is for. "Little leaks".

Currently I am targeting the rudder packing and/or leaks in the ballast tanks. I need to run a leak test tomorrow when I am skiing in the morning before work... :-)


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[Marko1956]

If it only leaks when the boat is being used, check the caulking under the rub rail, especially on the sides near the back of the boat.

[DLafont]

If your seacock is closed for the ballast and you still get water, then you can rule that out. Had something like that happen in mine last year, and an elbow connector under the ballast tanks had come out from the tank. Removing the tanks is not too complicated, but takes a bit of time, since the rear seat has to come out first and it's a bit of an exact fit... Could also come from the shower line if you have one.

[pdxCC]

DLafont - How did you get the seat out? I sadly couldn't find an easy way to remove it like I could on my old 93'


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[DanielC]

Get the bilge of the boat dry. Remove the rear seat, and floorboards. May as well clean the bilge while you have things apart. Once the bilge is dry, it will be much easier to pinpoint any leaks.

Another possible leak source is the muffler. I had a muffler leak that was not evident, it mainly happened each time the engine was started. When you stop, the muffler fills with water. When you restart the engine there is temporarly high pressure in the muffler, until the water get expelled again. This high pressure can open up a crack on the bottom of the muffler.

To check, remove floorboard covering muffler. Float the boat, then shut off the engine, and let it sit for a while. Restart the engine, looking of water coming from under the muffler.

[DLafont]

DLafont - How did you get the seat out? I sadly couldn't find an easy way to remove it like I could on my old 93'


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Like I stated it is an exact fit, meaning not much room. I had to pull the seat up very slowly and very straight up. Turns out it really is only clipped in from the center. There are also some rubber attachment points on each side. There is VERY little wiggle room. Once out, you see the gas tank and the hardware behind the seat.

[2000superdare]

In order to get the ballast tanks out on a direct drive you must first remove the engine cover from the boat. This will allow enough clearance to pull the seat forward. Like stated earlier there are two rubber hooks holding the bottom of the seat in place remove those. pull seat forward untill you can lift it up on one side and out it goes. Then remove the back of the seat by pulling it straight up. Remove the floor section behind motor and under gas tank. Then in order to give yourself enough wigfgle room to get the tanks out you have to loosen the gas tank and slide it forward. There are two brackets located in the middle of the tank that hold it in place and i believe one up top as well. Then you need to slide the gas tank forward, disconnect all lines to tanks and wiggle them out. Its not an easy job, i did it on my air when I replaced my steering cable. Thinking back I should have just thrown out the hard tanks and gotten bags.