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Shap from La.
Hey guys i just wanted to make a post and see if anyone else Has had the same issue and if not keep an eye out for. I have a 2016 puma ftd with a 250 pro xs and when i come off plane no matter what i do the motor gets swamped with water! I always try to trim the motor up and lift the jack plate while im coming off plane and it helps a little but no matter what i do it still gets swamped! Also if i come down and slowly gas it to try to break away from the wave coming it also helps but still not enough. it has to be because of how much weight is in the back of these boats! I do have power poles and i do run a 36v trolling motor so i do have 4 batteries back there but other than that i dont have anything heavy or un necessary back there! i dont keep anything heavy in the rear storage compartments! But when the livewells are full obviously the problem is worse! With the procedure i go thru that i explained above i can keep the back deck dry most of the time but still my motor gets swamped no matter what! Alot of times after i have made my run to my fishing spot ill put the jackplate all the way up and trim the motor all the way up and watch the water just pour out of the front of the motor and ill leave it there for a bit to let it drain!Well the other day i was on the water and the motor just shut down out of no where and she was dead in the water! I had no power to my key switch and couldnt get the boat to start! So i took a few hour troll back to the boat ramp thankfully i had that 36v system and loaded her back on the trailer and brought it home to figure out what happened! well after a few hours of chasing wires i found that my main engine harness plug was corroded and one of the pins was broken due to corrosion! Thankfully the motor is still under warranty and both harness are being replaced under warranty! However it does concern me getting so much water in the motor as i wonder what else is going to be damaged over time! That plug that was bad does have a seal in it to keep water out but i dont think its designed to handle that much water! I never had this problem with my old puma but my old one was a puma advantage with the tank under the seat and 2 10 gallon kickers in the bilge! so there wasent near as much weight in the rear! I did replace the rubber seal arond the bottom cowling and adjusted the latches to make sure it was sealing tight but that didnt seem to do anything obviously there is no fix for the issue im having unless i want to run a 24v system, get rid of my poles , run 1/4 tanks of fuel and only fill my livewells 1/2 way all the time! But im not going to do that im just going to have to deal with it and do what i can to keep it as dry as possible and or pull the cowling every night to let the motor dry out! So if you start to have any issues i guess keep this in mind and check connections in the engine for corrosion and water damage!!ThanksAaron
Are you sure the water is coming in from when you are stopping the boat? There are numerous things that could be leaking water into your engine compartment when the engine is running. head gasket, compressor hose, t-stat hoses etc… Find the problem or you will have alot more to worry about than a electrical connection. Make sure the little plastic grommet is in place for the access hole for the mid wrap around cowling bolt.
The lower cowlings should not let much water in. Those intakes are at the top of the engine and unless you are submarining it in large waves, which overtake the stern running on rough water, then you should have limited water in the cowl, if the cowling enclosure plugs are all in place.
This definitely sounds like something else going on. I would idle around with the cover off and see if a hose or thermostat housing is leaking. Like Bass Cat said the intakes are at the top, and unless you completely submerge the engine there should never be water pouring out of the front of the engine. And if you have that much coming in the intake runner on the inside of the cowl, you would probably hydraulically seize the motor by sucking it through the engine.
Make sure all your seals are in place on the lower cowl.When coming off plane, I have always trimmed the engine all the way down. With it up, I find it forces the engine lower in the water and the bow higher. I also do not throttle off all the way.I would throttle way down, and as the back settles and the wake started to catch up, I just held a steady throttle until the nose settled and than back off totally. That was with a manual jack plate. 36 volt TM, Twin PP blades on an Eyra.
IMO, you are doing the exact opposite of what you should be doing when coming off plane. If you trim the jackplate and engine UP, it will force the back of the boat further down in the water, which is not what you want to happen. When slowing down, a person should be trimming the motor down (tuck it under), and it should be all the way down before the boat comes off plane and starts to settle. Maintain a steady amount of throttle when she settles to allow the boat to level back out before the following wave can catch up with the rear end. If you are chopping the throttle, letting the boat immediately start settling, unless you immediately increase the throttle to a point where the boat is traveling faster than the wave you have caused behind you, that wave is going to catch you and come up on the motor and over the transom.
When my cowling was filling up with water, I found the s shaped hose that goes from the water hose connection on the rear of motor that is used for flushing the engine had developed a hole. It would fill up the cowling pretty quick.
As BCB eluded to, there are plugs in your lower cowling that need to be in place. They have a history of coming out and thats where water often comes in from. Those plugs need to be a regular check for everyone. Chris CoupelPaulina, La.
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