04 eclipse steady drip from plug on trailer

04cyclonev · June 25, 2019

Hello all, I am a first time poster here, i have been reading for a while and have an issue I've been noticing for a while now with my 2004 Eclipse V drive. The boat stays on trailer our climate controlled warehouse when its not being used, lately I have noticed that it will have a slow drip from the t handle hull drain for at least a week maybe more after it has been used. the walk thru cooler is used and stocked with ice every time we use the boat. both the t handle and the rear plug are pulled at the ramp when we are done using the boat but still once we get back to warehouse it continues to drip. the hose on the port side of the engine with the hose flush port stays full... that was my first though that it was in fact leaking somewhere. I just checked it tonight after 8 days of it being out of the water and it has one drip every 30-40 seconds, I have not gotten my head into it yet but wanted to ask the pros on here before I did. any help would be appreciated

thanks

04cyclonev · June 26, 2019

no ideas? any help would be appreciated.

TexP51 · June 26, 2019

This site could use a category for keeping these older boats maintained. I just posted a similar post regarding my 2002 Elite V and a drip.

Here is what i’ve found - If you have the stock bilge pump (mounted on a block of wood in the rear of the bilge area most likely under the alternator) you’ll see even if it does a perfect job it would leave 2-3” of water in the bilge. The rear brass plug gets you down another inch - but you will have still have some standing water inside. My thought is it depends on how your boat sits on the trailer at what angle. You have several hull pass-thru points - could have a thru-hull transducer, strake mounts, rudder pinion seal, or prop shaft seal leaking.

By the way, I went with one of the new Whale style bilges mounted lower than stock and really like the amount of water it removes - and to a lower level. That was one of the first things I replaced, along with upgrading all of the bilge and ballast hoses. Not a bad job.

Hope this helped give you some ideas.

04cyclonev · June 28, 2019

I agree man, I used to own an older ski nautique and on their forums they are super helpful with the older boats. I have gotten zero input here except from you... ill check out the pump your talking about and get underneath and check out all the possible areas for water intrusion. thanks so much