Boat cover

[Wurming67]

I made a big mistake this is my first boat....last couple of weeks we had record rain fall here in Florida and I didn't have my cover on my boat during it I just figured it would all drain out at drain plug took her out yesterday and had problems getting plane so first thing I thought of was I got problems with my carbs,I get back to boat ramp took drain plug out and ton of water came from drain plug lesson learned keep boat cover on from now on..... Anyone else experience this ?

[Scott F]

I keep my boat in the garage and I don't use a travel cover. If it rains while I'm in transit, I pull the plug so It drains before I get to the water. I just have to remember to put the plug back in before I launch.

[Wurming67]

I thought having the plug out during all that heavy rain it would have all drained out , apparently it didn't .......lesson learned.

[S Hovanec]

1 hour ago, Wurming67 said:

I thought having the plug out during all that heavy rain it would have all drained out , apparently it didn't .......lesson learned.

 

 

My guess is you didn't have the bow high enough to allow for positive drainage.

[tcbass]

Had a similar problem with a large cabin cruiser my parents owned when I was a kid. Covered it, pulled drain for winter. Driving down the road in the spring and the boat and trailer was teeter-tottering each side, almost flipped the boat and truck. Pulled over and there was a ton of water in it, despite being covered well and plug out. Somehow the plug hole got filled and water filled it up and froze it solid over the inboard outboard engine.

 

Drained it and it ran fine.

[gim]

On ‎6‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 7:57 PM, Scott F said:

I keep my boat in the garage and I don't use a travel cover. If it rains while I'm in transit, I pull the plug so It drains before I get to the water. I just have to remember to put the plug back in before I launch.

 

Same, although here in Minnesota we are required to have the drain plug out while in transit to and from an access because of invasive species.  This law was implemented a few years ago and I'm sure it cause a lot of people to forget to put their drain plug back in, including me one time.

[thomas15]

I guess we all have our protocols that work. Mine is I pull the plug out the minute the boat is out of the water and only put it back in when were ready to launch. At home I put the cover on before I do anything and crank the trailer jack to it's highest point to direct any water that might make it's way into the boat to the bilge and the open drain. There is nothing that a boat hates more than water sitting inside the hull. 

 

I finally put the SS Minnow in the water this weekend. Sunday evening. I was by myself, motor started right up, came off the trailer with no issues, made my way out to open water and gave her the gas. No problems. So, I'm just out trying to make sure everything is ok before I start my fishing season.

 

I approached a boat that didn't look right and sure enough the boaters were waiving to me. Two men, two women and several kids. They said the battery was dead, this was an approx. 19' with inboard/outboard drive. So I agreeded to tow them to the ramp. The battery was dead but the whole time the bilge pump was busy pumping like mad. I was with them for at least 15 minutes all the time the pump is doing it's thing so my gut tells me the battery was ok but they forgot to put the plug in and the motor was underwater.