232 captiva bilge issues

brian232captiva

I have a 2000 232 captiva. When i pull drain plug I have water coming out of hull  which my bilge pump will not pump out. The floor under engine is dry so i assume its a double bottom hull. The bilge pump is on this floor directly under engine. Recently purchased this boat and see no pump to extract water between the double bottom. Very confused and concerned about sinking this boat while moored in the water at the marina.

TonyG13

Welcome to the forum! Due to pump and boat design, bilge pumps in most cases will not empty out every last drop of water. There will always be some water that cannot be pumped out, hence you getting water out the drain plug -- which is at the lowest point of the boat when sitting normally/level.

There is a thread on the forum about folks who have rigged up supplemental pumps to get every last bit out. That's a personal preference.

The question is, do you have too much water in your bilge during normal use which may indicate a leak or water from another source.

Does your bilge activate regularly - or do you need to turn it on while on the boat due to excessive water? That could indicate a potential issue. If it's just a nominal amount after a ride, probably nothing to worry about.

brian232captiva

Feel its more than should be in there. Funny thing is the pump extracts no water. The floor under engine is always dry

brian232captiva

Feel like the pump should take that water out of the hull but i cannot see where a pump actually goes into the double bottom area

Aqua_Aura

I don't believe the pump has access to the double bottom, maybe the drain plug had a very slow leak or one of the engine water lines is dripping. The water could be from so many things it would be hard to give any suggestions not being familiar with your boat. 

YYZRC

Perhaps your garbord plug needs to be re-sealed?

Handymans342

YYZRC said:

Perhaps your garbord plug needs to be re-sealed?

Garbord? What the heck is that?

Pat310

@brian232captiva if the boat his out of the water  put the plug in and add water to the bilge to check float switch and pump function.  After the pump stops open the drain and that will tell you how much is left after pump cycles. Hard to see on a single engine boat but there is a depression at the very back of the bilge. Every boat I’ve every owned left a gallon or three after pump cycle. The drain plug is in the bilge and would not drain between the hull layers.