Rain Water in Bilge

I just bought a 1995 Sport Nautique. I test drove the boat 3 weeks ago before buying it. The boat is in upstate New York and I live in NYC, so it's currently about 5 hours away. I drove upstate Sunday to give it a proper drive now that it's mine and get a better feel for the condition, and I am glad I did.

When I got to the boat I took the cover off and lifted up the engine cover to find it filled with water. I'd say it was around 8 inches of water, enough to touch the bottom of the engine.. The bilge drain plug wasn't removed after my test drive. We drained the bilge and then put the boat back in the water.. The boat started and ran fine.,

Currently the boat only has a dock cover that doesn't seem to keep the rain water out. I bought a generic cover off Amazon to use for now until I can get something nicer.

So my question is, due to the excess water in the bilge, is there any preventive maintenance I should do or should it be fine? Marina didn't seem to concerned but I just thought I'd check.

When storing the boat on land, always remove the drain plug so the water won't fill the bilge. The main concern with a full bilge is getting water in the starter. I think you avoided that this time around being that you said the water was still below the pan.

When getting the right cover, try to find something with some vents to allow for some air movement beneath the cover to avoid creating conditions ripe for mold and mildew to grow.

Congrats on your new boat.

74Wind wrote: 8 inches of water seems like a lot unless there were torrential rains in your absence. Even a crappy cover will keep out some of the rainwater. You say you didn't take the plug out after your test drive, but did you look under the doghouse before you left? If not, it's possible the water is not from rain, but rather a leaking packing gland or similar that was still sitting in there from your first ride. Did you look in after your 2nd ride and pull the plug, was there much water this time?

Yes, we did look under the dog house after we drove it last time round. I took lots of pictures of the engine after the test drive and there was no water in the bottom. Also checked this time round. I'm pretty sure it was rain related, unless somebody stuck a hose in there.

The cover on the boat is a two piece cover with a part over the bow then a part that covers the back. Between them there is a lot of room for water to get in as it doesn't seal well. The current cover sucks and one of the reasons I went up was to put the new cover over the boat. Even though what I got was just a generic cover off Amazon, it should be a lot better. Holding off on getting a custom fit cover till I have the boat closer and can make a better decision on what I want to get.

For reference this is the cover I got. Cover

The starter did not get wet, so sounds like I should be good there. Thanks for the replies. Just wanted to be sure there wasn't some type of Maintenance to be done after something like this.

shortliner wrote: Oh and yes always pull drain plug if storing on dry land.

This is one of the few things I know well on a boat as I have forgotten to put one in when launching my '82 Ski Supreme. Didn't sink the boat but it was close. . This time the boat wasn't mine, I was just test driving it. Happy I took the 10 hour round trip to take the boat for a quick drive before it got too cold.

Canandaigua Lake