Hi! I have a 2000 Sea ray 290 sundancer...

[deaufaim]

Hi! I have a 2000 Sea ray 290 sundancer with twin 5.0 L EFI, 650 hrs. Owner for 4 years. When i run it below 1400-1600 rpm, no water comes in the bilge. But when i cruise normal at 3000-3400 rpm for lets say 45-60 min, i can find 1/2 gallon of water in the bilge. I have check everything for water leaks ( bellows, boot shifter, hoses, clamps, ) can't put my finger on where can it comes.... Any ideas out there???? Thanks !!! 

[A-div]

Not familiar with your particular year/model, but assuming you plane-up at those RPM's, any chance its something to do with the trim tabs through-hull?

[Korkie]

I am guessing this is sea water. When you are up on plain, the only places for water to come in is via the hull (bottom) such as fittings, transducers, etc. The stern, outdrives are out of the water. My first place to look would be a hose leak inside the engine compartment that only leaks at the higher rpms, hence higher pressure. This could be quite hard to find as 1/2 a gallon over 45 minutes isn't very much. I like a dry bilge as well. Had a similar leak and took lots of searching to find it. Turns out it was the compression fitting on the back side that supplies sea water to the fuel cooler. Good Luck.

[deaufaim]

Yeah.... has you say: good luck 😩

[wingless]

On my 2000 380DA the factory used check valves on all of the bilge pumps to limit water the drain back after the pump shuts off.

Is it possible that the operational movement causes that trapped water to be free to drain back into the bilge?

[Tscannie]

I had a 270 with twin 8 cylinders and alpha drives. After much time and dealer pulling engines, drives, replacing cables, etc., the issue was identified by a mechanic watching the bilge as I got on plane. Problem was hoses from bilge pumps were not looped properly. Dealer fixed issue using check valves.

[Given_s_Pride]

I had the same issue with the discharge hose of my bilge pump on my 2000 500DA, which wasn't looped, providing an easy entry of sea water through that scupper while underway. Sea Ray, with apologies, had added a loop and check valve through our dealer, which solved our problem.

[shogun95]

I had the same problem but was water leaking from the water pump. A couple of the bolts had loosened slightly allowing water to spray from water pump over 2000 rpm. No leakage less than 2000 rpm.

[Lil_Rug_Rat]

Had that problem with my 2001. Turns out my I am having to replace my Bravo2 Transom assembly port side.

[deaufaim]

Hummmmm, maybe ill check that for the loop.....

[tbrown1985]

Check the Speedo lines form the outdrives. I had this a long time ago and the tube had come off and the faster I would go the more water in the bilge. It was on a single engine boat so the other sign was the Speedo didn’t work, but with twins this may not be a symptom.

[Christina_Mari1]

I had a similar problem with my Welcraft a few years ago. The bellows on the dripless were visibly in good shape however the amount of compression against the mating surface was inadequate. The set screws had slipped on the prop shaft and had to be moved and tightened back down.

[Bounder]

Hi I have a 1996 Sea ray 230 overnighter and need an owners manual. Where can I obtain it? Also I would like to buy a sink and shower kit for it.

[JimGx]

I have a 2006 290 SD with twin 4.3's. I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a leak from the heat exchanger in the onboard water heater. The port engine feeds raw water to the heat exchanger while running/underway. I never found a leak while idling at at the dock, but would find an inch or more after cruising.

[SweetJimmy]

I had a 290 AJ that had a similar issue after about 8 years of ownership. The raw water pumps on the engines were leaking. Sitting at the dock dry as a bone. Cruising they started leaking.