Problems with the utopia

[Polcat]

I took my utopia out last week and it got slower and slower. Come to find out I took on a lot of water.. almost lost it. Anyways I got back to launch and it drained for a long time.. Water never got up to the engine though.. so I thought maybe a drain plug was loose or something, so I bought new plugs and tried taking it out yesterday.. I put the boat in reverse, but if just revel.. I took the engine cover off and if was all smokey.. the belt burn up and broke.. should the boat still have power and thrust, with the belt broken????
So after seeing that, it looked like there was a 1" of water at the bottom of engine bay.. where else could the water come from? The hull looks good.. my bilage pump also had a loose wire, so if want doing its job...

 

[AirSniper]

I took my utopia out last week and it got slower and slower. Come to find out I took on a lot of water.. almost lost it. Anyways I got back to launch and it drained for a long time.. Water never got up to the engine though.. so I thought maybe a drain plug was loose or something, so I bought new plugs and tried taking it out yesterday.. I put the boat in reverse, but if just revel.. I took the engine cover off and if was all smokey.. the belt burn up and broke.. should the boat still have power and thrust, with the belt broken????
So after seeing that, it looked like there was a 1" of water at the bottom of engine bay.. where else could the water come from? The hull looks good.. my bilage pump also had a loose wire, so if want doing its job...

take a look at your exhaust hoses at the rear of the engine. my hose on starboard side chaffed through several times. The exhaust design changed after 2002/2003 apparently to prevent this. The hypothesis is the exhaust is mixed with water and filled the engine compartment & the engine is choking.
My $80 replacement hose only lasted a month - i have a jury-rigged anti chaff setup now that seems to work..