taking on water

[xlonewolf1967]

ok so it rained last night so I figured I had some water to drain out of the boat this morning. popped the engine bay open and my heart sank. it was full of water, not just a little but a lot of water. turned the bilge pump on and it ran for a solid 15 minutes at full volume. throughout the day it kept filing back up again so I checked all the linkage boots and motor base seal for leaks and found nothing. figured I had a crack in the hull or something so I was just getting ready to pull the boat out and just for laughs I picked the syphon hose up out of the water in the bilge and low and behold it was flowing like a hose...
is there not supposed to be a 1 way check valve in there or something ?
will it damage anything if I disconnect it or block it off ?
thanks

 

[Dr Honda]

There isn't a check valve in it... but it's supposed to be looped up higher than the water line. That will keep it from filling the boat. Normally, it's just zip-tied up to one of the bypass hoses coming off the heads.

 

[Dr Honda]

Here's my boat. Can you see the silver/gray hose in the middle? That's the syphon hose. Just tie it up to a high point as per the Merc manual.

 

[xlonewolf1967]

thanks for the reference pic tony. my motor was out when I got the boat so I was just guessing where it was actually ran. wow what a pain in the butt that small little gray line caused me all day today. I thought the gel coat was peeling off and leaking through and then thought I hit something in the water and didn't feel it. I was all ready to pull the boat and check every square inch of everything on it for cracks and leaks. was even gonna put it on the trailer and fill it with enough water as not to damage anything but still see a leak.
with the exception of it running rich and loading up on idle real bad right now it runs great. I have a feeling its the fuel injectors not atomizing right and making it run rich so I'm sending my other set out to be rebuilt. this is really a fun fast boat for a 20' boat. still need a bit of practice docking it tho. a few more times and I think I should have the knack of it.

 

[xlonewolf1967]

Got it all figured out and no more water coming in thank god.
Here's an action pic the wife got off our dock as I was blasting by.