Carver Owners Forum

Hi, thank you everyone for your kinds words. I have a 1997 Carver express. 25 ft. Seems pretty rare. We are having a problem with water in bilge. Not alot, but enough to cause concern. We have a 454 big block engine. The water seems to be under the engine, but no leaks are seen. We had some small leaks that we resolved like steering pin, fresh water hose. Took boat out today, started with no water. After running boat we had water in bilge under engine, bilge did not go on and no water came out after turning on. Any thought?

There are several possibilities but we need to know what you have. Do you have a Mercruiser or Volvo sterndrive?

Have you looked around the engine while the engine is running? Often times some leaks will only present themselves that way.

This is where it's helpful to have a small camera, like a GoPro, that you can stick in various places and record the action. This is especially helpful if you're doing a lot of the diagnostics by yourself and need to get some visibility while you're at the helm.

You can also tape paper to different places on the hull to see if water is running from someplace else and ending up below the engine.

Could be a lot of things. Do you have a strainer? Could be seals around the cap. Could be seals on either of the water pumps. Is this freshwater or raw water cooled?

I have a Mercruiser sterndrive. I just changed over to a freshwater cool system. Since then I think I see more water, not quiet sure. Only had it out once. I am diagnosing myself. Good ideas that you gave me, will try. I do have a strainer. I do need to check while boat is running..

It is about 5 gallons btw.

srada1965 wrote:QR_BBPOST.....I do have a strainer......

For the engine?! If it's a sterndrive, the odds of having a strainer for the engine is extremely low and then only in some rare Bravo installations. All strainers are suspect though and should be checked. There are a few areas of concern with sterndrives as far as leaks are concerned. If you can look under the engine and see the transom under the transom assembly plate, look for signs of leaks be it an actual stream of water or a running stain on the transom coming from the transom assembly inner plate. If you see signs of a leak, let us know and we can guide you further from there. Again, you should be checking for engine leaks with the engine running. Just be careful not to get caught by any moving hardware.