leaking boat?!?

[typerider]

i have a 2001 22i type r. after weighting it the wake is awesome. i've been having a problem that i'm afraid is going to get severe. the boat takes in an excess amount of water. i bilge it out about every 30 minutes. i know the pump should kick on itself if its too much but it seems like there is a lot more water inside than should be. my hull doesn't have any large chips on it. i was wondering if there is a way water would come in around the prop or something. please help me out because its almost riding season again and i feel that this needs to be fixed before taking it out there weighting it down and sinking.

[shane]

sounds like the seal on your drive shaft is leaking.....unless you have the pss system.

[blr]

i would almost guarantee your water is coming in through the shaft seal. there is a rectangular piece in the floor that you can pull up just behind the engine cover. you will see the shaft and a large brass collar around it with a large nut and a thiner nut in front of it. after you bilge out the boat look here (bottom side) and i'll bet you see a stream of water coming from it. there is already a thread on this. you should replace it with the pss system (all newer tiges have these). as far as your bilge being automatic, most likely the automatic float (thing that tells it water is up and to kick on) is probably clogged with debree that was in the hull from when the boat was built. take apart your bilge pump and clean it out (very easy, about 4 miniutes) and it should start working properly again. all of this is 100% from experience. same boat same issue, same fixes. let us know what you find. and good luck. - btw you do not "have to" change it out to the pss system, you can back off the smaller nut, tighten the larger one and then tighten the smaller one down against it until you just have about 1 drip every 5-10 seconds (you do not want it dry!!!) but the problem is you will always be re-tightening it. i use to carry 2 large wrenches in my boat at all times and tightened it about every other time out. it really became a pain, but i got real good at it and it only took about 5 minutes. but even that gets old - btw- sorry for the long post.

[hanzj]

Does this only happen after you weight the boat? If so I would think the sacs might have a leak or could it be a submarine now and then? How much water are we talking about?