Attn. 246 and 266 owners

[Guest]

In the last year, our 2008 Discovery 246 has developed a couple of chronic seawater leaks into the bilges. After a day in the water, about a quart or two will accumulate in the aft bilge and about a pint in the forward bilge. I have tightened all of the hose fitting clamps and searched for signs of leaking around thru-hulls with no noticeable problems. The seal at the steering arm through the transom is a suspect, but it doesn't seem to have much salt residue there either. Has anyone else with this model had any chronic mystery leaks? It is never enough to trigger a bilge pump but don't like having salt water in the engine area.

Thanks

[dmcb]

Just a couple of thoughts.

You said forward and aft bilge. Are these separate? I believe they are with no connection. If so, that would eliminate one common leak.

Are you sure its salt water? A taste test here will tell.

Now my suspecions. One common thing is the rub rail. If you are washing down your boat after a run it could be the problem.

If so, a reseal will fix it.

A heck of a lot of guesses on my part of course.

Doug

[Guest]

It is a small amount of water and it would also concern me. easy things to check are your cup holders drain to the bilge ,, is you engine house sealed , and is your anchor locker draining. i vaccuumed out my bilge this spring and as far as i can tell forward is connected to aft. we dont know if you are spraying your boat down before you check bilge or if it has rained. if you are convinced it is salt water couple of suspects could be drain plug ,trim tabs, transom mounted sounder, and swim platform bolts . all these are close to or under the water line. i hope this helps.

[joeydiver]

Ditto ALL of the above, plus this is what I had to do:

1. You can search 246 hardtop leaks, a bunch of us had issues with that. In addition, from the hardtop, the two white aluminum stanchions have a removable coverplate on the inside/cockpit area. If you remove them, you will see Bayliner drilled holes (on mine anyway) in the fiberglass to run wires, or whatever. The alum window channels collect water, and sometimes will find their way to this hole, and leak into the bilge, plus other areas I suspect. They are set in black buyl tape, you can see it on the edges where the frame meets the fiberglass. I always get water inside the helm area when it rains or I wash down.

2. Forward bilge - I noticed the red and blue (hot and cold) plastic water lines from the head sink are teed off with a quick connect to the transom shower. You cant reach them, but you can see them if you take off the round access cover by the helm. I noticed a leak here that would drip down the tube to the forward bilge.

3. I removed and rebedded my bow eye cleat, I found some water in the forward right compartment under the cushions. Dont know if this was the cause, but one of the nuts was slightly loose.

4. On the sliding cabin windows, I pulled the rubber gaskets - they have a cut in them located at each drain hole in the alum frame, they were not cut very wide, and water would pool in the gasket, especially if it filled up with debris (leaves, etc). Also, look carefully at where the outsdie frame meets the fiberglass - I noticed small gaps in some areas. used capt. Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure for this.

5. I noticed if you washed down the deck with a heavy spray, the channel under the engine bay portion of the deck would overflow (the scuppers for the overboard drains couldnt keep up) and would spill into the engine bay.

6. The fresh air intakes on each side of the boat could also be letting in some water in a wind driven rain. I noticed by my battery bank and charger a water stain, that lead up to this area, plus I could see daylight from the intake (of course). But it could also be coming from the white hardtop stanchions I mentioned previously.

7. Also had to tighten the screws on the handles to the forward assess skylight/hatch. There was a drip making its way down that.

I love my Discovery, but I'm beginning to wonder if Bayliner named it that because of all the leaks you discover...yuk yuk...

Seriously, I contacted Bayliner and got very little help, two email repsonses, and one of them was of no help at all.

Joey

[Guest]

What joey said. search some of our threads.i cant type as well as joey lol

[Guest]

dmcb wrote:
Just a couple of thoughts.

You said forward and aft bilge. Are these separate? I believe they are with no connection. If so, that would eliminate one common leak.

Are you sure its salt water? A taste test here will tell.

Now my suspecions. One common thing is the rub rail. If you are washing down your boat after a run it could be the problem.

If so, a reseal will fix it.

A heck of a lot of guesses on my part of course.

Doug

When I originally received this boat there was a rub rail leak that showed up in the cabin below the window ledge. This was fixed quickly. Where should I look for evidence of this if not in the cabin? I am aqlso keeping an eye on where the steering arm exits the transom, which I hear is a chronic issue with Mercruisers. Thanks for the idea though, I had not thought of that.

[Guest]

jamie mac wrote:
It is a small amount of water and it would also concern me. easy things to check are your cup holders drain to the bilge ,, is you engine house sealed , and is your anchor locker draining. i vaccuumed out my bilge this spring and as far as i can tell forward is connected to aft. we dont know if you are spraying your boat down before you check bilge or if it has rained. if you are convinced it is salt water couple of suspects could be drain plug ,trim tabs, transom mounted sounder, and swim platform bolts . all these are close to or under the water line. i hope this helps.

It is definitely salt water, and the engine hatch does leak water when washed down, or the dogs come in from swimming to shore, or water comes in through the transom door in following seas. But I have found some water when checking before any of those events had occurred. I do worry about the bilge drain and swim platform support bolts. How should I proceed to try to seal these?

[Guest]

joeydiver wrote:
Ditto ALL of the above, plus this is what I had to do:

1. You can search 246 hardtop leaks, a bunch of us had issues with that. In addition, from the hardtop, the two white aluminum stanchions have a removable coverplate on the inside/cockpit area. If you remove them, you will see Bayliner drilled holes (on mine anyway) in the fiberglass to run wires, or whatever. The alum window channels collect water, and sometimes will find their way to this hole, and leak into the bilge, plus other areas I suspect. They are set in black buyl tape, you can see it on the edges where the frame meets the fiberglass. I always get water inside the helm area when it rains or I wash down.

2. Forward bilge - I noticed the red and blue (hot and cold) plastic water lines from the head sink are teed off with a quick connect to the transom shower. You cant reach them, but you can see them if you take off the round access cover by the helm. I noticed a leak here that would drip down the tube to the forward bilge.

3. I removed and rebedded my bow eye cleat, I found some water in the forward right compartment under the cushions. Dont know if this was the cause, but one of the nuts was slightly loose.

4. On the sliding cabin windows, I pulled the rubber gaskets - they have a cut in them located at each drain hole in the alum frame, they were not cut very wide, and water would pool in the gasket, especially if it filled up with debris (leaves, etc). Also, look carefully at where the outsdie frame meets the fiberglass - I noticed small gaps in some areas. used capt. Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure for this.

5. I noticed if you washed down the deck with a heavy spray, the channel under the engine bay portion of the deck would overflow (the scuppers for the overboard drains couldnt keep up) and would spill into the engine bay.

6. The fresh air intakes on each side of the boat could also be letting in some water in a wind driven rain. I noticed by my battery bank and charger a water stain, that lead up to this area, plus I could see daylight from the intake (of course). But it could also be coming from the white hardtop stanchions I mentioned previously.

7. Also had to tighten the screws on the handles to the forward assess skylight/hatch. There was a drip making its way down that.

I love my Discovery, but I'm beginning to wonder if Bayliner named it that because of all the leaks you discover...yuk yuk...

Seriously, I contacted Bayliner and got very little help, two email repsonses, and one of them was of no help at all.

Joey

Yes, I hear what you are saying on all of those ideas. I will be rechecking all of my thru-hull bolts and possibly using some 5200 for good measure. The channel around the engine bay are mostly a joke, I think. The boat is stored under cover and it nearly never rains here, so that eliminates some things. I originally found water leaking from the anchor locker through a hole that had been drilled and left unpatched, but I got that one done.

[Guest]

jamie mac wrote:
What joey said. search some of our threads.i cant type as well as joey lol

Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I was just looking for any leads I had not already considered, and, I got some. I'll let you know if things improve.

[joeydiver]

Heres a thought - this happened to me a few years ago. On the forward port bottom side of the engine is this plastic contraption called a distribution housing. It has blue drain plugs, maybe there is a crack in it? Check out my link:

http://www.baylinerownersclub.org/forum/showthread.php?31849-246-launch-LEAK!!!&highlight=leak

It is a stupid piece of engineering IMHO, to be made of plastic. Maybe not as bad as the Cool Fuel Gen II Rube Goldberg thing, but thats another story....anyway, maybe pull the stern eye cleats and rebed them also? Check the trim tabs also, anything thats srewed/bolted back there.

As long as youve checked all the hoses and blue drain plugs.

Joey

[Guest]

nightwings wrote:
Thanks for the ideas, everyone. I was just looking for any leads I had not already considered, and, I got some. I'll let you know if things improve.

Yep, I think I know this piece and will check it, too. Lots of plastic parts, seems like....?

[Ryderpd]

Does anyone from this thread know if the hard top comes apart like a clamshell if you remove the rub rail? Are there screws below that? Looking to do some bigger work on the top. Thanks.

[2850Bounty]

Ryderpd, you have posted to a thread that was started back in May of 2012.... .over 8 years ago.

It would be best to start a new thread.

[Nauti_Mike]

Actually he did yesterday but was told to look for an old thread where someone had done what he is looking for. Just not sure this is the thread the person was thinking of.