At the risk of asking a stupid question, I was out 3 weeks ago in my 21 ft striper WA in 3 to 4 getting beat up 40 mi off shore and my bilge motor broke down. took us 3 hours to get back in going against the waves and wind and at my usual stop at shepards for a beer and a break I pulled the hull access hatch cover in the back by the and found hull FULL of water. Water was coming over the transom bracket (seperate area from the deck) and occasionally over the bow when moving. I have deck scupper drains and drains for the live well and bildge in the back. On the side are drains for the storage hatch etc... besides the back of the boat, how the hell was all the water getting in the hull ? I replaced the bildge in the back with a rule 1100 gph automatic and reran the wires and put in a new lighted switch. Does ant y one think that the waater was entering through the drain holes in the sides. Not sure else how all the water got in. Any insight. I looked the whole boat over and can't figure out. Haven't taken it out since but tested the new bildge and it works great. Could the fact that the bildge was not draining the hull have that much of an impact ?

it could. i had an Aquasport that did the same thing. I didnt have a bracket on the back though. Make sure the bracket mounting holes are sealed well. Check your hose clamps on your drain lines, if they are close to the waterline or submerge when you start plowing (before you are on plane) they should be double clamped. One other possibility would be if it had rained in your area and the boat was uncovered, the rain water may get into the bilge area, fi the pump was not working then that may account for the water being there. As a precaution you could buy a small bilge pump and attach enough hose to hang over the edge of the boat, then attach gator clips to the wiring that wat if the bilge went out you could hook the spare to ur battery and keep the water pumped out. Just my .02. Hope it helps. Good luck.

Check your rub railing where the top cap meets your bottom hull. You'll probably find that it's not sealed on the bottom edge. Plowing through water forces water up thru this crack and drains down into your hull.

Water can also run under the windshield and into the hull if its seal is old.

also with no check in the bilge hose if the waves where higher than the thru hull it will dump water back in