Oh the humanity!!!!

My 2015 201 Scout center console has developed a leak! I took it out yesterday with a buddy and fished for about 3 hours with the bilge pump cutting on about every 10 -15 min! We ran it on battery #2 to keep a starting battery charged and ready to go when we needed it.

Drain plugged was not leaking as I checked that the day before running water down the boat from the anchor compartment

We couldn't get the floor off even after drilling a hole in it. So now I ordered a hatch to fit in the floor and should make it easier to find a problem. Awaiting a package from Overton's.

Design engineers suck !!

BTW. WE kept four nice sheepshead caught under a popping cork. We caught several more and smaller ones but just kept those. No trout( water temp 85) and then went to another spot and laid into the rat reds until we got too hot with a big storm coming in that dumped about 2" of rain before we started working on the boat. Washed all the rods off!!! ( Not my photo)

Drone pic of that storm that had hit HHI & Parris Island and now on the south side of the island. A friend had his drone up and caught it!

Beforw you start tearing stuff apart, If you have a one way check valve on your bilge outflow, be sure it isn't stuck open allowing water to splash back into the bilge. Check external screws like transducer, trim tabs, etc as well, but that prob wouldn't cause a leak strong enough to cause the pump to come on every 10 minutes.

Good idea….. trim tabs are solid and thru hull transducer. My bilge exits ABOVE the swim platform but great idea.

Thank you

Does it have a livewell? If so, I would almost guarantee its causing your leak. Happens a lot on bassboats. I don't have much knowledge on flats boats though

Another cracked hose between the self-bailing cockpit drain and the outflow? If you don't have a "flapper" cover on that outflow, and someone heavy was on the back deck, the outflow would likely be under water where it was pushing in all the time. If the hose is cracked, the inflow of water wouldn't be making it into the cockpit and would end up in the bilge.

If not that, I would guess an issue with a fitting for your live well.

scn said:

Another cracked hose between the self-bailing cockpit drain and the outflow? If you don't have a "flapper" cover on that outflow, and someone heavy was on the back deck, the outflow would likely be under water where it was pushing in all the time. If the hose is cracked, the inflow of water wouldn't be making it into the cockpit and would end up in the bilge.

If not that, I would guess an issue with a fitting for your live well.

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My heavy arse might do it? Ha!

Here's my rear end and livewell arrangement. Waiting on Overton's to ship the hatch door.

Thanks

The cracked hose ( scupper hose) was on my Key West flats boat, not this boat.

Put the plug in. Fill the bilge up 1/2 with water and look for a wet spot under the boat. A buddy just fixed a similar problem. Marina installed a thru hull transducer 1/2 on the trailer bunk. Lowered the boat back on the trailer when the 5200 was still wet. It would only leak when running and the water pressure got high enough to push through the poorly sealed transducer hole. Most of the 5200 was stuck to the trailer bunk.

I've fished out of a boat like yours once and if I remember, your livewell pumps are inside the vertical hatch in your picture. Did you open that hatch while the boat was in the water?

If the bilge can keep up with the water, it's not a big leak. I'd guess you have a hose connection that has dry rotted.

Pilchard said:

I've fished out of a boat like yours once and if I remember, your livewell pumps are inside the vertical hatch in your picture. Did you open that hatch while the boat was in the water?

If the bilge can keep up with the water, it's not a big leak. I'd guess you have a hose connection that has dry rotted or one of your scuppers has debris stuck in it and is keeping it partially open.

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We forgot to look at the connection to the live well ( the big plastic circle) while we were in the water. It was leaking even before we started filling up the live well for the sheepshead we caught.

I will recheck the scupper outlets for trash, rotting shrimp or mud minnows! Ha! My cockpit drains to the outside without the use of scupper lines.

Thanks. Love this boat and can get really skinny with it which makes fishing these creeks and rivers easier. Flats boats are great until the wind gets up and we seem to have a lot of it here .

What make model????

I'm seriously getting the bug to buy an 18ft flats boat with a little more freeboard than my 16ft microskiff so I can get out a bit further from the protected marshes.

megalomaniac said:

What make model????

I'm seriously getting the bug to buy an 18ft flats boat with a little more freeboard than my 16ft microskiff so I can get out a bit further from the protected marshes.

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2015 Scout 201 is what I have now. Dry ride, big deck, drafts 10" even with a 58 gal fuel tank! If the wind gets sporty after a day of fishing I don't worry getting back across St Helena Sound if I go that direction that day. My buddy used to take his Scout 195 5 miles offshore on calm days.

My old flats boat was a 1996 KEY WEST STEALTH . Great ride until the wind got up.

Both are no longer made but the Scout you can find on Boat Trader occasionally

Black Jack 22' or a Pathfinder are also great boats.

7mm08 said:

2015 Scout 201 is what I have now. Dry ride, big deck, drafts 10" even with a 58 gal fuel tank! If the wind gets sporty after a day of fishing I don't worry getting back across St Helena Sound if I go that direction that day. My buddy used to take his Scout 195 5 miles offshore on calm days.

My old flats boat was a 1996 KEY WEST STEALTH . Great ride until the wind got up.

Both are no longer made but the Scout you can find on Boat Trader occasionally

Black Jack 22' or a Pathfinder are also great boats.

Scout 201 Bay Scout boats for sale - Boat Trader

Find Scout 201 Bay Scout boats for sale near you, including boat prices, photos, and more. Locate Scout boat dealers and find your boat at Boat Trader!

www.boattrader.com

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Wow, 20 footer... too big for what I want! If seas get 2 feet, I'm not going as fishing isn't even enjoyable to me! But sounds like a boat that can do almost anything inshore as well as nearshore

Good looking boat. Live that yammy

redblood said:

Good looking boat. Live that yammy

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Thank you! Looked for 7 months to find it. 60 hours on it when I bought it. Bought it off a professional baseball player in Wilmington NC.
That Yammie is a saltwater workhorse up and down the coast. Apparently the most stolen motor in south Florida!!!

megalomaniac said:

Wow, 20 footer... too big for what I want! If seas get 2 feet, I'm not going as fishing isn't even enjoyable to me! But sounds like a boat that can do almost anything inshore as well as nearshore

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I don't go either in 2ft but down here the winds pick up quick and it's about a 5 mile run across open water sometimes which was pucker & shower time getting back in a flats boat

And…. WE WERE ALL WRONG!!!!

Pics & fix to follow. Hopefully West Marine will have the part

And yes ,we cut a hatch and would have had to to find it!!!! Oscillating saws are great!!!!

Well, on my center console there is a " freshwater " wash down if say blood in the boat from a big fish and then it will drain out once the boats starts moving.

Anyway , we cut out the hatch and immediately noticed the CAP on the pump screen was missing when in reality it had cracked and fallen off close to the drain plug. A new one is coming in from Amazon tomorrow for $21!

There is NO WAY we could have gotten to that without pulling out two batteries and disconnecting the Power Pole pump. Now all that will be kept cleaner and periodically checked

Thanks for all the input.