livewell and fishbox

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Walleye Hunter

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Hello i am a new proud owner of a 1987 Gulfstream 232..i have many questions in hope of getting answers..the owner before didn't use any of the live wells or fish box so in trying to figure them out i noticed on the live well on port side has two holes in hull inlet and a drain but the fish box on the starboard side has one hole in the hull with a plug in it..Is this right? when i filled it with water it drained to the bilge ..if that is right what is the hole with the plug for ...thanks
 
Grady, as far as I know, has NEVER drained a fish box, live well or ice chest to the bilge in their designs for the past 20 or 30 years, if ever for that matter. This does not sound right at all. All those compartments should drain by gravity to a through hull and out to sea. It is time popping pie plate openings and inspecting all this and perhaps remove the live well all together. Sounds like a hose come off or a sea cock as cracked or something here. Good luck, and if it were me I would find this out sooner than later and not away from port.
 
I agree I dont think Grady would have the outflow for the fishbox drain directly into the bildge, I think you need to pop some of those inspection plates that allow you access to the drain tubes, I know that on my 92 Explorer they drain to a thru hull and over the side, they are a pain in the ass to get to but you need to make sure that the drainage is right before you slide her into the water. When you pop the plate use your hand to find the drain then work towards the hull your hose may have just slipped off the thru hull. I would go ahead and inspect the other side while your at it, actually all of them. If your thru hulls are plastic just go ahead and replace them, I am in the process of doing this right now on my boat. The old plastic ones broke off just trying to get the old hoses off. Dont trust them, replace with either ss or bronze your gonna need some patience since there not easy to access.
 
I agree with the above comments. No way the box is supposed to drain into the bilge. Something came loose somewhere. Go to the Grady White website and download the owners manual for your boat. That will show you where all the drainage thru hulls are.
 
X4...one of GW's deals has always been that all livewells and boxes drain to the outside.

I think you have a hose that's either split, or the inside of a thru-hull has split and is letting water into the bilge. Either way, you need to start looking.
 
Yea, definitely find that problem before launching the boat. When I was young, my dad had an early 80's Grady Tournament. The starboard fishbox drain hose broke off at the thru-hull, and he didn't know it. The actual barbs broke off the plastic thru-hull. He went about 80 miles offshore, and my uncle heard water sloshing around in the bilge. By the time they heard it, the hull was filled up to the floorboards. Too late. While running, the thru-hull was out of the water, but after a while trolling and the boat rocking side to side, it started filling up. Once the boat got heavy enough, the thru-hull was completely under water and it was dumping into the hull with pressure behind it. The boat eventually sunk down to the gunnels. Luckily he had a Grady, and that's as far as she went. They did have to sit in thigh high water until the coasties came to their rescue, for about 2.5 hours. The coasties towed his boat back to shore (probably wouldn't happen like that these days), and they managed to get it on the trailer. He was very lucky. Ended up rebuilding the engine, and fished it for many more years. But, I sure wouldn't want that happening to me. That story is what drove me to one day own a Grady White, which I now do. I've been on a boat that completely sunk at the Chesapeake Light Tower, with no other boats around. That was operator error though. I don't ever want to be in that predicament again. So, as said above, replace all the thru-hulls with stainless ones and replace all the hoses. Cheap insurance.
 
Thanks for the info...found the hose was off and a plug was put in the hole in the side of the boat...they were was using the box for storage..thanks again
 
Glad you found the problem. While your checking, take a look at the thru-hull fittings. If they are plastic and have never been replaced, you should look into getting that done
 
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