forgot to put the plug in, bilge didn't kick in, now what?
 

Need some help. We took out 24' jubilee out today and I forgot to put the plug in. After waiting for nearly 30 minutes for our driver to get back to the lake we started out to open water. As soon as we hit the end of the no wake zone I punched it and she had no power. It suddenly hit me that I had forgot the plug. Stupid, I know. Opened up the hatch and saw that we were in trouble. The water was almost up to the top of the batteries. It had even flooded the plastic battery buckets. Unbelievably the motor was still running. We jumped in and put he plug in but couldn't get the bilge to come on. I've never had problems with the bilge before. I'm not sure if the auto bilge ever came on as it usually does when take on too much water. So we started to bail and trailered the boat to let it drain. It drained on our way home and is completely dry now. Is there anything else I should do before taking her out again. Any help would be great.

Re: forgot to put the plug in, bilge didn't kick in, now what?
 

Put the plug in! Sorry I couldn't help it

Re: forgot to put the plug in, bilge didn't kick in, now what?
 

Sorry to hear about your dilemma, when I forgot to do the same, I had to get the starter motor cleaned out as it filled up with salt water.
I replaced the bilge pump because it had seized since the last time I took it out (mine didnt kick in either!! - I now manually switch this on as part of my pre trip check list).
Check your batteries and follow any wiring that goes under the motor.
Good luck.

Re: forgot to put the plug in, bilge didn't kick in, now what?
 

We all make our mistakes, so don't feel bad. I'd definitely do some checking on your bilge pump though. With a dry bilge, cycle your automatic float switch up and down a bunch of times, listen to hear if the pump kicks on. Mine wasn't working properly, and had apparently collected some debris which broke loose after a few cycles up and down, and then it started working again. Then put your drain plug in, and throw some water in the bilge. Keep filling until the auto switch kicks the bilge on. If it doesn't, try the manual switch on the dash. If that doesn't cycle it on, pull your drain plug, and replace the bilge and the auto float switch immediately.