Auto bilge coming on

My Ranger z521 lately has the auto bilge pump coming on 2-3times during a morning of fishing. I don't think the water is coming from splash over the sump area, and I have my live wells on empty, and the plug is definitely in the boat and ice chest. I used a creeper to inspect bottom of boat while on the trailer with no visible damage to the hull.....where could the water be coming from? This post may get moved. Thx.

Sounds like one of your live well pumps could be leaking at least that was my issue with the Skeeter a while back, had a cracked housing. That or your plug or anything else externally mounted could be the source.

Put it on the trailer, turn off your bilge pumps and fill bilge with water until you see where it is coming from

Could be the loose or cracked hose clamp fitting to any of the aerator intake fittings or to the Aerator Pump fittings.

Or it can be a crack in your boat that has caused delaminating and you cant see it without crawling all over the boat . I know this because it happened to me .

Cracked housing or hose. internal leak. Take some time on the water next time and see if u can hear water running, or see the water source. Filling the boat up on the trailer is a good idea for finding external leaks.

Start with the most simple things you can do.
- Make sure the plug in the boat is not cross threaded. Put a new 0-Ring on it. Spray it with WD-40 and screw it in as hand tight as possible.
- Remove the hoses from the pump housings that you can get to first. Check the housings for a crack. It is more likely that this is your problem. Problem is you cannot see the housings unless you remove the pump and get it in your hands. Removing pumps is a job and most are hard to get to without removing all the batteries; be sure to tape and label each wire and where it goes.

Hope you get lucky and it is the first pump you pull.

Sometimes this is caused because the distance between where the auto bilge pump is located near the bottom of the boat and where the water comes out of the boat will hold enough water that drains back into the boat causing the auto bilge to come on again. Once air is sucked into the bildge the water in the line will drain back into the boat causeing your auto bilge float to turn on the bilge again.

This happens primarily when the bilge is located more on one side than the other. The angler weight, waves or anything that redistributes the water will cause the pump to come on again.

The best way to fix this is to keep the auto float as close to the bottom as possible in the lowest spot.

If your boat is not leaking this could be the problem.

Easiest way to find it will be filling your livewells and taking out the pan that covers all the plumbing. See if something leaks. If not leave the pan out and leave it hooked to the trailer and back it in the water and have a look. Bring a flashlight. That's how I found a very small leak on a hose. I'm not a fan of filling the bilge up as water can get into places that it can't escape, like foam areas and stringers from screw holes and stuff.

Perhaps the float in the pump is sticking......my Skeeter did that, once......a short bumpy ride later, broke it loose...no problems, since....

check your transom bolts also.

Do you have the remote bilge plug on this boat?
Friend had same problem. Found out the lever used to close the bilge plug was not fully seating the plug. He has to push the plug in by hand now.

Had same problem on my boat. Replace O ring on plug. Never has done it agaon