Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

New to pontoons but not boats.

Sail Boats: Always leave the master on so the bilge pump has power

In-board Ski boats: Always leave the master on so the bilge pump has power

Pontoon Boat: Leave the master on for four days and come back to a dead battery? <<<< What is up with that?

I realize there is no bilge (but I do have a bilge pump - I assume for the compartment in the middle tube).

So - what is drawing all this power that the battery can't live four days ?

2019 Berkshire 23 RFS DC STS - with 12" screen (no gauges at all)

Most boats bilge pumps should be wired directly to battery and not through a switch.
If your battery is dying in four days, something must be draining it. My guess is bilge pump. they are pretty quiet when running.
When you say master, just for clarification, I have two, kinda sorta.
1 is the battery 1,2 both switch, I can leave this on for weeks or months, no issue.
2 a toggle on the dash that powers everything but the motor. I left this on once and my radio drained my battery in a few days.

Sorry - single battery (something I plan on changing (used to it on my dad's 34' sailboat) )
The master is on the dash.

I have a similar setup and just leave my dash master turned off. It could be the screen drawing power even though you may have it set where it requires the screen power button to turn on but I think they stay in a sleep mode not actually off like that. Mine has a Simrad and you can wire it to either use the power/sleep button to turn it off and on or to come on immediately when power is supplied from the master. That's how I wired mine so it would shut off with the master switch and turn on with the master switch rather than requiring the additional press of the power/sleep button.

Also you have your NMEA 2000 network between the screen, outboard, fuel sender, etc. that is powered with master switch so those are drawing some power.

Could be the bilge pump also as mentioned and you definitely need to check that because it's not good to have one running regardless. I also have one in my center toon storage and there's no reason to leave it powered up all the time because you can't possibly get enough water in there to sink the boat like you can with other boats.

Bottom line, I flip off my master every time I'm off the boat.

Thanks. I can't get eyes on the bilge pump (yet) but given I can't turn it on without the screen being active I'm not sure if it was on or not.

That is the other thing - EVERY switch is touch screen - I can't do a thing without the Master On and the ignition switch set to on (so the screen comes on). If I wanted to confirm the state of the bilge pump (on/off) I would have to turn the switch on - wait for the screen to boot - then navigate to its 'switch'.

I'll get in the habit of turning it off

On another note - the screen is almost HOT when I choose to turn the ignition off and be in "Standby with audio" mode.

Its all a learning process.....

Thanks!

nh_handyman wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:29 am

Thanks. I can't get eyes on the bilge pump (yet) but given I can't turn it on without the screen being active I'm not sure if it was on or not.

That is the other thing - EVERY switch is touch screen - I can't do a thing without the Master On and the ignition switch set to on (so the screen comes on). If I wanted to confirm the state of the bilge pump (on/off) I would have to turn the switch on - wait for the screen to boot - then navigate to its 'switch'.

I'll get in the habit of turning it off

On another note - the screen is almost HOT when I choose to turn the ignition off and be in "Standby with audio" mode.

Its all a learning process.....

Thanks!

You're welcome. Your bilge is both automatic and on demand. If your master is turned on, the bilge pump is powered and uses the float switch to turn on automatically if water is high enough and turn off once the float switch opens. The "ON" button on your controller is an override to run the pump whether or not the float switch is active. If the master is on, the bilge is always powered and in automatic and if the float switch fails closed or gets stuck it'll run whether water is there or not eventually either draining your battery or burning up or both.

nh_handyman wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:29 am

I'll get in the habit of turning it off

That is your best option. I try to remember to turn my master console switch off but the only thing drawing power when it is off is the radio memory. I used to have a wake boat (Mastercraft) and an offshore boat (Robalo) and both had a switch on the battery so I got in the habit of turning it off. With these new boats (where everything is run through the touch screen), everyone I know puts a battery switch in and turns the entire system off each time.

As a side note, all the touch screens that came out in 2012/13 are now failing and the cost to replace is several thousand dollars - especially for the custom ones that were done for smaller boat manufacturers (like Mastercraft). Mastercraft no longer warrants their electronics past 3 years so that tells you something. Computers don't like heat and hate water so not sure what the advantage is of having anything other than analog gauges in a boat that sits in the sun and gets wet.

Yeah Bob you really gotta wonder about that. I only get to the lake every other weekend and keep the boat in the garage when not in use. When parked at the dock for a weekend, I leave my tops up and put the white screen cover on the Simrad.

I'm looking into the second battery now - just need to get the correct setup (switching, isolators...) .. - there is enough room in the current compartment.

re: bilge pump - I still want to see where the heck it is.. I can grab the one in my Nautique and can see the one in my BIL's Bass boat - I've got no clue where mine is!

It's probably at the very rear of your center toon storage compartment. I have a G3 Suncatcher, mine is behind a sheet metal cover. You have to take the two bottom boards or "floor" out of mine and then the cover over the pump can be removed, it's not bolted down or anything.

I have no idea how long they’ll last.

I have dual batteries in both my tri-tune and airboat, as I had on several previous boats. When the boat returns to it’s home dock; the battery master switch is turned off when I leave the boat. When the batteries’ master switch is off; that cuts off the power to everything, including all the switches in the switch panel, stereo, GPS/fish finder, power Bimini, and power steering pump (which is only powered when the ignition key is on, as is the hour meter).

As an aside; fused power cables to the float side of any “automatic” bilge pumps should be run directly from the batteries, not through a master switch. The manually operated bilge pump power switch is usually controlled by the master battery switch.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll get in the habit of turning it off.

The dealer is involved to some extent because of some day-1 warranty issues and I have mentioned a second battery. If I have them do it - I'm not sure I'll like what they come up with vs doing it myself.

The compartment where the battery is now (starboard-stern) is hard to open if the removable seat is at the stern location.

I'll also have to see how the bilge is wired now to see if its direct to the battery or not.

nh_handyman wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:52 am

I'll also have to see how the bilge is wired now to see if its direct to the battery or not.

On a jet boat I had the bilge was both a switch AND direct wired to the battery as an "automatic" bilge -- protection for rain buildup, etc. Because the drain tube went from the floor straight UP to the drain hole, it always had just enough back flow to keep the pump running which drained that battery regularly. (You couldn't hear it running.) I removed the direct wire. Problem ended.

Yeah on a hull boat that stays uncovered it's best to have the bilge wired hot all the time buuuut I feel like if the bilge is solely for the storage compartment like on a tritoon you eliminate the drain worry by wiring it to keyed or master power. Mine is wired like that from the factory. Up to the owner of course though.

Side note, we were coming into the campground last year and passed an old Hurricane deck boat that was in the water up to the Johnson label on the outboard. We pulled up and and older gentleman was coming down the dock, we asked if he needed help and he said he was ok but we were like no you're not and you're getting help. Couple of friends jumped off my boat to start bailing and I went and docked. He had just bought the Hurricane solely to put its outboard on his pontoon. He didn't have a trailer for it. The bilge wiring was hacked up with an unlabeled switch for it and the battery was pretty much dead. Someone had plugged the drain holes on the transom and the wake boats were rocking enough the transom was filling and water was running in the wiring/controls cutout into the hull. Water was actually coming up out of the ski locker.

We couldn't get it on my trailer to get it out. We got the bilge going while we bailed and bailed and bailed but the bilge kept slowing to a trickle. We took turns bailing or standing on the front end to get the back end out of the water. Eventually got the motor to start and stay running to supply some power for the bilge. Also a rainstorm was moving in. He eventually got it wrapped with a tarp to keep some water off it. I told him he should hurry up and put some insurance on it and take it for a hundred yard ride out to deep water.

TWB wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:56 am

nh_handyman wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:52 am

I'll also have to see how the bilge is wired now to see if its direct to the battery or not.

On a jet boat I had the bilge was both a switch AND direct wired to the battery as an "automatic" bilge -- protection for rain buildup, etc. Because the drain tube went from the floor straight UP to the drain hole, it always had just enough back flow to keep the pump running which drained that battery regularly. (You couldn't hear it running.) I removed the direct wire. Problem ended.

Way back when we had jet-skis; the Rule bilge pumps in them ran whenever the ski’s were turned on. It didn’t hurt them to run dry at all; but when the ski’s were turned off the pumps were too. So, you had no protection when they were docked.