Faulty Fittings Fill 2019 Nitro With Water!

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swimbait365
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:40 pm

Faulty Fittings Fill 2019 Nitro With Water!

Post by swimbait365 »

Hello!

I am posting this to see if anyone else has experienced anything similar to what I have come across.

I have a 2019 Nitro Z17 with less than 50 hours on it currently.

There have been no issues so far up until yesterday I when that changed!

My brother and I had gone to the lake and gone through the normal pre launch check. Plug was in and everything was ready to go.

We are on the water for about an hour or so when my brother goes to take a seat at the console while I’m on the trolling motor. As he sits down, water starts to surround his feet.

I flip the bilge switch immediately and nothing happens. I could hear the pump working, but no water was coming out.

Open the battery hatch and see they’re almost submerged.

Thankfully we were close to the ramp, pulled the boat out and drained it.

The plug was in and we figured maybe it didn’t seat right and I wanted to test what was happening.

Relaunched and in another hour, we were back at square one with water filling the boat.

Once at home, I remove the batteries and stumble across some strange findings.

Both female connectors from the bilge and aerator have deteriorated and cracked off entirely. See picture attached.

The water was pouring in from the aerator pump as the hose was no longer attached because the fitting had cracked apart!

The worst part is that BOTH the bilge and aerator had this issue. I couldn’t have even imagined what would’ve happened if I was further out from the ramp.

Has anyone else come across this? I’m just mind blown honestly that this could happen to a 2 year old boat.
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Pat
Posts: 593
Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 7:04 am
Location: Olivehurst, CA

Re: Faulty Fittings Fill 2019 Nitro With Water!

Post by Pat »

That's amazing, especially since it happened to two pumps at the same time. Is it possible something dropped on them or there was some other shock? The pumps in all boats are manufactured by third party companies like Attwood. So this would not be unique to Nitro. I would check with the dealer to see if there are others with this issue. Let us know what you find out.
swimbait365
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:40 pm

Re: Faulty Fittings Fill 2019 Nitro With Water!

Post by swimbait365 »

Pat wrote:That's amazing, especially since it happened to two pumps at the same time. Is it possible something dropped on them or there was some other shock? The pumps in all boats are manufactured by third party companies like Attwood. So this would not be unique to Nitro. I would check with the dealer to see if there are others with this issue. Let us know what you find out.

It is, right? Nothing would have access to that as there is a 2x2 1/2” thick plate that sits a foot above all of it to keep it covered. Possibly rough water? I just don’t see that doing it in my opinion.

Both are Johnson pumps but after doing more research, the fittings were changed from what they originally came with. They originally come with black fittings that just push into the hoses with a supposed hose clamp to keep them secure. The fittings that broke are white with a push connect and lock to keep it secured. Assuming those were installed by the dealer.

Waiting to talk to the service manager tomorrow and will update the thread!
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