Back to the main site

2025 QX30 Bilge Pumps wired to master switch?

S

sdean

New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
4
I have a new 2025 10' Beam QX30 with Twin Yamahas. The 2 outside pontoons fill up with water as the motor mounts are leaking. But, my question is why are the bilge pumps wired to the Master Dash switch? The Automatic (Float) bilge pumps only work, when the entire Dash has power. Every boat I have owned by other Manufacturers the Automatic bilge was wires straight to the batteries, with an inline fuse only. They even bypassed the battery switches. Bennington is saying this is the correct wiring? I discovered this after overnight my boat was sitting very low in the water as the 2 outer toons had filled up with water, I had turned the master power switch on the dash off.. I started leaving the master switch after this, But, this is causing excessive drain, causing battery to go dead. The other issue is the switches in Automatic mode light up constantly, causing another extra drain.

Thought/Opinion:
1. Should the Bilge pumps be connected to the dash master power switch?
2. Should the Lights on on the pump switch be on constant in Automatic mode? My other boat the light comes on only when the pumps is discharging water, then shuts off.

Obviously, the bigger issue is the toons filling up with water, but that will be resolved I am sure. It has caused me to focus on these other details.

thanks for weighing in.

Dean
 
Welcome. Sounds like an incredible Bennington. If so inclined, share some pictures of that beauty!

While I don’t swim in those big league pontoon waters, I can quickly answer your first question: Yes, your pontoon is wired correctly per Bennington’s approach.

Long winded reply: Bennington always wires the bilge pump to the master dash switch. Their philosophy with doing so is as a battery safety/preservation step to prevent draw down for folks with long gaps between boat usage. There are a few members that have re-wired the bilge pump directly to the battery themselves because they want to leave it on auto when away. Suffice it to say, that’s Bennington’s approach and reason for it. Some other manufacturers may have other philosophies about it.

I guess I am curious if you are actually getting much water in that center pontoon that you need to worry about having the bilge pump on auto when away from it? I have almost never gotten any water in my center pontoon, even though I have in-toon storage. I realize mine stays pretty dry on its own compared to others, so as a result I rarely have to run my bilge pump at all.

As for dash lights, my dash light switches are always lit up if I have them flipped on. Always. But I also have an older 2017 dash, and not a nicer Q dash, so mine or older toggle style switches, not the newer button type switches. So I don’t know 100% if your situation is typical on the newer high end Bennington’s, but I suspect it is as a constant reminder you have that turned on.
 
Thanks.

Both my Outside toons leak where the motors mount through the toon. My center toon stays dry!

but, overnight it was very low in the water as both outside toons filled up with water! Dash master was off, as I always turn it off at night, it kills the Radio and the Garmin.

I am sure the leak, will be fixed. I would think a Bilge pump would have zero draw unless there was water in there, in that case you want it to work! My last 2 boats, Cobalt, Monterey brands both had the bilges direct wired to the battery. They even bypassed the on/off battery switch.

The boat sits in the water when we are out for a few weeks on the lake. normally, it is on a dry lift or in the barn.


Thanks,
Dean
 
That’s a gorgeous boat!

Super sorry to hear you have leaks in those outside pontoons. Should be easy fixes. We had some leaky welds on our port side pontoon develop in 2019. Covered under warranty. Local aluminum welder took care of the entire process, and has been good as new ever since.

I think there’s a good case to be made either way on the wiring of bilge pumps. Different manufacturers have different philosophies. I also think type of boat manufacturer plays a role here too. If you were to only get water in that center pontoon, the boat is still safe and stable on a tritoon. Now on a regular boat, v-hull, etc….no room for the hull filling up…gotta have that bilge ready at any time water leaks in.
 
We redid our all three of our bilge pumps float switches to be wired direct on our 30 Q. The seal on the hatch covers seem to let water easily leak into the the toons at the stern. We don't seem to get much water in the center toon, it's always the outside two with motors.
 
I had my bilge pump wired directly to the batteries by the dealer, so as to not affect the warranty.
 
sdean said:
Thanks.

Both my Outside toons leak where the motors mount through the toon. My center toon stays dry!

but, overnight it was very low in the water as both outside toons filled up with water! Dash master was off, as I always turn it off at night, it kills the Radio and the Garmin.

I am sure the leak, will be fixed. I would think a Bilge pump would have zero draw unless there was water in there, in that case you want it to work! My last 2 boats, Cobalt, Monterey brands both had the bilges direct wired to the battery. They even bypassed the on/off battery switch.

The boat sits in the water when we are out for a few weeks on the lake. normally, it is on a dry lift or in the barn.


Thanks,
Dean
Click to expand...
Some (most?) auto bilge pumps cycle on periodically rather triggered by the float switch or not. That is a reason to wire them through the master switch for long layups. Personally, I would prefer direct wiring and just pull the inline fuse for a lengthy storage, but certainly there are pros and cons either way... Another way might be to use direct wiring and add a separate switch for convenience to avoid having to hunt the inline fuses each time.
 
PartyBarge said:
Another way might be to use direct wiring and add a separate switch for convenience to avoid having to hunt the inline fuses each time.
Click to expand...
This could be a very good way to approach it. Just a tiny bit more involved or costly. We have a circuit breaker switch on our Sea Legs line (standard) because those are always directly wired. Although not intended as a separate kill switch for parasitic draw, it’s in a convenient enough spot to use it as such. Seems like something similar would be the perfect solution to a directly wired bilge pump. Bypass Perko switches and what not, but have the option of still killing the electrical draw with a circuit breaker switch. I think PartyBarge is onto something here!!!
 
We have had leaks in all 3 tunes on our 2024 27 QS with twin Yamaha's as well as bilge pump wiring issues.

I was also surprised to learn that the bilge pumps are not "hard wired" to the battery bus, this is our first pontoon and a bit of a learning curve over the v-hull's we have owned.
We are not comfortable leaving the boat in the water for extended periods of time without the pumps powered, so it sits on its lift when we aren't using it.

Initially we were unaware that we should be running the pumps in the auto position at all times, and the first time I selected the pumps "ON" with the boat on the lift the pumps rans for 3 minutes plus pumping water from each outboard tune.

The center tune seems to leak its water out externally forward of the storage area when we have the boat on the lift, I don't believe that section is serviced by the bilge pump since the pump is located aft of the fuel tank and our storage area stays dry, this is currently still an open issue on our boat.

While underway there is a constant flow of water over the over the bilge pump hatch covers and our hatches were a major part of our issue but not all of it, our dealer resealed our hatches and did some other sealing where wiring passes thru the tunes and things were much better, virtually no water in our starboard tune now. We then discovered that the auto position for our port tune was incorrectly wired so it would never run in the auto position when there is water in that tune, that was supposed to be fixed, but we still see some water intrusion into that tune.

As far as the lights in the bilge pump switches they should come on (at least that how ours works) when the pump is running either when selected ON or in AUTO when the float switch activates and turns the pump on due to water in the tune.

We love our boat and our dealer has been great working to resolve our issues but I am disappointed with these and other quality issues on our Bennington.






we have had it in a couple times to work it and
On our boat the only time the lights are on in the bilge pump switches is when the pump is running, either when selected to the on position or in auto and activated on by water in the time raising the float switch.
 
SquareB said:
We have had leaks in all 3 tunes on our 2024 27 QS with twin Yamaha's as well as bilge pump wiring issues.

I was also surprised to learn that the bilge pumps are not "hard wired" to the battery bus, this is our first pontoon and a bit of a learning curve over the v-hull's we have owned.
We are not comfortable leaving the boat in the water for extended periods of time without the pumps powered, so it sits on its lift when we aren't using it.

Initially we were unaware that we should be running the pumps in the auto position at all times, and the first time I selected the pumps "ON" with the boat on the lift the pumps rans for 3 minutes plus pumping water from each outboard tune.

The center tune seems to leak its water out externally forward of the storage area when we have the boat on the lift, I don't believe that section is serviced by the bilge pump since the pump is located aft of the fuel tank and our storage area stays dry, this is currently still an open issue on our boat.

While underway there is a constant flow of water over the over the bilge pump hatch covers and our hatches were a major part of our issue but not all of it, our dealer resealed our hatches and did some other sealing where wiring passes thru the tunes and things were much better, virtually no water in our starboard tune now. We then discovered that the auto position for our port tune was incorrectly wired so it would never run in the auto position when there is water in that tune, that was supposed to be fixed, but we still see some water intrusion into that tune.

As far as the lights in the bilge pump switches they should come on (at least that how ours works) when the pump is running either when selected ON or in AUTO when the float switch activates and turns the pump on due to water in the tune.

We love our boat and our dealer has been great working to resolve our issues but I am disappointed with these and other quality issues on our Bennington.






we have had it in a couple times to work it and
On our boat the only time the lights are on in the bilge pump switches is when the pump is running, either when selected to the on position or in auto and activated on by water in the time raising the float switch.
Click to expand...
Interesting, seems like a common issue. I think the light should only come on when pumping. That is how my other boats work. But in my QX30 the switch stays Lit up as long as it is in the AUTO position. Not just when the float switch is activated. This is further drainging the battery for no apparent reason. We too keep ours in a lift except when we are out, which might be for 2-3 weeks. My dealer has told me this is NORMAL!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top