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ESP Center tube bilge pump

Not necessarily. I have never had my boat out in the rain, and have never taken a wave over the front, yet I had water in mine. I find that sometimes I would get a bit of water in there while doing really hard turning at speed. At least I'm assuming that was how it got in there! 
 
I remember someone else on the forum last year had the same thing happen, apparently water being forced in  somewhere in  hard turns. I think most get water in there from rain though, I know mine came in that way. That said, when you look at the way water splashes off the two outer pontoons during hard turns I would think most anyone with a larger outboard and making hard turns would possibly get some water forced in through the smallest opening somewhere between the underdeck wave shield and the pontoons.
 
Are you saying that it's normal for the center pontoon to leak, meaning that it's not fully sealed on the outside?
 
We get water from condensation in ours. The lake water / center toon is significantly cooler than the air and sometimes looks like the outside of a cold beer can on a hot day.
 
Kahlua0517 said:
Are you saying that it's normal for the center pontoon to leak, meaning that it's not fully sealed on the outside?
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Not "leak", but there has to be cut outs and some barriers when you have center tube storage, so there is the possibility of some water getting forced into places it shouldn't be. This is just my assumption. FarNorth's comment also has a lot of merit as well. It isn't a substantial amount that accumulates in mine, but I check it every so often. 
 
I am sure condensation is part of the cause but I would think that it happens more on the outside of the tube rather than the inside.  Has TB made a statement on this?
 
I would guess that Bennington put a bilge pump in there for a good reason, while it is not designed to "leak" it is an area where water could get into, be it from aggressive boating, wet people, rain, water over the bow, etc.
 
you forgot restroom.

It is odd how water would get in there from heavy driving. Seems like a sealing issue from the underside.
 
Thanks for the info.
 
I've read a couple of responses here. I stored my 2016 RFSB with ESP with a non-bennington dealer. I"m picking it up on saturday and they called me to tell me my center bilge is not working when they turn on the bilge switch. I thought I saw in a response that the center bilge is automatic and does not work with the switch. Can anyone confirm if that's the case. @bennington can you confirm?
 
Dana Therrien said:
I've read a couple of responses here. I stored my 2016 RFSB with ESP with a non-bennington dealer. I"m picking it up on saturday and they called me to tell me my center bilge is not working when they turn on the bilge switch. I thought I saw in a response that the center bilge is automatic and does not work with the switch. Can anyone confirm if that's the case. @bennington can you confirm?
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My toggle switch is “off” in the center setting, and “auto” toggled one way, and simply “on” when toggled the other way. I can confirm that when toggled to “on”, it turns on and tries to pump. When in “auto” it pumps intermittently presumably as needed.

I have a 2017 SSBXP with an SPS hull, but I’d assumed they pretty much work the same. However, that’s a quest on my part as I am not familiar with 2016 R-series boats.
 
That's odd. My switch is the exact opposite. When I toggle to "Auto" the bilge pump runs continuously and when I switch it to "Bilge" it runs on Auto. mAybe they installed my switch upside down at the factory.

I have a 2018 22SSBXP with SPS hull. Same boat.
 
My button doesn’t really clear things up as to which rocker does what. I presume the auto is left and on is right. I plan on upgrading to the laser etched buttons and will fix the ambiguity in the switches assuming I can figure them out.

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I had a similar situation with my boat, so got down in the storage tube and found all kinds of gunk plugging my weep holes mostly construction debris. I washed a lot of it to the rear of the tube and then cleaned out the bilge area. No problems since.
 
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