Zodiac Hurricane 5.3 self draining deck question

[scanshift]

I have a zodiac hurricane 5.3 with a yamaha 135 on it. I was tied up to a dock over the weekend, sitting in the boat, and a storm passing through generated some major waves that were breaking over the rear of the boat. I had the plastic chutes for the self draining deck tied up instead of down. I am guessing the boat was 40 to 50% filled with water, when I lowered the vinyl drain chutes and pulled away from the dock. After revving up the engine, the nose pitched up about 80 degrees and it was necessary to walk in front of the jockey seat with the engine in gear, to be able to get on a 1/2 plane. The water quickly went out the back and everything was fine.

My question is, should the self draining chutes always be in the down position? With the heavy weight of a 135 hp engine, will water come in from the chutes? Why is there a string to tie the chutes up vertically in the first place? Finally, I learned the hard way that it is important to have a working bilge pump on a float switch. Mine broke and I had not gotten around to repairing it. Thanks.

[ShinyShoe]

Elephant trunks should normally only be down while underway

[SimonCh]

If you leave them down while stationary, water comes back up them and won't do you any favours - hence the bit of string. Once you get going and up on the plane, the water should drain fairly quickly, but due to all that weight at the stern, it may take a wee while for the bow to come down - nothing to worry about . I tend to put mine down, drain away any water and then tie them up again straight away. Unless you're out in the rough stuff you don't really need them down once you've drained your excess water!