WHY AM I TAKING ON WATER?

I have a 17′ Tracker Targa. checked all around and under the hull with no signs of a broken weld or a cracked hull yet when i am on the water for a sort time and turn on the bilge, i am pumping out water for a few minutes.

When anchored and the boat is level, no water comes out when i run the bilge but when i am moving or running on plane i am pumping water for a brief period.

Does it have to do with my livewell intakes or is it it something else. It seems that it has gotten worse this year than in the past.

Please advise

Have you been running the livewell pumps? I had the same problem but it was the drain instead. The tube may have cracked or come loose, thats the first place I would look. Good luck, Dan

Sounds like a livewell issue to me. Have you checked your intake connection, and all your hose clamps?

I experimented by not running the livewells and still taking on water for some reason. Looked at the hose connections from where i can see them in the back end of the boat inside the battery compartment and everything looks ok. Just don’t want to have to pull the floor if i don’t have to

One thing you can try is filling your bilge with water at home in the driveway and try to find where it is leaking out that should be where it is coming in. Fill it up full to get as much pressure as possible. If nothing comes out it could be a hose leaking somewhere. The reason your pump doesn’t run when anchored is there is not enough water for the pump to pick it up and not enough for the auto to kick on but when you take off your bow lifts and all the water runs to the back of the boat and and then the water is deeper in the bilge and your pumps can pick it up

do you have a speedometer? is it working? if not, the pickup tube that runs off your outboard to the gauge is disconnected, hence pumping water into your boat when you are in motion, happened on one of my boats and drove me crazy trying to figure what was going on. good luck

When you come off plain, do you have water coming in from the transom?

FDR

had this happen to one of my old boats. I wound up learning a little trick to find the leak. we plugged the overflow from the livewell on the outside of the boat and put food coloring in some water. when it came out red, we knew it was in there and no pollution of the water system.
as for the livewell intakes with the screens, we put one of the easter food coloring pills in there and then just backed the boat into the water at a local lake/ dock. then immediately turned on the livewell pump. when it cycled through and there was no blue water draining out, we knew it wasn’t in the intake.
so these little food coloring pills and dye’s really help a guy out.
good luck on your leak!!!

Try pulling the livewell screens and capping the intake off. Will help identify that as an issue.

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When you come off plain, do you have water coming in from the transom?

FDR

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This was my first thought. When coming off plane, is water filling your spashwell to the point where water is entering through the controls? (Where your lines for the motor go)

-J.

I had a similar problem with my boat. Finally discovered it was the drain plug area. The caulking around the screw in drain plug had deteriorated and was allowing water to seep in. I had the plug in after being on the water, cranked the trailer up while in the garage and noticed water on the floor.

You guys gave me plenty of great ideas to try out to pinpoint the problem.

I will report back with my findings.

Thanks for all the advise and ideas.

I had a problem similar to what you are describing and it turned out to be a rivet that had popped out in the front kind of high up. Under power it took in water but sitting still not nearly as much. Just something else to look for—it helps if you have a young set of eyes. I looked for an hour and saw nothing and my kid walked up and said—could it be that missing rivet Good luck!

Check rubber washer/seal on outside edge of intake of livewell, might even be loose, threads on tube for livewell pump in back of boat. depress the 2 tabs on side of pump give it a twist comes apart! hope this make sense!

I had a similar issue last spring. Turned out to be a
cracked aerator pump. I must not have drained it properly
before storing.

Good luck………….leaks suck!!

a few taking on water issues i had with my targa 17 …

a small crack in the hull and a cracked plastic fitting on the front livewell drain where it passes through the hull (both fixed and still holding with jb weld)

not getting the drain plug in tight enough
water coming into the transom splashwell and getting into the bilge area – from quickly coming off plane or having a guy sitting on the back pedestal seat for a few hours.

and coming up on plane with a full front livewell, water will overflow and run into the bilge.

nothing serious for me, though. i just hit the pump every now and then.

I have a small leak somewhere myself, I did find a small crack in the bilge pump hose after the pump, so when the pump went on, it was pumping water back in. That is fixed, I like the water coloring tabs idea, also need to check each rivot. Had the speedo water line problem already, it was loose behing the console getting me wet while driving along, was refreshing when it was hot out, not so refeshing on opening weekend!

Targas are welded hulls no rivets. No issues with ours other than putting the plug in the wrong hole a couple times a year. Reminds me need to upgrade the poor bilage that comes factory with it. Takes about 2 hours to drain it once it covers the floor.

Guys

Thanks for all the suggestions…

I filled the belly with water from a garden hose this morning and low and behold, found 3 harline cracks in the hull that i would have never seen without doing what “fishim” suggested.

Put JB weld on the cracks and took it to the Lake 2 hours later.

Problem solved. Thanks guys.

Would have never figured this out without talking to you guys on this site.