Leaking Boat

Have had a slow leak in my boat for a while now. Though it was just the piping somewhere. Decided to fill it up with water yesterday to try and locate what was going on. Filled the boat with water up to the floor and not a drop came out of it. Was a little concerned about filling it up any farther than that. Would need to removed all my gear and batteries. Little worried about soaking some of the wiring in the boat and over weighting the trailer to. Any pointers on proceeding with this. Even after filling the boat yesterday and finding no leaks we still got 5 to 10 gallons a hour in the boat last night.

Every boat I’ve owned would get water in it somewhere. I have seen leaking thru hull fittings, leaking connections on the livewell hoses, and water sloshing over the top of the live well. Every leak was a pain in the butt to find. If it isn’t a leaking rivet, not sure of an easy way to find it. I just kept looking.

Mike,
It could still be a livewell hose. If water is coming into the boat via the hose and leaking into the bottom of the boat, it might be at a point that is higher than the level you filled the boat to for testing.

Thought of this last night after getting off the water. Might be a pain in the butt. Try removing the floor. Then put the boat in the water. The leak should show itself. Either sitting in the water or getting/running on plane.

-J.

I had to do this with my dad’s boat last year to find a leak.

Don’t worry about the wiring. Just disconnect the battery and dry the boat out thoroughly afterward.

A couple of ideas from leaks that I’ve seen in the past:

1. Have you filled your livewell with water? A cracked livewell, drain fitting, etc could be letting water out of the livewell and into the hull. Fill livewell with the rest of the boat dry and let it stand for a few hours with the livewell and the boat plug in.

2. It could be the drain hose from the livewell’s drain plug to the outlet fitting (usually through the transom). Since this hose is below the waterline, it’s always full of water when the boat is in the water, but filling the boat with water won’t efficiently show you if this hose is the culprit.

To test this, again start with a dry boat. Block the drain outlet back at the transom with a wad of Plumber’s Putty. Then fill the livewell, but pull the livewell’s drain plug so the entire drain hose is full of water from the livewell all the way back to where the plumber’s putty blocks it. Mark the water level and wait, watching of course for water to appear in the bilge.

3. Check all the through hull fittings. You probably would have seen these leaking when you filled up the boat, unless you didn’t get the water high enough. Personally, I’d fill that baby up to the normal water line if none of the above items

Hopefully this is something simple and obvious once you do the right test. My dad’s boat had leaking rivets on the keel strip and fixing it was UGLY.

Grouse

Mike my Lund used to take on a fair bit of water. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Finally figured out the transom had gotten soft and would flex. Sometimes it would flex the right way (or the wrong way, I guess) and I’d end up with 30 gallons of water in the bilge. You couldn’t see much wrong except if you looked closely at the rivets. There was a black ring around the head of the rivet showing it was moving around. A tight rivet won’t have that ring. Once the transom was fixed, no more leaks.

Did you forget to put your plug in? These AIS laws are a b*t*h.

Steve Root wrote:

Mike my Lund used to take on a fair bit of water. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Finally figured out the transom had gotten soft and would flex. Sometimes it would flex the right way (or the wrong way, I guess) and I’d end up with 30 gallons of water in the bilge. You couldn’t see much wrong except if you looked closely at the rivets. There was a black ring around the head of the rivet showing it was moving around. A tight rivet won’t have that ring. Once the transom was fixed, no more leaks.

I was thinking along the same line as Rootski.

Any chance that while sitting there it wouldn’t leak but when under power and all that stress it put on the transom, it’s flexing the hull somewhere and opening up slightly to let water in? Not sure how you’d test that.

Otherwise JJ’s suggestion seems like it’d be the most direct way to find out, tho a pain in the butt.

Maybe it’s time for you to get into that big Warrior Tiller!

Planning on putting the boat in the drive way tonight and filling it up with water while the nose is up high. Thinking that might get more water back on that transom. The issue used to be intermittent but now its getting worse.

Its my understanding a boat is built to have water pressure from the outside against the hull, filling it up from the inside puts pressure and will cause more damage to the hull ,causing seams and rivits to expand and leak.Maybe call a repair shop or dealer.

If your worried about overloading the trailer some blocks of wood and jack stands and floor jack could take some pressure off the trailer. We have found a handful of cracks in a buddies hull by filling it with water.