All I can say is you guys are the greatest. I wish I could buy you all a drink! Your vast knowledge and experience saved me a trip(and probably a big cost) to my local boat store.

Got some time yesterday to take the main battery out and removed the deck plate below. What do you know, the clamp holding the live well lower hose had failed and the hose had come off. Don’t know if the bouncing of the boat and trailer on the dirt road caused it to come off, or if it just gave out. Hose is in good shape, but didn’t even try to tighten the clamp, just went to the local marine store and got a marine grade stainless steel replacement clamp.

Thank you all so much for all your ideas and wonderful, timely responses. It was/is greatly appreciated.

John

BigWarm,

Yes, only one livewell, starboard rear. Port side is ice chest.

Thank you.

TheFamousGrouse,

Thank you very much. I will be taking the boat to water in a few days and try your method. I have been under the boat everywhere and there are no new scrapes or anything that looks like a recent development. I thought it was possible to have hit something, like a rock, but with the lower bars on the trailer, below the boat, I would have heard something hit those. No marks on lower trailer bars. My concern was due to the pot holes and less than great suspension on the trailer, the boat popped up and down on the trailer a couple of times, loosened up my rear trailer clamps, thus my thoughts of possibly the strain causing a rivet(s) failure.

BigWerm,

Thank you very much. I am going to take the rear end of the boat apart this weekend to see if any lines have been compromised. The thing I just can’t get my head around is that the water flowing onto the deck was coming from the front of the boat when still in the water and the live well is in the rear. I believe the boat, having the motor weight would sit a little more to the aft and that should fill up first if it was the live well? Just guessing. Hopefully I’ll know more this weekend.

Again, thank you all.

Munchy,

I will try your option and see what happens. Thank you.

Ryan P,

I am planning to do that in a few days. Thank you.

eyekatcher,

I had the plug in the right drain. My plug is too small to fit in the live well drain. Thank you for the thought.

Thanks poomunk,

Yes, I sprayed many gallons of water up that circled drain hole and then wrapped a boat plug with a rag and sealed the drain hole. Looked for any sign of leakage and saw what a very, very slow drip from a rivet up towards the bow. I didn’t think that could be responsible for the amount and flow of water onto the deck. Maybe I’m wrong.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much. Just so the slow-learner here can understand, is the live-well system all housed in the transom of the boat? Through the access opening in the top of the transom area I was able to trace(feel) the intake hose of water from the rear of the boat to the upper area of the live well where the water flows into the live well. Is there anywhere else in the boat I should be looking? Also, in this area there was no residue of water.

And, another probably stupid question. I have never looked, but when the live well is on, where does the overflow water drain? I did have the live well on, by mistake, but I never use it as I like to catch and release. So is there a hose for the overflow drain in the live well that could have fallen off? Sorry for so many questions.

Thank you much.

Thank you very much for your responses. The livewell hose is attached and with hose water on the intake feeds into the live well. No residue of water in the transom area where the live well feeder hose is, if a leak was there. Wish that would’ve been the fix, nice and easy. Got my hopes up for a minute!

I’m not a real savvy boat guy, always learning. Thought I would add one thing that might mean something to someone. When I pulled the boat out after the leak, there was a tremendous amount of water that came out the black drain. Nothing actually came out of the boat plug hole when I removed the boat plug. Pic below of what I mean by my black drain.

Thanks again.

Attachments:

1. 

   Black-drain-1.jpg
   

Thank you very much for your responses. The livewell hose is attached and with hose water on the intake feeds into the live well. No residue of water in the transom area where the live well feeder hose is, if a leak was there. Wish that would’ve been the fix, nice and easy. Got my hopes up for a minute!

I’m not a real savvy boat guy, always learning. Thought I would add one thing that might mean something to someone. When I pulled the boat out after the leak, there was a tremendous amount of water that came out the black drain. Nothing actually came out to the boat plug hole when I removed the boat plug. Pic below of what I mean by my black drain.

Thanks again.

Attachments:

1. 

   Black-drain.jpg
   

I will check, thank you very much!

Thank you Mr. Eagle,

I am in a drop-ship situation anyway, as I live in the Sierra foothills in Northern California not close to a lot of actual hands-on stores. I’m about 200 miles from Cabela’s and it’s iffy is they have something in stock, otherwise special order shipped to store, in who knows how many weeks.

Great info on Clayton and Trolllingmotors.net. You have helped to put my mind at ease regarding my trolling motor/charger purchase.

Thanks again, your help is greatly appreciated.

I appreciate all of your responses. I live in California, near to a Bass Pro Shop. As I stated, I have gone there twice and the salesmen in the trolling motor area couldn’t even figure out if the model I wanted came with a foot pedal or not, or just iPilot. Even after going to their own web site on their own computer they were still stumped. Thus my dislike for Bass Pro Shops. If you read between the lines, I don’t want to buy from Bass Pro Shops, and that is the only brick and mortar place anywhere close to me. Also, I don’t want to buy from Walmart, another supplier of Minn Kota.

I have done more that click on the Internet. I have talked to Minn Kota and have talked to Clayton at trollingmotors.net, who probably had more knowledge about trolling motors and battery chargers than all of the employees combined at Bass Pro Shops.

So, from the reviews on the Internet and talking with Clayton, it would seem this is a legit place, but my posed question was if anyone had or knew anyone who actually bought a motor from this place.

Thank you all for your assistance.

kwp, Thanks to you, I got the part and they are finding me a couple other parts I have been unable to find. They are great to work with and I thank you very much for your assistance.

John

Thank you so much kwp. That is the part I need. Not saying money is no issue, but with the time I have spent trying to find this part, $7.80 looks real cheap! I always try to do OEM parts. Thanks again for the lead, I’ll contact them tomorrow!

John

Thank you Randy.

I will call them tomorrow!