boat taking on water...ideas?

J

jeff!

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I just acquired a 94 stratos 270 fish and ski which has not been ran in 2 years. However the last time it was out it did take on water. Not a lot but a little all the time and had to use the bilge pump quite often to keep the water out. Several years ago we did hit a tire and rim floating in the middle of the lake we never saw running one night and it did put quite a ding in the bottom.

Now we do not know if this is the actual hole that is leaking but the owner tried to patch it up after it happened. I am now thinking it could be leaking again, or could it possibly be the live well intakes i am not sure?

If it is the hole is there any suggestions on patching it correctly?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
 
zach103

zach103

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

can you get to the hole from inside the boat.. i would look around and reseal all the intakes and the bilge hole. and look for any other holes
 
J

jeff!

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

No i can not get to the hole form the inside, only underneath. Now to reseal all of this, do i need to take them out then reseal or what?
 
Bondo

Bondo

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

Ayuh,... The 1st thing to do is verify Exactly Where it's leaking....
 
tashasdaddy

tashasdaddy

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

put water in the boat, if it leaks in, it will leak out.
 
J

jeff!

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

I always seem to think its the front live well overflow port due to it seems to really leak when we are not running it, if we are sitting fishing or swimming is when it leaks. If we are running up on plane it never seems to leak much.

But i will try that, putting water in the boat and see where it leaks form, thanks a lot
 
5150abf

5150abf

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

Keep in mind water is really heavy so watch your trailer and if it starts protesting stop before you break something.

Put the water in and use the trailer jack to move the boat up and down and when you are done put the motor up and set the trailer jack on a cinder block or something to get the bow way up to drain.
 
metriccrescentwrench

metriccrescentwrench

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

It very well could be from a livewell overflow, could be as simple as a hose clamp that needs to be tightened. From experience I'd recommend to go foraging around the innards of your boat with a flashlight while in the water. In my case I had a couple of different sources for small leaks, one of which was my front livewell drain (keeping a plug in the thru-hull fitting solves that problem).

Other possible sources of water intrusion are under the rub rail, and backflow through the bilge pump (hose needs to be routed so that it's highest point is above the outlet).
 
J

jeff!

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

Ya i would like to go looking around while its on the water, only problem is that the front live well drain is under the deck and very very hard to get too, but i will try that once i am on the water. I will try putting water in it first.

Thanks for the help guys
 
D

dlyman

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Re: boat taking on water...ideas?

Hi this may be a dumb idea but maybe try putting some food coloring (like red or green) in the live well in the water, then it would seem reasonable you would see the color come into the bilge if it was the live well. Just a thought...
 
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