Taking on water???

[allthrottle92]

I have a 91 Aries 170 F/S. Noticed when i take it out of the boat out pull the bilage plug out there seems to be alot of water coming out. drains strong for about a minute or so. is this normal or do i have a leak somewhere? where should i start my quest if i do have a leak. have bilage pump but have not used it yet. it work though. ran water into the boat and it pumps out fine. any suggestions.
new to the boat thing. always had jon boats. they seem to take a little water.
oh yeah the boat has a 115 hp Johnson O/B

 

[sltintexas]

Re: Taking on water???

If it really is running for a minute that seems like a lot. When we are tubing, we'll get a bunch of water onboard from climbing in and the kids for getting to drip dry on the swim deck.

It has never run strong for a minute though.

have you looked around the outside of your boat to see if there is anything obvious? Look around factory made holes for bilge pump, livwell etc to see if all are tight. I had a boat that would leak around the front trailering eye until I sealed it up.

One thing to look at on fishing boats is the livewells if you have them. Pipes coming in and overflow pipes can leak. I have had those leak while underway, or if you start hitting waves they start sloshing around.. also if I trailered the boat with livewells full it would (I assume) pour out the sides when the boat was on angle with pulling the trailer oout. I would always have a lot of water then.

also leaking water lines going to a livewell is an easy way to take on more water.

My 2 cents.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Taking on water???

Failing finding any obvious sources for leaks, you might try filling the boat up (not full) with water from the hose and see if you can spot water leaking out anywhere. One spot that is not really visible is a leak right over the bunk, but you may see water coming from the bunk area.

I had a bunk bolt come loose and the warp in the bunk board tweaked the bolt so the sharp edge (carriage bolt) dug a small hole in the bottom of the boat. It was not until I put some water in the boat and saw it running from the bunk that I could find it. I just hosed the bunks down, tied the back of the boat to a tree or car or something solid and pulled the trailer forward about a foot and a half then it was available to repair. Then just crank boat back up to the front roller.

Good luck finding your leak.

 

[mlrman]

Re: Taking on water???

We bought our first boat this year too. I was surprised to see a steady stream of water coming out the drain hole after a day of boating with no one skiing/tubing and bringing water into the boat with them.

Even with the boat slowly taking on small amounts of water like that, the bilge pump has never pumped water out until it rained hard while we were on the lake all day.

I say make sure your bilge pump is constant 12 v. wired to a float switch and don't worry about it.

have fun boating!

 

[cr2k]

Re: Taking on water???

Problem with not worrying about it..If the leak is in to an area where you have flotation foam it can water log the foam and your boat gains lots of weight as well as wetness for rotting the stringers and sole.

 

[mlrman]

Re: Taking on water???

Problem with not worrying about it..If the leak is in to an area where you have flotation foam it can water log the foam and your boat gains lots of weight as well as wetness for rotting the stringers and sole.

Wow that really makes me wonder. I know my boat has flotation foam, and I also know my boat has a tough time getting on plane with more than one person in it.

I will do a search on how to check for water logged flotation foam, do you have any suggestions? I guess I haven't worried about it because the wood floor is solid everywhere.

 

[CV16]

Re: Taking on water???

I have a 1966 21' Larson, a 1974 16' Glastron and my dads 1981 22' Silverline. we can spend a whole day in any of them and not have more than a thimbal full of water come out. The only time we have water in the boat is when skiing, and then it's not much either. I'd try to find the leak.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Taking on water???

An easy way to check foam is to put your tongue jack all the way up, put something under it until the drive is about to hit and pull the plug, if it is still leaking water after an hour the foam is probably wet.

And no, there is no easy way to dry the foam, once it is wet it will stay that way until it is removed.

 

[GatorMike]

Re: Taking on water???

Don't limit your search to the exterior of the hull. I have had more than one boat that developed leaks where you would never look. If you have a livewell check that your fill hose is not leaking, also check to make sure water can't splash over the top. I had a boat once that was built with the livewell bolted up to the underside of the deck, the screws rotted out and the livewell droped an inch. When I accelerated water would run out over the top of the well and into my bilge. My bilge always smelled like dead fish. LOL one day I found dead shrimp in my bilge water. Hummm I wonder where all that bilge water was comming from?

Also check things like deck drains or scuppers than drain into hoses below deck. I had a Wellcraft that had cockpit scuppers that drained through the deck and out the sides. The plastic on both drains cracked with age. The drain holes were close enough to the water line that waves would splash up into the drain holes and directly into the bilge. I dealt with water in my bilge for a year or two before discovering the problem. A good test for this situation would be to put the drain plug in your boat then wash the deck and floor of the boat when you finish pull the plug and if you have water in your bilge you probably have a scupper or drain leaking. If it leaks from the deck side it probably leaks from the outside too.

 

[BrandonHa]

Re: Taking on water???

Wow that really makes me wonder. I know my boat has flotation foam, and I also know my boat has a tough time getting on plane with more than one person in it.

I will do a search on how to check for water logged flotation foam, do you have any suggestions? I guess I haven't worried about it because the wood floor is solid everywhere.

I am in the middle of replacing and fixing my boat that was foam filled. In my situation the previous owner had made several "upgrades" (That is sarcasm) and left a few unfilled holes here and there. We did not have any holes that were obvious but many small holes that did some serious damage. Once that foam gets waterlogged it pretty much game over.

It sneaks up on you. Its hard to get up on a plane at first and then after a few more trips when you put more then 1 person in the boat it gets considerably worse. My boat should carry 4 people and gear just fine but after 2 people it just lost its go power.

Ultimately what happened in my situation was our 1991 90hp Johnson just got tired of pushing that extra weight and we blew the rings up. Maybe it was destined to happen either way but all of that extra weight was just way to much.

What I have learned is that waterlogged foam is fixable for sure but it is a project. In my case I am having fun fixing it but it is a lot of work. I had the deck off of my boat for a week, gave the transom a brief looking over and everything seemed to be fine. Most everyone said they were surprised the transom made it without rotting. Well to my surprise I was totally wrong did find rot in the transom. Make sure you give your transom a very good looking over!

Oh and another thing that I learned that might help a little bit. Our boat has 4 drain plugs in it. 1 for the splash well (thats supposed to be there) and 3 others. Well the previous owner drilled them other 3 in. Even though they looked right they were not supposed to be there on our paticular foam filled boat. The plug in the dead center stern had been leaking water around it. The drain hole for the anchor locker was also leaking a small amount of water. Enough to water log and rot the foam around it. In our case the black foam is totally rotten and water logged while the darker foam was just water logged.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=404623

I have heard of people running warm air through their boats for a couple months to dry the foam. Goodluck to you and check for them small holes that you might of over looked!

 

[allthrottle92]

Re: Taking on water???

Well found the Leak....Arreator was not sealed properly by previous owner... pulled it out and discovered some rotting....now what do i do? any suggestion? trying to dry it out as much as possible.

 

[ryanr623]

Re: Taking on water???

Well found the Leak....Arreator was not sealed properly by previous owner... pulled it out and discovered some rotting....now what do i do? any suggestion? trying to dry it out as much as possible.

Define "some" rotting.

 

[allthrottle92]

Re: Taking on water???

ok another twist...confused now. put the boat in and tubed and water ski'd all day Saturday, pull the boat out and alot less water, but still alot for me. Now sunday put the boat in and just trolled the banks fishing. never ran the main motor. pulled the boat out pulled the drain plug out, not a drop of water came out. Anybody have an idea why?

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: Taking on water???

It may take a few more outings, but what your seeing may mean that you fixed the leak. As the boat sits on the trailer it is not always enough of an angle to drain all the water, but as you run it, or drag it up a launch site the residual water may run back to the bilge. I would tilt the motor up and raise the trailer tongue as high as you can get it and let it drain. Now you just have to address the rot. Where is it and how bad is it?

 

[RWilson2526]

Re: Taking on water???

Another possiblity is a leak on the underside of your rub rail (where your top cap meets the hull) While tubing and running hard you may have splahed water as high as the rubrail letting some in...while trolling in calm water all day you didnt splash any water up there hence no water when you pulled the plug.

 

[BrandonHa]

Re: Taking on water???

I dont know if this will help or not. It is a picture of a piece of water logged foam we pulled out of our boat. It seemed to come in pockets. Removing the foam and everything looks ok and then you run in to a section like this in the photo that is so rotten its falling apart.

The pockets of waterlogged foam were in unison with the small holes here and there in the deck. Like the screws that held the center console down. The screws were fine but there was no sealant around them. You could literally follow the pockets of water like a crossword puzzle or a maze

 

[allthrottle92]

Re: Taking on water???

yeah i thought about that>>there are some spots where the sealant is coming loose... how do you suggest and what should i use to reseal them?

 

[allthrottle92]

Re: Taking on water???

It may take a few more outings, but what your seeing may mean that you fixed the leak. As the boat sits on the trailer it is not always enough of an angle to drain all the water, but as you run it, or drag it up a launch site the residual water may run back to the bilge. I would tilt the motor up and raise the trailer tongue as high as you can get it and let it drain. Now you just have to address the rot. Where is it and how bad is it?

it is like a 6 inch pattern that i can tell around the hole where the areator came through the transom. have read about anti-freeze stop rotting?

 

[Lion hunter]

Re: Taking on water???

The only thing I'm aware of that stops rotting is removal.

 

[allthrottle92]

Re: Taking on water???

Another possiblity is a leak on the underside of your rub rail (where your top cap meets the hull) While tubing and running hard you may have splahed water as high as the rubrail letting some in...while trolling in calm water all day you didnt splash any water up there hence no water when you pulled the plug.

I know i need to re-seal the rub rail... what should i use to do it...it currently has clear silicone.