boat takes on water

[stratadude]

i have a 1984 17" aluminum sylvan . i just redid the decking and now have it in the water and i take on water. i have had it in the driveway with the lake water in it but it doesnt drip anywhere! ive looked and see no holes and the rivets all look good. ive checked the livewell pump and no water comes in from there or the feed hose. any ideas on where my problem might lie?

thank you in advance
Randy

 

[109jb]

Re: boat takes on water

That's a tough one. Aluminum boats have many seams. Those seams have seals to keep the water out. Could be one of these seals has a bad spot letting water in. Also as you are already aware all the rivets are potential leak spots. Any of these could result in a leak. Unfortunately if you can't see the leak anything would just be a guess. This is also why many people who rebuild their aluminum boats paint gluvit on the inside of the hull on all the rivets and seams. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[HAV2FISH]

Re: boat takes on water

Also replace your plug. You just might have one that is leaking just a bit. They do get old and were out.

 

[stratadude]

Re: boat takes on water

ill check the plug, iam hoping it will be that simple. i might just have a big problem!!!! there was alot of snow and freez thaw events here this early spring so i probably have seams that gave way. but thinking that way id guess id see at least a little drip or some sign. maybe ill try filling her with more water maybe my problem is up higher, closer to the flooring , it takes on bout 6inches in bout 2-2.5 hours but by that time i have my fish and am getting back to the landing. so it takes on pretty fast so id imagine there would be a drip.
hmmmmmm...scratching head.....

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: boat takes on water

That's quite the leak you have. Fill the boat up and watch for where it comes out from. I heard about putting some colored dye in with the water to help see where it is coming from. Have a lot of eyes watching if you do this to see where it starts from.
Good Luck.

 

[cheesegrits]

Re: boat takes on water

Heres another idea, my old 14' sea nymph would be dry when I put her in but after driving anywhere it would collect water. I filled it in the driveway and no leaks! Finally figured out that as we were going down the lake the Humminbird transponder was shooting water up he transom. With the spray off the back you didn't notice it as it would just kind of leak over the edge! Get someone to ride beside you on the water and see if they notice anything. This is how we finally figured mine out. If thats not it get the silicone out and just wipe the outside of each rivet that goes below the waterline. Since you decked it your leak might not be visible anymore.

 

[stratadude]

Re: boat takes on water

Thank you for the replys, upon further investigations i found a rivet that looked ify and found it to have a little wetness around it while i was feeling it up!!! so i cleaned it up nicely and hope to have it sealed up now. havent put her to the test yet ,just ggiving it as much time to cure and set as possable, will get it on the water saturday. also put in a new builge pumpe at 880gph, think that will empty her if needed!!!again thanks alot for the insight!!!!!