2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

[shurt]

I am trouble shooting (excessive?) water intake into Aluminum boat. My fiberglass's never took on this much water. I have filled inside and have located 6-8 loose rivets that have droplets coming off. No Streams of water pouring out. I have a long strip that appears to run from transom to bow, appears to be welded with rivets (keel?). May have small leakage there, although it appears the rivet leaks into this then drains. I run my 500 gph Bilge approx 1 1/2 min. every 45 mins. I have plugged all intake / output holes in boat and see no difference in intake. See no excessive intake from transom area or connections. Is this normal on an Aluminum? Would 6-8 rivets leak that much water under pressure? If not normal, would taking up my deck be my next step. Goal would be a 1 time fix..time / money aside, would rather do it properly. Will post pics. when my daughter can teach me how

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

Leakage is not normal. Can you stick a hose in the bilge while it's on the trailer and fill it up a bit and look to see where it's leaking out? (don't fill it too much as you'll overload your trailer)

 

[Cadzilla88]

Re: 2000 Tracker Deep V 17.5

I just bought an '85 Bass Tracker 2 weeks ago and have similar problems. I was getting a lot of water (3 inches) in the bilge and had to use the pump every 15 minutes. I used the hose in the bilge trick and located one problem. Who ever recarpeted the boad drilled thru the hull in one place. Easy fix with a stainless steel sheet metal screw with silicone caulk. But I'm still getting some leakage, not as much, so I used the hose in the bilge trick again and found water dripping out of the end of the keel. The problem is that I had to put so much water in the bilge before it started leaking that because the bottom of the boat was angled slightly the leak must be near the mid point of the boat yet the water was dripping out of the aft end of the keel. I know the "fix" is to caulk the entire keel by running a bead of caulking down each side of the keel. Do you agree? Or is there a better way to fix this?

"Shurt" who started this thread posted it twice so I replied to both.