Help with mystery water leak through hull

[mercuryman48]

Bought an older fiberglass hull ebbtide and its taking on about a gallon of water an hour. Been all underneath it and cant find any visible holes but there is a lot of areas where the clearcoat and paint are rubbed away exposing the fiberglass hull....can the water "seep" through exposed fiberglass or should i be looking elsewhere. Ive replaced all the through hull fittings and recaulked so they are ok. Anyway to prevent or slow the seeping water short of rehabbing ? ..thanks guys

 

[oops!]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

chances are ........no......i really doubt if it is seeping thru the glass.....

tape the glass with duct tape for a water tryal.....see if it slows the ingress ...

it could be water in the foam leaking out !....

you didnt say if it was an io or ob.....

if its an i/o check the bellows

 

[Robj]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

I doubt it is leaking through the glass. More likely it is either your bellows has a hole in it, or posibly your transom shield because your transom may be rotten, assuming it is an i/o. To better diagnose, you really need to see where the water is coming in and what type of drive you have would also help. Then it is easy to figure out the cause.

Have a great day,

Rob.

 

[mercuryman48]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

Thanks for replying guys......It is an outboard so cant be a bellows leak...any other ideas...a gallon of water an hour seems like a lot to me ....is it ? ...my last boat was a 1977 arrowglass cheetah with an i/o and i could go all day and maybe only have a quart or so of water. Since i dont see any obvious holes in the bottom of this current boat im really puzzled as to where its comming from !.....thanks again

 

[erikgreen]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

What I'd do is use baby powder... dry the boat, sprinkle it around the hull in various spots, then put it in the water. Check every couple of minutes to see where the baby powder is washed away, that'll point the way to what area the water is coming from.

I'd bet it's either a hole hidden by the boat's structure, IE under a stringer or something, or else it's a leak in a fitting that looks solid.

Erik

 

[Steve Mahler]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

really check the transom area- usually hard to see with a splash well creating shadows etc. I had a boat that was weaping water around a thru-hull bolt for a swim platform, very hard to see it leaking because of the lighting.

 

[oops!]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

do you have a live well?

 

[mercuryman48]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

Yes the boat does have 2 livewells...all the fittings and hoses are visible under the seats and i have replaced the fittings , hoses, and clamps and can see that those are not leaking. No way to see underneath the floor of the livewells without pulling top of boat off but cannot see any obvious holes in the livewell themselves....I took toilet tissue and wrapped under all fittings to show any leaks around them and they are sealed

 

[mercuryman48]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

What I'd do is use baby powder... dry the boat, sprinkle it around the hull in various spots, then put it in the water. Check every couple of minutes to see where the baby powder is washed away, that'll point the way to what area the water is coming from.

I'd bet it's either a hole hidden by the boat's structure, IE under a stringer or something, or else it's a leak in a fitting that looks solid.

Erik

No way to get to the interior bottom of the boat without pulling the sub floor (top molded) part of boat off

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

replace the drain plug with the twist type. a lot of leaks are poor fitting drain plugs.
http://www.iboats.com/Seachoice_Dra...10192893--**********.160811255--view_id.21696

 

[RenegadeFisherman]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

If you have thru hull airetors or livewell intakes try plugging off all of them and lake test boat to see if one of these is causeing the leak.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Help with mystery water leak through hull

Put food coloring in the livewells and see if the bilge water turns color. If so, you have found your problem.

Does the leak get worse underway? Sometimes things like a loose boweye will throw you off as they are above the water while sitting still, yet are baptised when underway.

My MFG had a small longitudinal crack that sealed up while the boat sat at the warf, but opened up due to flexing when we pounded across the waves. It took a few months for us to find it. It was an esy fix once it was found.

Good luck!