a wee bit of a saga made as short as possible....

So when I bought my boat ( Tracker Pro Team 175 ) it has a wee bit of a leak. I am fairly sure it had been run aground at one time. ( why did I buy a boat with a leak? I did not know it had one when I bought it)  I himmed and hawed as to what to do about it. I toyed around with the idea of pulling the deck and floor and re-riveting it...that promised to cost more than the boat was worth. Plus I really have nowhere to do that kind of work and the thought of being outside in January in my Carharts fixing my boat was not very enticing.

I then found a company who sold sealed cap blind rivets I thought may work...but that proved a little too scary. Drilling holes in my boat was a bit more stress than I could manage. Then I thought...well hell if I am going to do it, lets do it right and just get the sucker welded...

I could not find anyone who would touch it with a ten foot pole. ( and by the way the guy before me had used JB weld on a spot or two...apparently JB weld, even when removed with a grinder, prohibits ever having aluminum welded. Something about it changes the properties of the metal and makes it unweldable )

...so then I moved on to some sort of epoxy...I researched epoxies for months...talked to manufactuers, technical reps...the works...finally settled on an expoxy...which worked really well...but I still had a leak.

so at someones suggestion I filled the boat with water...

I was leaching water at a previous weld repair...so back on the phone with the welders. A guy who has a mobile welding business stopped by and told me that whomever welded it before had welded it too hot and the weld was actually pourous...and once saturated will leak.

Oh freakin wonderful...

He suggested I cover the welds with the epoxy.

I went a bit further...

another few weeks of research led me to using Herculiner Paint on truck bed liner. ( everwhere except where the bunk boards go) I stripped the bottom, cleaned it with a special acid, stripped in again, primed it with a Sherwin Williams aluminum primer and painted on the bed liner...

I still have a freakin leak...but now it only leaks some of the time.

When I fill the boat with water, no seepage or water anywhere...it is well sealed..but on some days I still get a slow leak. I cannot figure out where the heck the water is coming in at...

one of the through the hull fittings?

I would expect that to seep when the boat has water in it

through a rivet again...

same as above...I would expect some seepage...

so all of that work and now I have seepage I cannot find, which frankly does not seem like much of an improvement to me...

anyone have any ideas?

I had an old aluminum boat once. When I got it, the thing leaked about 2 inches of water per hour. Replaced a dozen loose or missing rivets and got it down to about an inch every 2.5 hours. Found a big fat car wash sponge and tossed it in the back of the boat. I used it to bail every once in a while and never worried about it again.

Old aluminum boats are gonna leak. As long as the boat is structurally sound and you can easily stay ahead of the leak then don't worry about it. If you can't bail due to a subfloor, add an automatic bilge pump.

If you have that small of a leak, I wouldn't worry about it... my boat's cooler drains straight into the hull so even though my boat doesn't leak, anytime I have ice with me, I get some water in the hull. You have a working bilge pump, right?

Here's one other possibility... (I had this happen 2 years ago) buy a couple new drain plugs. I had one that was just dried out enough to let some water by. I though I had a seeping leak but when I lost that plug and bought a new one, over 2 years ago, I haven't had my supposed seepage since... unless I carry iced down drinks. ...lol

If the new plug fails to stop it and you are 100% sure the herculiner coating is good and not leaking, that leaves the bunk areas and fittings. You can go back and coat those areas. You can jack the boat up from beneath with a floor jack and a padded block of wood at the transom.

If you have seepage at a TH fitting, you should be able to either replace the fittings or seal them.

Good luck, I hope it's just a dried out plug. (even though it would be frustrating to know a $2 part fixed it)

I go along with Fletchero on the drain plug.  I temporarily misplaced my usual plug the other day and used my back-up plug.  When I pulled the plug after fishing, I had about a half gallon water pour out.  Found regular plug, went fishing, no water.  Those plugs do go bad.

Also, another possible culprite.  Do you have a water-pressure speedometer that uses plastic tubing.  That tubing will also go bad and develop a tiny leak.  Usually will not leak when you fish an electric only lake due to no real pressure being exerted on the pickup; will leak when under power of big motor.  (Tubing does not have to be old for this to happen.  Momentary pinch, kink, etc. will rupture the tubing enought to start a tiny leak.)

Just a couple of thoughts.  Bob

i have the almost the same thing happening....it leaks about 2cm of water when it is first in the water then somehow it seals at the plug and no more water comes in....im going to go get a new plug

got a bilge and all that...

and I realize that it really is not a big deal that it leaks...it is just a point of agggrivation with me.  Its like I have put this much time and effort into, now I will not be happy until I get it stop leaking. Now it is kind of a challenge ya know.

I did replace the drain plug...but it would not hurt to try another one. I will try that and see if it changes anything.

The speedometer tube huh...hmmm...I would have neer thought of that...that is a really good possibility actually. I will definately have to look into that...

thanx guys...

Now it is kind of a challenge ya know.

All too well!! My boat is 13 years old, I have been there countless times! Just wait until you get into tracing an intermittent short or my real favorite.... the occasionally faulty ground!! > > > >

;D ;D It is like you conquered the world when you finally find and fix it! ...lol

Another area to think about is leaking livewell fittings.  Drain and dry the boat.  Close off the livewell input on the outside of the boat and close off the LW overflow line outside the boat.  Now fill the livewell up with water till it overflows into the overflow tube and let it run some more to completely fill the overflow line up. Now look around for leaking from the LW fittings, LW pump or from the overflow line.

Another area to think about is leaking livewell fittings. Drain and dry the boat. Close off the livewell input on the outside of the boat and close off the LW overflow line outside the boat. Now fill the livewell up with water till it overflows into the overflow tube and let it run some more to completely fill the overflow line up. Now look around for leaking from the LW fittings, LW pump or from the overflow line.

This was going to be my suggestion.  I have seen this happen before.  Like Cart said, be sure to fill the overflow tube.  Wouldn't hurt to run the aerator too.

Now it is kind of a challenge ya know.

All too well!!  My boat is 13 years old, I have been there countless times!  Just wait until you get into tracing an intermittent short or my real favorite.... the occasionally faulty ground!!   > > > >

;D ;D  It is like you conquered the world when you finally find and fix it!  ...lol

LOL flechero...

I had an issue with a short in my horn...I know, I know it is just the darn horn...( my wife gave me that...you are such an idiot...look when I wanted to fix it). I messed around with it for about an hour...then gave up and just replaced all the wiring for the horn!

It is nice to know I am not the only obsessive one on here! LOL!

The livewell line is another good suggestion. I will have to check both that and the speedometer line as soon as it quits storming long enough.

thanx again guys...

i have seen a lot of boats leak in the transom where the bolts go through that hold the outboard on---I would check those for leaks.