Bought a new small tin boat last year to use in places I don't want to take my glass boat to. After a few hours of use I'll have 2 inches of water in it. Thought it maybe a livewell hose was leakng so I pluged the outside intake and it still leaks. Next I filled the boat with water past the floor and checked for leaking rivets. None to be found. Any Ideas?

When you checked your live well for leaks did you also check the live well oulets. Usally these are located in different parts of the hulls from your intake. I woudl also check them for leaks. If you filled your boat and did not find any water Its probably a livewell fitting or hose. Otherwise how sealed is your splash well?

The livewell overflow is way above water level and the livewell drain uses the same outlet as the inlet which I had capped on the outside. And I never took any water over the transom into the splashwell. The only thing I can add is the water seems to come in more when I'm on plane. 2" in the bildge after a 30 min ride. I'm at a total loss.

there doesn't happen to be one of those speedo-pitot thingys mounted on the transom, with a black hose running in to the boat, NOT attached to a gauge? Or, the speedo hose has failed or split, and is leaking. Or, some motors have the pitot pick-up built-in to the lower unit, and your dealer ran the hose into the boat?
HRG

No speedo. Just a little 14' Smokercraft or should I say Soakercraft with a 20hp tiller.

One of my best friends has a Sylvan 16' Backtroller. He had a similar problem. We tried EVERYTHING to find it - like you have!!

The boat only took on water after a "run". We went through all the "normal" troubleshooting scenarios with NOTHING.

We went out on to the lake, with everything we could remove reasonably, so as to look and find the leak. As it turned out - the boat leaked at the transom chine when it was underway and under stress!! It could sit at the dock for a month and not get an ounce of water in it!! Put it underway.............it leaked. The factory repaired it at no cost - 7 years into the ownership. That AMAZED me!!!!

Ranger, you're talking about the row of rivets that join the sides to the bottom, right? A Smokercraft is the same boat as a Sylvan so it could be similar.. How did you find the leak? That row of rivets is pretty much below the floor not to mention the livewell and floatation pods in the way. How far up from the transom was the leak? Thanks

Have you tried filling the boat with water while it's sitting in your driveway? That way, you can see exactly where it is leaking water. If it comes in, it can go out...and, you'll be able to see the bottom of the boat when the boat is sitting on the trailer.

Just an idea that has worked for many others with similar problems.

Juls

Juls, that's what I did. Put over a foot of water in it on the trailer in the middle of the driveway. No leaks.

Juls, that's what I did. Put over a foot of water in it on the trailer in the middle of the driveway. No leaks.

Ranger might be on the right track then. Similar boat, similar leak?:huh:

Good luck...

Juls

How much water does your boat draw when in the lake? You need to add at least that much to emulate your "leak". Also, tilt your trailer to emulate your boat sitting in the water as well as on plane. Jack up the front and wait, then jack it down and wait. You may find something different.

rks,

We removed everything we resonable could remove and went out and ran the boat. We were picking up water and looked everywhere but didn't "SEE" anything. We started to stick dry coat hanger cardboard covers, like you get from the cleaners, in different places where we couldn't see. Starting from the front and moving aft while "running". We picked the water up near the stern, about 18" forward and, yes, it was the upper outboard chine on the port side forward of where they join the transom. The aluminum somehow had sustained damage at some point when the boat was running, like a log or something in the water. The damaged occured with the strain of the motor and resistance of the water. This damage apparently closed up when it was just sitting in the water, nothing leaked!

This summary was from Sylvan. We could not actually find it but my friend took a chance and spent the bucks to send the boat to the factory with our findings. Sylvan found it and fixed it and reimbursed him for his expense in sending the boat. I can't 'splain it any better than that!! What Sylvan did is beyond me but they did find it and fix it.