Lund Hole in the Hull

[woodfish]

I own a Lund Pro V 1800, bought it new 2002. Today I notice it is butt heavy on take off by the time I get back to the launch it is very heavy and hard to maneuver. Get it on the trailer and pop the drain plug in the transom and have to step back as a flood from the drain hole gushes for 8 minutes with gallons and gallons of water. I had tired my bilge on the water to see if it could help but no water was ever dumped from the bilge.

This is a first for me. I climbed under the boat searching for answers to the water leak and found a machined hole the size of my thumb (I have big thumbs) in the hull of my Lund. Pardon my ignorance but why is there a machined hole in the left front hull of my boat big enough to stuff a quarter inside? Is this the source of all the frigging water in my boat? The are no plastic dressings around the hole, just a big hole in the aluminum that was not caused by any misguided shallow water adventure. This is a man mad hole.

[Spinach]

Front livewell drain hole.

[Tweak]

Somebody posted about this earlier this year. I believe the hole you are describing is your front livewell / baitwell drain

[ozarkeyes]

As the others have posted, this is the front livewell drain. The thru hull fitting has broken off. If you feel comfortable about tackling the job, you will save some money to replace it yourself because there will be a good amount of "time" involved, and a shop will hit you pretty good for their time. You need to get some air into the hull to start drying too. Since there was a lot of water in the boat, you might have to pull some floor sections to get it dry to prevent mold and mildew to form under the floor.

[locomoto]

That very well may be the source of water. Put some water in the hull while on the trailer and see where it comes out. I'd be taking a look at that bilge pump too....as to why that didn't pump out some water. Did you use your live wells? I had a leaky live well fill hose once and let me tell you that thing pumped plenty of water into the hull.

Good luck

[Shellback]

That's one thing I can't understand, supposed top of the line aluminum boats with cheap plastic thru hulls. Plastic deteriorates and is easily broken. No excuse!! I know some of these new plastics are almost indestructible, but obviously they weren't used in this boat or others mentioned.

[Hot Runr Guy]

Originally Posted by Shellback

That's one thing I can't understand, supposed top of the line aluminum boats with cheap plastic thru hulls. Plastic deteriorates and is easily broken. No excuse!! I know some of these new plastics are almost indestructible, but obviously they weren't used in this boat or others mentioned.

Shellback,
the OP never described a plastic thru-hull, my '06 Lund had a drilled/stamped hole with a "stub" welded to it on the inside, providing a place to attach the livewell drain hose to.

The question is, is the "stub" still attached to the hull, or has the hose fallen off and/or split? Woodfish, are you feeling just the hull thickness, or is there a tube that you can slide your finger up into?

HRG

[mrwalleye5]

Before you start ripp'in and tear'in, check the bottom side of your transducer mounting board. I have had mine pull away at the bottom so it was not real noticeable. Couldn't figure out why I was getting water in the boat. It was leaking water around where the screws had pulled out.

[ffishman]

Maybe the first owner drilled that hole to let out the water that was leaking in the back.

[blackxpress]

Originally Posted by mrwalleye5

Before you start ripp'in and tear'in, check the bottom side of your transducer mounting board. I have had mine pull away at the bottom so it was not real noticeable. Couldn't figure out why I was getting water in the boat. It was leaking water around where the screws had pulled out.

Good point. I recently replaced the transducer on my Xpress bass boat. Even though I used the same screw holes as the original transducer I didn't get the screws sealed good enough and could not believe how much water leaked in. The automatic bilge pump was kicking on every 20 minutes or so. I took the whole thing apart and re-sealed it and that solved the problem. Even though the two sheet metal screws were nice and tight and they were both coated with silicone they still leaked like crazy. It doesn't take much of a leak to fill up a bilge in a hurry. Plus, most of the really bad leaks tend to be in the aft section of a boat, especially around the transom because that's where most of the weight is when the boat is at rest. Lots of water pressure in that area.