Thread: Boat taking on water.

Hi guys. Did some fishing this weekend. After 6hrs of fishing decided to call it a day . After removing the drain plug from the transom i noticed about 1 litre of water coming out . Should i be concerned. Where is the most common place to look for the fault.

Live well plumbing or simply backwash when you stop (would not worry about 1 liter over a day's fishing)

Yip... I agree with Steve!

Thanks guys. I can sleep alot better now without having concerns about sinking. Just for my knowledge and everyone who is a little wet behind the ears about boating , Steve how does the water enter the hull with the backwash when you stop.

You get a stern wave backwash as you stop. On most boats it washes over the transom and drains through to the bilge under influence of gravity. Also, ice box water could be the culprit

Hey Shane

A litre is not too much to be concerned about at all bud.

I fishe the cast for cash at Witbank recently, after a couple hours on a spot we moved an felt the boat was a bit heavy, even though we are only running a little 25hp at the moment we knew something was not right.
With my brother and I standing at the back of the boat towards the end of the day the water was almost coming over the back onto the floating deck !
Thank God the day was done so we slowly battled to the other side and took the boat off the water.
While setting up camp we heard a sucking noise under the boat so decided to take the plug out, low and behold the boat spewed water for just under an hour !
We had damaged the hull slightly, a slight dent not exactly a hole.
Now taking into consideration we have had positive flotation put in this was not at all comforting..

Does that also do damage to the foam filled in your hull? Have you sorted the problem out? What did you do.

I've noticed that the drain plug is sometimes a culprit on my boat. If it's not very tight, it lets water in. I bought a new one, and it was worse than the original. It's not alot of water, maybe a litre or two for the day, so it's not a concern.

As Steve mentioned, your livewell plumbing may also leak a little.

Water will eventually damage the foam in your hull if it is left inside. As soon as mould starts forming, it will start eating the foam (it's a bacteria). It will probably take 20 years to destroy all the foam, but it will eventually get there. I had a boat which stood outside in the rain for 10 years which was foam filled. The foam was still fine in the hull, but it had become powdery where the water went in.

Originally Posted by Ben

I had a boat which stood outside in the rain for 10 years which was foam filled. The foam was still fine in the hull, but it had become powdery where the water went in.

So what would be the best to use for your buoyancy? I'm thinking about using pool noodles for my boat. Is that fine?

Pool noodles are apparently ok to use. There are some guys that will do your bouyancy certificate if you use pool noodles. They must however be securely fastened. If you do a search on this site for pool noodles you'll come up with the number of the guy who does it.

As for a pool noodles' ability to withstand water and bacteria, I can't answer you on that. I suppose it's alot easier and cheaper to replace a bunch of pool noodles than to replace foam injected into your hull.