2001 Speedsteer - leak in the bildge and/or hull to deck joint.

[fender1983@gmail.com]

I found that my bilge is leaking. It appears that the leak is coming from the swim platform where deck and hull are joined together. It is most obvious when i back the trailer into the water, when swim platform goes under water i can hear whater stream rushing in.

When i am on the lake, the waves hit the joint and water will get in the bildge.

Any suggestion on how to fix or at least reduce the leak?

P.S. I am also planning to intentionally flood bilge with garden hose on the trailer with approximately 80 gallons of water (i had 4 guys on the boat on the trailer drinking beer when i bought it, so, i figured i can put equivalent weight of water in the bilge without ruining my trailer) - this method would test lower through holes for leaks too.

 

[Dr Honda]

Don't put the water in the hull... That's silly. You don't want to flood an engine, or mess up something electrical.

Unfortunately... yes... I have seen the top and bottom hulls leak at the seem. There's no aesy way to fix this. You have to remove the rub rail bumper... then drill out all the rivets... and then you can split the hull. At that point you can clean everything... put a big fat bead of RTV on it... and squish it back together.

 

[fender1983@gmail.com]

Don't put the water in the hull... That's silly. You don't want to flood an engine, or mess up something electrical.

Unfortunately... yes... I have seen the top and bottom hulls leak at the seem. There's no aesy way to fix this. You have to remove the rub rail bumper... then drill out all the rivets... and then you can split the hull. At that point you can clean everything... put a big fat bead of RTV on it... and squish it back together.

Folks do this all the time. My plan was to go to the powerhead-jet drive seal and see if it leaks, i will not go high enough to hit anything electrical and not to exceed 80 gallons (using timer and the bucket method). Ideally i want to be able to store it at the dock on the lake to use it more often.

I may have found the hole in the seal. I looked under the swim platform and there is a cavity in the silicone. I may try to fill it with silicone to test my theory (quick fix, not permanent).

As far as drilling out rivets and splitting the hull - do i just do swim platform or i have to split entire boat?