Need help quickly

[Donny Boy]

Hi everyone, hopefully I can get some help on this one.
I went to put my boat in the water today (2005 Challenger 180) and water started to race into the back corner, filling up the back of it pretty quickly. It seems that maybe the water is coming in from the seam where the two parts of the hull are attached. Has anyone ever had this problem and / or can offer a solution??
Appreciate any help I can get.
Don

 

[GTX185]

I don't own a 180 but am somewhat familiar... Isn't that seam above the water line? Are you sure you don't have a leak thru the jet pump area, exhaust port, etc? Is the boat out of the water on a trailer?

 

[KK40384]

Seam is above the water line I'm pretty sure. The water is coming in from somewhere else. Are your drain plugs and seals good to go? If so i'd look into the exhaust outlet. That's in that same region you are describing and the coupler is rubber. It's possible for it to fail or for a clamp to come loose over time.

 

[Donny Boy]

Hi guys thanks for the quick replies. The seam is under the water when you launch the boat, assuming it will raise once on the water. We did not go that far as we backed the boat out as soon as we saw water entering. You can see it flowing in from the seam in the back corner, so pretty sure that is where it's coming from. I noticed later that the caulking under the bottom of the seam seems to be missing in areas and loose in others. Maybe that is the issue?

 

[KK40384]

Ok yea missing sealant can definitely cause that.

 

[Donny Boy]

If that's the case would I need to take all the stripping off to reseal or do you think it would be adequate just to seal under the bumper? I'm not sure how hard it is to remove and replace that bumper so don't want to get into a job that I can't finish lol!

 

[Coastiejoe]

I would re-launch it and let the boat float while still attached to the trailer via the winch strap. Make sure it is fully floating.

I'd be shocked if the seam is the issue. The sealant the is used on the skis is unreal. All but impossible to split the hulls if you had a desire to do so.

If,,, and i say if as I do not know, but if it is the same sealant it would be a rare event for it to leak.

I'm guessing it is a pump, ride plate, cable issue..

 

[Donny Boy]

Thanks Coastiejoe for the reply. It just seems an awful coincidence to me that the area that is leaking is right where the sealant is missing. On top of that, I doubt it would be an issue with anything else because we saw the water coming in from the seam. I could be wrong but this seems the most logical to me, especially since the motor mas not running, therefore not drawing in any water or any pumps functioning. I agree that it shouldn't be that easy to leak through the seam in the hull because of a little bit of caulking missing, but if I hadn't seen the water coming through I wouldn't have believed it either!

 

[Donny Boy]

Just to be sure, can somebody explain to me where the exhaust outlet is, and what it looks like?

 

[Coastiejoe]

Thanks Coastiejoe for the reply. It just seems an awful coincidence to me that the area that is leaking is right where the sealant is missing. On top of that, I doubt it would be an issue with anything else because we saw the water coming in from the seam. I could be wrong but this seems the most logical to me, especially since the motor mas not running, therefore not drawing in any water or any pumps functioning. I agree that it shouldn't be that easy to leak through the seam in the hull because of a little bit of caulking missing, but if I hadn't seen the water coming through I wouldn't have believed it either!

If sealant is missing, it could most certainly be the issue. In either case, easy enough to determine.

Let it float naturally. If no leak, start to put it on the trailer, no leak, out it more on the trailer ect ect ect.

When you see water coming in, see where the water line is.

 

[Dr Honda]

This is the first "Newer" boat I've heard about. But yes.... the seam can leak. It's common on the mid 90's boats. Bouncing the the water will eventually split the seam.

There's no good way to fix this... so just patch it, or live with it. (It's out of the water, once you launch... right?)

I would give it a good cleaning, and put a nice fat bead of Rightstuff, or RTV on the inside. (cleaning the inside of the hull is the key. Otherwise the RTV won't stick and seal)


THe proper way to fix it is to:

1) Remove the rub rail
2) Drill out ALL the rivets
3) split the hull.
4) Put bead of slow curing RTV on the edge
5) put the hull back together
6) Rivet the rail base back on
7) Install the rub rail.




FYI... #7 is a pain in the butt on it's own.