sstout

I went out of Myers this morning. The water was good in most spots. There was a scum line with debris when I got closer to being across from taughannock. Above that the water was muddy for a while but then cleared up. Overall the clarity was pretty good

Smat64, thanks for the offer. I think that'll be the route I take if the jb weld patch doesn't hold. I'll see what happens in the next few months. Thanks to everyone for the ideas on the leak. I'm glad to have finally found it

Well, I found the leak tonight. My dumb a** drilled a 3/16 inch hole through the boat when I riveted the floor down. I put a patch of jb water weld over it for bow and its holding. Now I've gotta find a more permanent fix. It's near the back of the boat so shouldn't take any pounding from waves. Atleast I found it, all though I am not happy with myself right now haha. I've got a buddy with a welding shop. Maybe he can patch it

My concern is that it is what HB2 is talking about. There's seems to be some sort of rubber in the seam from the factory where the transom aluminum meets the floor aluminum down by the drain plug. Anyone have any ideas to fix or seal this riveted seam?

There's no leaks from the splashwell down into the bilge. When I rebuilt the transom last year I sealed that very well and don't see any coming in. Thanks everyone for the ideas. I'll keep you posted how the next water test goes.

The bilge exits near the top of the hull in the back on the left side. It is just a manual switch that I pull every so often. The more I think about it, i think the water might be coming through the bolts that hold the power trim on. They go through the hull up a little higher. When the floor was out, the bottom bolt most likely wasnt under water. Now with more weight it is. I'll seal it up good and see. I definitely think the leak is coming from the transom area

All good points. It's an outboard. Boats never had any live wells in it. It's a 1975 starcraft, so very basic hull. It's getting about the same water coming in whether sitting still or moving. The more I think about it is coming through the bolts in the transom. The boat was halfway on the trailer the second time I was noticing it was leaking and the bow was out of the water. Hopefully Tuesday night I can splash it again now that the transom is sealed more to see

Yeah. I replaced the transom last year. I found 5 leaky rivets, re set them and then applied 2 coats of gluvit over all the rivets. The boat sitting lower in the water is a good idea. When I took it out to test it had no floor, 1 battery, and 1 gas tank. Now it's got the floor, vinyl, seats, 2 batterys, and 3 gas tanks. Hopefully some 5200 is the answer. Thanks for the info. I like the wooden down idea

It's not the live well. There's no livewell on the boat. I'm thinking it's some of the bolts through the transom. The previous owner had trim tabs and a couple other things that are now removed. I had them sealed but not with 5200. They are sealed good now. I just don't think after 2 coats of gluvit it's coming from the rivets. Hopefully Wednesday night I'll test that theory. I really don't want to rip the floor I just finished back up.

Hi everyone, so you may have seen my build with gutting my boat and building it all back up again. Well, I took it to the lake for the first time since finishing it this morning. It leaked like it's never leaked before. Holy crap. The rivets are coated in gluvit. I had it on the water without the floor in and it didn't leak. Now its finished and I could pump the bilge pump every 10 mins. I tried 2 different drain plugs, that didn't help. I filled the bottom of the boat with water from the hose and there's no obvious sign of leaks. This afternoon I re-sealed all the bolts through the transom both outside and in with 5200. Is there anything you guys. Can think of that would make it do this? It's kind of disheartening to finish a build and the boat leaks worse than when you started. Grr. I appreciate any advice.