Live well leak

[Mr. Pike]

Have an older Lund boat that seems to be taking on a lot of water in the hull lately. There's a couple of drain holes on each side of the boat that are hooked up to the live well. I have a bilge pump in the the stern as well as one for the live well, so I was thinking about plugging those holes with something. Not sure if they make something.

Only other thing would be to put the drain plug in and fill the boat with water and see if there's a couple rivets loose.

 

[Allen]

If you suspect the livewell, here's a quick suggestion to look at the bulkhead fittings in the livewell. The discharge tube (water coming into livewell) has a bulkhead fitting that can come loose. Mine did and I would get water in the hull only when I used the offending livewell (front one on a Fisherman) AND it was windy/wavy out. The fitting came loose and I only noticed it when it was windy and I had been using the front livewell. No big deal, just contort your arm into the livewell and reach up past the water valve and feel around for the big nut that holds the bulkhead fitting in place. It was frustrating as hell to find this one.

 

[Bauer]

in most cases, one of those rubber/brass compression style bilge plugs will work, thread the t down to compress the rubber enough to seal the hole. That would be a good start and is easy enough to do.

 

[dukgnfsn]

if you store out in cold during the winter if there was possibly water in the drain line it could have frozen during winter and when boat is in water the pressure in the drain line below water line could be draining into the boat also. Just another angle and thought, don't ask how I might know this.

 

[Fester]

Have an older Lund boat that seems to be taking on a lot of water in the hull lately. There's a couple of drain holes on each side of the boat that are hooked up to the live well. I have a bilge pump in the the stern as well as one for the live well, so I was thinking about plugging those holes with something. Not sure if they make something.

Only other thing would be to put the drain plug in and fill the boat with water and see if there's a couple rivets loose.

Filling the boat with some water is actually not a bad idea..disconnect battery put the plug in and fill. If it’s a hose the water should seep into the areas where there may be a crack or loose fitting. Example: if intake for live well has a crack in the tube water/loose fitting you should start to seeping into the line and drip towards outside of the boat coming out of intake hole. This would at least eliminate tubes and fittings prior to the pumps. For after the pumps put in the water and run them. If you are taking on water like that you should be able to see some drips between the pumps into the live well fittings. Filling should also show if the rivets are leaking. Make sure everything is dry prior to filling.

 

[CatDaddy]

Do you have a roller or bunk trailer? Reason I ask is I just found about a 4" crack in my aluminum hull right where a roller sits. It was tricky to see because it was under the roller and about the same width. I'm pretty sure it happened when I hit a big depression on a gravel road doing about 35 mph....didn't see it, trailer bounced hard.

 

[Skeeter]

This is an evil scenario. It took me three years to find my leak. It ended up being a livewell fill hose that had burst. Ended up running a complete new fill line

 

[Slappy]

Find the leak or eliminate potential sources using your phone camera before you start tearing things apart.

Open hatches and use fan to ensure boat hull is dry. Launch the boat. Turn flash on phone video camera. Put your hand in access ports/hatches and pan around to record video of hull, livewell plumbing and any other potential leak sources. Try with pumps off, pumps on, with boat at rest, boat accelerating, etc.

 

[MuleyMadness]

If you suspect the livewell, here's a quick suggestion to look at the bulkhead fittings in the livewell. The discharge tube (water coming into livewell) has a bulkhead fitting that can come loose. Mine did and I would get water in the hull only when I used the offending livewell (front one on a Fisherman) AND it was windy/wavy out. The fitting came loose and I only noticed it when it was windy and I had been using the front livewell. No big deal, just contort your arm into the livewell and reach up past the water valve and feel around for the big nut that holds the bulkhead fitting in place. It was frustrating as hell to find this one.

Same happened in my dads old boat. We fought it for years before we figured it out. The live well bulkhead fitting on the side of the boat lined up perfectly on the bunk trailer so it bumped it and made it loose every time we loaded the boat. Never had a drop after that.

 

[ORCUS DEMENS]

Mr Pike, had the same issue when I converted live well to built in cooler. Plugged live well and filled with water, no leak. Plugged through hull drain and removed well plug. After a couple minutes the water started dripping out of the bilge drain hole. Guess I am pulling the deck this winter. I suspect it is the fitting to the hose heading to the transom. Until then I am putting a plug in the through hull at the transom as well as putting the plug in the well.

 

[johnr]

Sell it.