Water in boat!

[kingbiscuitboy]

Hello,
I have a 1990 Avon 4.6 Typhoon. It has begun to take on quite a bit of water. Does anyone have suggestions for finding where the water is coming from? My only thought is to take out the aluminum floor and to fill the boat with water, then look underneath for drips. I do not know if this is a bad idea in that it may too severely stress the floor. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Channel Ribs]

If you can turn the boat over and clean it, you should be able to see if anything has scuffed or punctured it.

[m chappelow]

Partialy filling the boat up with water should do no harm especially an Avon
,in fact they used to use an inflatable with no floor holding up a 45 gallon drum in their advert brochures,
problem is that some holes are not a proper hole but can have a flap which will act like a one way valve ,water can come through the hole but wont drain out because the water then presses the flap shut and stops the water from going backout .
as channel ribs just said you could turn the boat over and give it a good blast with a hose ,
for pin holes just looking under the upturned boat in strong sunlight should give you a good indication ,,
good luck mart

[thornbackflound]

Yes i had a little concern on the Earls maiden voyage,took a bit of water on ,once on the plane filling up a bit ,then slowed down displaced itself to the hull and did nt see it,was not a lot and i will set the self bailers up and that should get it out once we quick plane up,me thinks a small hand pump of some discription would be good?trouble with the ole girl she has more pin holes then a dart board,lol,still she was as safe as house's and had no worries.

[Peter_C]

Flip the boat over and check the floor of the boat to the tubes. Plus along the transom. Water getting in is not a big deal as long as it has a way to get out. My Zodiac has gallons brought back into it when we crawl back onboard. Once on plane the boat drains in a reasonable amount of time.

A small seem separation is all it takes to quickly fill the boat. They also do not fix themselves and get worse.

[jyasaki]

First thing is to check your drains and make sure any diaphragms are clear (no pine needles, leaves, cigarette butts, etc holding them open), and that any plugs are in solidly against the hole they fit into. You can get a good amount of water in from a leaky drain.

I've used the flooded boat thing to check for leaks on a 14' Achilles; be a little careful, as you can usually overload the trailer if it's on one.

jky

[kelson]

My futura had some very small leaks that I could not easily identify. I filled the boat with a little water and it was easy to spot where the water was seeping between the floor and the tubes right along the edges of the tube seams (where they crossed the floor to tube glued seam). I was also able to see that my transom seams were leaking a little (which I went ahead and re glued entirely). I don't think that there is a better way to find water leaking or seeping into the boat. Hard to find water leaks are glaringly obvious with just a couple of inches of water in the boat. You don't have to fill the boat to check for these types of leaks that are low in the boat! I tilted the boat back on the trailer to get the water level up when I checked the transom seams. I wouldn't partially fill the boat up to find pinholes or other air leaks. I still prefer soapy water for air leaks.

Zodiac handled a little water easily, but it is nice to have a properly sealed boat and a dry floor. If I hadn't added a few inches of water I wouldn't have realized my transom was seeping and needed repair until the glued seams began to fail more. It wasn't all that obvious and the seams weren't pulling apart yet. I use the partial fill test on all used boats I check out for my friends. Sellers usually will go with that while pulling on material and seams to check them isn't going to happen.

[kingbiscuitboy]

I filled the boat with an inch of water and it became quite apparent where it was leaking from.
I used the two part glue and hypalon material and it is leak free again. Sure is nice not to have all that water in the boat.