1999 Nautica 11DL: mystery leak.

[jeffsuwanee]

I have a leak in the back left tube on my Nautica 11DL. Its very strange though. If i fill
the tube, it will stay firm at the dock for days, and continue too stay firm at very slow speeds. Once the rib is up on plane and the tubes are bouncing against the water, the tube will deflate completely in about three minutes. I put some gorilla tape over the fill valve and ran the rib, but it continueed to happen, so its not the fill valve.......any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this one?

Thanks in advance.....
Jeff

[jyasaki]

On trailer: Fill to near normal operating pressure, douse the tube with soapy water, then bounce the tube as much as you can. Sit on it, stand under it; try to exercise the areas where it joins the hull.

Clarification: Did you cover just the fill hole, or the entire valve (all around the mounting rings?) And how would you tell if the valve was leaking in either case?


jky

[cgoing]

Sounds like the leak in the tube may be against the hull. When it is not moving it seals itself against the fiberglass. When you start bouncing along it unseals and the air comes out. I had a 22' nautica I worked on a while back that had that issue. It drove me nuts for quite a while trying to find it.

Good luck !

[jeffsuwanee]

I think you are righ about the leak being in the tube against the hull.....so i will pull it onto a trailer today and begin the search....thanks.