flipped my 17 1/2 ft xpress with 90hp motor last weekend

[nofish]

[QUOTE=ALANRAYG2;23704]

Originally Posted by nofish

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I still can't find anywhere that water could get in! To see some of the welds I'd have to get it hoisted off the trailer. That may be the problem though.

I got all of the bad gas out and with my old starter it's running great on land. I'll see how it does tomorrow in the water. I'll keep a very close eye on the bilge tomorrow. When i arrived at where i store my boat wouldn't ya know i had a flat tire. I'm on my way to buy a new one now.[/

Nofish, while the boat is on trailer you can add a couple inches of water with a hose. Let it set for a while to see if it leaks out. If no leaks are detected add a few more inches. See if it is leaking then. I would do this all the way to the waterline where the boat sits at rest. You should be able to see something. You might have a hole under a bunk. If so the bunk will be wet. Keep us posted on your findings. Good Luck !!!!

That's a good idea i need to revisit. I ve done that in the past and saw no water leakage. Will do again for sure. The hoses are all good, but i'll replace them anyway. I didn't make it to the lake today due to lack of funds for a darn tire. $69 for the tire by itself. $79 for the tire and wheel at walmart. If I'm going to do the tire and wheel i'll replace both. My tire size on the good tire is 175/80d13. I'm not sure what that translates to, but the biggest trailer tires walmart has will fit.

[nofish]

[QUOTE=nofish;23737]

Originally Posted by ALANRAYG2

That's a good idea i need to revisit. I ve done that in the past and saw no water leakage. Will do again for sure. The hoses are all good, but i'll replace them anyway. I didn't make it to the lake today due to lack of funds for a darn tire. $69 for the tire by itself. $79 for the tire and wheel at walmart. If I'm going to do the tire and wheel i'll replace both. My tire size on the good tire is 175/80d13. I'm not sure what that translates to, but the biggest trailer tires walmart has will fit.

Same lug pattern. It's slways something, i swear it never ends!

[Buccaneer]

nofish - I had a Skeeter aluminum with 90 hp Yamaha and the hull was made by G3, 2001 vintage. One day on Old Hickory the bilge pump kept kicking on and it was driving me nuts. Turned out to be a cracked weld along the chine, almost 2/3's forward of the transom. Only way I found it was filling the boat from a hose on my driveway. The crack was a hairline right thru the middle of the weld about 6" long. I got a new hull out of that problem.

[QUOTE=nofish;23737]

Originally Posted by ALANRAYG2

That's a good idea i need to revisit. I ve done that in the past and saw no water leakage. Will do again for sure. The hoses are all good, but i'll replace them anyway. I didn't make it to the lake today due to lack of funds for a darn tire. $69 for the tire by itself. $79 for the tire and wheel at walmart. If I'm going to do the tire and wheel i'll replace both. My tire size on the good tire is 175/80d13. I'm not sure what that translates to, but the biggest trailer tires walmart has will fit.

Nofish, I have had another thought.... If you were using your livewell the "day" the boat flipped you might have to try these tests. Put a plug or cork stopper in the drain for the livewell on the outside the hull. Fill the livewell with water and let her set for a while. If you have a drain valve keep it closed for a while and check for a leak into the hull. If you don't see a leak then open the valve and wait for a while again. Keep checking for water to show up in the hull. Make sure the bow is higher than the stern so all water will run to the back. Check the livewell timer. If it stays on all the time water can fill the livewell faster than it can drain out. Water can overflow the top of the livewell between the top of the well and the underside of the deck. You could have a stopped up drain line if that turns out to be the case. I have seen a cracked drain valve leak into the hull when they were closed. I have seen plugged drains cause water to overflow the well and into the hull. sometimes a barfed up shad can do that. last year a friend was filling his well on the manual position and forgot that it was on. Water filled the well and was spilling into the hull under the deck. It was running out the lids too. Had water all over and the automatic bilge had kicked on to let us know we had a problem. I am interested in what you find. Hope this helps.

[nofish]

[QUOTE=ALANRAYG2;23745]

Originally Posted by nofish

Nofish, I have had another thought.... If you were using your livewell the "day" the boat flipped you might have to try these tests. Put a plug or cork stopper in the drain for the livewell on the outside the hull. Fill the livewell with water and let her set for a while. If you have a drain valve keep it closed for a while and check for a leak into the hull. If you don't see a leak then open the valve and wait for a while again. Keep checking for water to show up in the hull. Make sure the bow is higher than the stern so all water will run to the back. Check the livewell timer. If it stays on all the time water can fill the livewell faster than it can drain out. Water can overflow the top of the livewell between the top of the well and the underside of the deck. You could have a stopped up drain line if that turns out to be the case. I have seen a cracked drain valve leak into the hull when they were closed. I have seen plugged drains cause water to overflow the well and into the hull. sometimes a barfed up shad can do that. last year a friend was filling his well on the manual position and forgot that it was on. Water filled the well and was spilling into the hull under the deck. It was running out the lids too. Had water all over and the automatic bilge had kicked on to let us know we had a problem. I am interested in what you find. Hope this helps.

I'll check everything you've said next Saturday and i'll let you know the outcome. Thanks for the advice.

[Travis C.]

The livewell hose was how water kept getting in mine. It was coming in through a crack along the livewell fill hose under the gas tank causing it impossible to see. After troubleshooting all the connections, we closed off that hole on the outside put it in the water and that is what it ended up being. Bad part was the tank had to come out to fix it.

Also yesterday talked to dad and asked him about it. His buddy had a similiar problem with the same boat you have and it was a bad weld. They replaced his boat with a little better model.

Just becareful if you fill the boat on the trailer to check for leaks that you don't exceed the trailer weight limits.

[nofish]

Originally Posted by Travis C.

The livewell hose was how water kept getting in mine. It was coming in through a crack along the livewell fill hose under the gas tank causing it impossible to see. After troubleshooting all the connections, we closed off that hole on the outside put it in the water and that is what it ended up being. Bad part was the tank had to come out to fix it.

Also yesterday talked to dad and asked him about it. His buddy had a similiar problem with the same boat you have and it was a bad weld. They replaced his boat with a little better model.

Just becareful if you fill the boat on the trailer to check for leaks that you don't exceed the trailer weight limits.

If it ends up being a weld it seems like that wouldn't be a big deal to fix if you know someone or a shop that is good at welding aluminum. Am i right?

[nofish]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

nofish - I had a Skeeter aluminum with 90 hp Yamaha and the hull was made by G3, 2001 vintage. One day on Old Hickory the bilge pump kept kicking on and it was driving me nuts. Turned out to be a cracked weld along the chine, almost 2/3's forward of the transom. Only way I found it was filling the boat from a hose on my driveway. The crack was a hairline right thru the middle of the weld about 6" long. I got a new hull out of that problem.

Were you the original owner?

[Buccaneer]

Sorry for the late reply I just got back from east Texas on a business trip. Yes I was the original owner of that hull. I thought about having it welded but contacted my dealer and discovered this was not the first issue for cracks in that area. I'm glad they warranted the hull, but to your point I believe it could be welded rather easily.

[nofish]

Last weekend i checked all of the welds on the boat and they're ok. I filled my livewell to the top and plugged the fill and drain and it held with no leaks. I filled the hull with water and no leaks.

The back of my boat sits low in the water so i think what happened is i stopped abruptly and my wave went over the back of my boat filling it instantly. Ive always been aware that can happen so i usually slow down easy or let off the throttle and give it a little gas. If my bilge pump hadn't failed and i had noticed it sooner i wouldn't have flipped over. I spent about 4 hours on the lake Sunday with no problems.

Operator error!!!