Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

[JPritch]

My boat has taken on some considerable water last few trips. Pull the drain plug at the end of the trip and watch water pour out for 5 minutes, and enjoy the look on people's faces.

I think I got one part of it fixed...my buddy closed the check valve on my livewell aerator pump and that cut the drain time to about 1 minute. I'm guessing that the hose that connects the aerator pump to the livewell must be cracked or leaking somehow?

Also, with regard to the rub rail.....I'm thinking this may be the culprit for the rest of the water. When making left hand turns, I notice alot of water seeping up through the rub rail from underneath. It doesn't do this on right handed turns. Does this sound like water could be getting into my boat that way? I wanted to confirm this was a possibility before I undertook the project of fixing it.

Thanks!

 

[Fisherball]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Get a bilge pump!!!

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

rub rails are a major source of water intrusion. through-hull valves are a major source of boats sinking.

Operating a closed-bilge boat without a bilge pump is a major source of Darwin awards.

Rub rails are hard to seal completely but it can be done. Depending on the design, if nothing else, run a bead of caulk/silicon along the underside. You can also add a a splash-rail, or chine, lower on the hull.

 

[BayouRunner]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

I have, I think, the same problem. I re-siliconed the intake for my live-well fill pump thing, but am still getting serious water in the boat. (manual bilge, not automatic...to hard to replace with automatic one) I'm guessing it's the discharge hose for the live wells OR the hose from the live well pump to the live well. Either one is gonna be a pain in the stern to get a hold of and fix. Luckily, I don't use my front live well, so I can eliminate that hose and let what water accumulates in there from rain (leaking in from the door) drain into the boat and out the drain. I'm gonna fill the boat with water while on the trailer tomorrow and see if water leaks from ANYWHERE. I don't know, if it IS my hoses, if water will leak from them with the boat filled with water, since it's use to leaking with water coming in from the outside (did that confuse you as much as it does me????).

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

With the boat empty of water and sitting on a trailer....... use a garden hose with a pressure nozzle and point it under the rub rail..... that will tell if you need to add some sealant.

While it's on the trailer, inspect you hull and also check the lower mounting holes for your outboard......notorious for leaking.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

don't use silicon under water
add a float switch to your existing bilge pump wiring asap.

 

[JPritch]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Even with all the water I've taken on, very little water will collect in the bilge pump area to be pumped out. I'll cut it on and it might pump some out if I stand in the very back of the boat, but not alot. It's like the water is collecting below the bilge area if that's possible? I can only get it to drain good after I take the boat out of the water and have the bow elevated on the ramp. I have a fiberglass Cape Craft 16 CC.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

That is highly unusual for a boat that size and design.
Try running the pump when you are on a plane, or getting up on one. All the water will be in the back. When it runs dry, stop and see how much is left in there.
When your boat is sitting on the mooring, all the water in bilge should accumulate in the stern. If your boat sits with the bow low so the bilge water isn't in the stern, you have a weight distribution problem--possibly caused by waterlogged floatation foam.
On the other hand, you may have a pump set too high. After you run the pump with the boat on a plane, if there is a lot of water left in there, that is your problem. Keep in mind that bilge pumps don't pump the bilge bone dry, but it won't leave much.
You have two problems to correct: water getting in, and water getting out.

 

[BayouRunner]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Bob, you musta been looking over my shoulder when I got home a lil while ago. Since we've had torrential rain since yesterday afternoon, and since I was smart enough to put the plug in the boat, my boat is now filled with water. I noticed a slight drip/leak at the live well intake that I JUST siliconed a week or so ago. I also noticed that 2 of the 4 bolts that attach the jack plate to the transom are slightly leaking. I'll prob take them off, put a washer behind them with some silicone and re-tighten. The live well intake area is another story. There is a spacer type deal that I don't know if or where to get a new one. It's kinda oddly shaped. It's like if you took a spacer, about an inch thick, set it flat on a table and ran a saw horizontally through it at a 45 degree angle, so that it fits the contour or angle of the hull where the live well intake pipe comes out. That spacer, when I took it off a week or 2 ago, was in 3 (broken) parts, held together with a zip tie. I cleaned it, tried siliconing it and re-zip tied it, but maybe to no avail since I have a lil leak from that area. That'll be a nice challenge to find one before next Saturday (I have a fishing tourney next Saturday).

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Bob, you musta been looking over my shoulder when I got home a lil while ago. Since we've had torrential rain since yesterday afternoon, and since I was smart enough to put the plug in the boat, my boat is now filled with water. I noticed a slight drip/leak at the live well intake that I JUST siliconed a week or so ago. I also noticed that 2 of the 4 bolts that attach the jack plate to the transom are slightly leaking. I'll prob take them off, put a washer behind them with some silicone and re-tighten. The live well intake area is another story. There is a spacer type deal that I don't know if or where to get a new one. It's kinda oddly shaped. It's like if you took a spacer, about an inch thick, set it flat on a table and ran a saw horizontally through it at a 45 degree angle, so that it fits the contour or angle of the hull where the live well intake pipe comes out. That spacer, when I took it off a week or 2 ago, was in 3 (broken) parts, held together with a zip tie. I cleaned it, tried siliconing it and re-zip tied it, but maybe to no avail since I have a lil leak from that area. That'll be a nice challenge to find one before next Saturday (I have a fishing tourney next Saturday).

Throw the sillycone stuff aside and get a tube of 3m 4000 series (non-permanent) or even 3m 5200 (permanent) and use that as the sealant.

 

[BayouRunner]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Will do. Any idea where I could get the angled spacer thingy? It's about 2-3 inches in diameter, about 1 inch thick, and cut horizontally at about a 45 degree angle. Like I said up there ^, it's used to make the intake for the live well fill pump level, as opposed to angled like the boat is.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Could you make one from a cutting board? That cutting board plastic is great stuff.

 

[sasto]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Throw the sillycone stuff aside and get a tube of 3m 4000 series (non-permanent) or even 3m 5200 (permanent) and use that as the sealant.

what he said....

I've never seen silicone work for anything on our boat, especially rubrail. We use it to make things look pretty, but that's about it....and then I dig it out, scuff, clean, and do over again....every year.... I like the permiable polysulfides (I don't see discussed much) over urathane sealents for some applications.

Polysulfide caulking stays soft, semi-good adhesion qualities,....but not pretty.

Good Luck... J.Pritch!

 

[BayouRunner]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

I've never seen a cutting board that thick. At it's thickest, it's probably an inch, if not 1 1/4 inches thick. I'll brainstorm and see what I come up with.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

glue several pieces of cutting board together.

Get mahogony and seal it, or marine plywood; replace every 15 years.

Go to a galss shop (they also sell plexiglas) and see what they have. Maybe plastic shower door material?

 

[Woodnaut]

Re: Signs of a Leaky Rub Rail

Walk down the length of your hull and push in on the side of the boat just below the rub rail. If the hull goes in - but the rub rail does not - there might be some broken fasteners behind the rub rail. I had an old 80's era Bayliner that surprised me one one day after I performed this check. I don't know how many of the aluminum rivets had let go, but it was several. Repairs weren't difficult.