I have been having my boat for about 6 years now and havnt used it much in the past 2 years with the new kid and life changes. I just recently started cleaning it up and took it out last week and thought the boat seems a bit heavier then I remembered. I didn't think to check the water line while I was out in the water and there not a scale anywhere near where I live that I know of where I can weigh the boat. After surfing Google I've read people have drilled holes into the transom and bottom of the keel the inspect for rot. Just sounds silly to me to put holes and a boat. Has any done this? My boat is a Fiberglass hull with wood stringers.

Rubber mallet will tell you, dry will sound completely different than wet.

I had a boat crack in two on Amistad crossing moderate wave. Insurance sawed a section out and stringers were broken and foam was acting like a sponge holding water Foam apparently chemically had broken down.

Before I had noticed boat seemed heavy on water and I mistakenly blamed engine. Also noticed hull was developing spider cracks, some that dripped for days after being returned from water.

Insurance made my day.

Very dangerous to have water logged foam in a boat.

You can use almost anything to tap around on a boat. When I bought my last boat my dad used the end of his pocket knife handle to tap around the jackplate. If you have a water logged boat it will have a mushy sound when you tap on it. If it is solid it will have a nice solid sound to it. You cant mistaken the 2 different sounds. Try it out, youll know when you hit a soft spot.

I had a mid 90s Nitro that split a stringer in the hull and before I found it I too noticed a "heaviness". Confirmation came when I drilled the hull to install a transducer and water came out, even though the bilge was dry and my drill never went deep enough to penetrate the hull.