problem: i have a cajun. 94 something like that. great shape. 2 live wells. the boat takes on water though. the hull is in great shape. i am gonna replace the bildge pump cuz it stopped working. my only guess is that one of the hoses, maybe the live well hose, has a leak in it. when the boat is in the water it slowly fills. i intend to pull all the covers i can off of it and put it in the water this weekend and see if i can trace the leak. does this sound like a possible cause? i bought the boat from DFWboats.com and they are horrible. they promised the manual and never got it. if i need help, anyone know a good place for boat repair near 35 and g. bush?


www.scottlindsey.com/boat

On my last boat I experienced water entering the boat through small hairline cracks in the bilge pump housing. If the hoses to any of the pumps (bilge, livewells) have holes in them this will also allow water to enter

what did you do? did you do the work yourself? it is worse when i have more people in boat.

How fast is the water coming in? If it's a slow leak, it could be where the hose attaches to the aerator pump since those are sometimes difficult to tighten properly. I've also seen hoses left off after working on transducers. On another occasion, a hose was disconnected from a front aerator and a stick was shoved into the hose to keep it from leaking (although a temporary fix). It wasn't fixed properly and eventually the stick came out creating a lot of water entering the hull. Hopefully it will be an easy fix like one of the ones mentioned and not a structural problem with the hull.

Scott,

I am not trying to take up for DFW boats at all. However, Cajun's factory burned down in 1999 and they have a very limited facility they are using now. They may not even have your boat manual on file anymore to make a copy of it.

One of the many dangers in buying a "great deal" on a boat built by a defunct company.

From past experiences:
cracked thru hull fitting, cracked livewell pump neck caused by too rigid of hose and cold weather, loose hoseclamps, if you have thru hull fittings on the side for livewell overflow then the hose could be loose there. Had that happen and it filled faster with 5 people in the boat than 2 cause more weight = sitting lower in water. These things happen with $35000 boats as well as 1972 defunct boats. Things like these do not last forever and plastic fittings that are exposed to UV 24/7/365 wont last, period. All these things one has to deal with sooner or later unless you are daddy warbucks and get a new one every year.

Check the mounting bolts thru the transom. That old a boat you may have rot issues, or the bolts are no longer tight. My old CC weeped around the bolts for years. Never really solved the problem, even with larger diameter bolts.

awesome.. this is a tremendous HELP!!! this site rocks. and the web rocks.

on a side note. DFWboats is horrible. I was promised when i signed the paperwork for the boat it would ge all receipts and manuals for the boat since the engine was overhauled and all that. well. they led me on for a month. basically said. you are "S.O.L.".

scott

Fastest way to find leaks...
Take everything out of the back of the boat, batteries, oil tanks, remove all covers and lids.

Take the boat to the lake, straped on the trailer, put the boat in, nice and deep. Any leaks in hoses, etc will be obvious.

Does this happen all the time?

I thought my boat was taking on water too only to find out it was coming from the sloshing of the water in the livewells when I ran rough water.

On clam days there is no water in the boat to drain but on windy days there is a little.

try filling the live wells with water while its on the trailer and see if you can find any leaks. If that doesnt work put the hose in your floor drain and fill up the bottom until you see where water is comming out. If it comes in it will also go out. Hope this helps !

What Capt. Cook said. Where water comes in is usually where water goes out. A lot easier to detect the leaks in your driveway, than while on the water.