I'm unsure of the actual hole in the hull. But i pump out a lot of water about every 30 minutes. But I have a gouge in the Keel. I was going to try and fiberglass and repair over. My brother and actually pored water in the boat looking to see where it came out and could not find a leak on the trailer. We caulk or sealed around every thing we could think of but didn't take out the bilge and live well pumps. I wish i could upload a photo. Is it is it upload in line images?
If you are pumping a lot of water every 30 minutes, I doubt the water is coming from a crack that sounds like it's not actually opened up. Does it look like a line drawn on the hull, or is there a fair amount of damage and maybe some open crack?
To test the hull for leaks, you need to raise the bow so the attitude of the hull is the same as the angle it has when sitting on the water. Plug the boat as if you are going to launch it. You'll want to watch for water appearing in the bilge during these tests, so you need to be able to actually see the lowest point in the hull. If you can't SEE the bilge pump is, move things so that you can.
TEST ONE: Use the garden hose with no hose sprayer attachment, just open hose flow: go around the rubrail at the stern area of the boat. allowing water to flow into the gap of the hull and the rubrail, top and bottom. Be sure to push water up, like a fountain, under the bottom lip of the rubrail. The rubrail covers the joint between the cap and the hull, and it may be lacking sealer. Have someone watching for water in the bilge as you do this. If after trying a while, the bilge is still dry, move on to the next test.
TEST TWO: Go ahead and plug the livewell drains as you normally would. Go to the transom outside the boat where your livewell drain fittings are located. Push the running garden hose onto/into each livewell drain outlet and surround the hose with a cloth to help seal it. The idea is to "push" water under pressure toward the livewell. Water can be seeping into the boat in reverse of the drain direction anytime the boat is sitting in the water, and this hose trick will help reveal such leaks. Have someone watching for water in the bilge as you do this.
TEST THREE: Leave the livewell drains plugged for now. Go to the transom outside the boat where you will have livewell fill pump inlet fittings. Remove screw on screens if you have them. Push the running garden hose onto/into each livewell fill pump inlet and surround the hose with a cloth to help seal it. The idea is to "push" water under pressure toward the livewell. Water can be seeping into the boat in this manner when the boat is sitting in the water, whether or not you have turned on the pumps because the lake can get into the hoses.. Have someone watching for water in the bilge as you do this. You may have a cracked fitting or pump housing.
TEST FOUR: Leave the livewell drains plugged. Find the livewell overflow fitting inside each livewell. They are usually fairly large, and may be hard to see up high in the back. Put the garden hose in each one. Have someone look for water flowing out at the transom. Have them cover that fitting to hold water in it as you fill the overflow plumbing with the garden hose. Then as they hold it sealed, look for water appearing in the bilge. This isn't a typical problem, but needs to be checked.
TEST FIVE: Use the garden hose to carefully fill the livewells without spilling water into the hull. You'll want to be watching for water appearing in the bilge. If you are normally running recirculator pumps when you have the accumulation of water, turn those on. Fill the livewells FULL, watching for water in the bilge that comes from any part of the livewell plumbing. Give this a bit to make sure it's not the source of the leak, then turn pumps off and go to the next step.
TEST SIX: Disconnect the battery (so the bilge pump won't activate). Use the garden hose to fill the bilge with water. You'll want to be watching the outside of the hull for leaks, even around your transom drain plug. You'll want to put enough water in the bilge to get up over all of the fittings through the transom, and well up onto the bilge pump housing to insure you've added enough water. This is a highly likely leak area. I've seen livewell fill pumps and other fittings crack, causing constant leaks. It won't hurt for livewell pumps to get wet - they're sealed. If still no dripping outside on the transom..... THEN it might be the crack you've found.
