kleake: We have owned three TI's over the last 6 years, I'm pretty sure the leak you are describing is not where your problem is, yes it leaks a tiny bit, but not enough to account for 5 gallons in 6 hrs. If you add up the weight of all the adults, teenagers, and gear you had on your boat I'm pretty sure you were exceeding the 600 lbs limit of the boat (I know because we exceed our limit all the time). When overloaded there are several thing that happen, at least with our boat anyway when the round hatches go underwater, they leak, keeping the seals very clean and lubricated helps quire a bit, putting tape over unused hatches (like the rearmost hatch (that we never use for anything), really helps. On seldom used hatches keeping them clean and lubricated goes a long way, also filling the groove around the hatch with Vaseline out of a tube, helps keep water out, I like vaseline because it wipes up easily. We very seldom store anything in any of those round hatches anyway, I don't recall the last time I ever opened one while out on the water. Another thing you can do is remove all those round hatches (ie... take the screws out and remove), put a bead of clear silicone calk around the seal area, then screw the hatches back in (quite a bit of the water comes in thru the flange where the hatch screws to the deck (which is not very flat).
The main culprit is typically the big front hatch, the seal is not a cork in a bottle type seal (though it should have been), it's a flat rubber seal, the problem that comes up as the boat is moving thru the water the bow flexes up/down/sideways quite a bit actually (ours flexes up/down/sideways up to 4-5 inches while underway without our bow brace installed). If you don't believe me, have someone sit in the boat on dry land, remove the hatch, then lift the bow, the hatch opening moves around like an acordian. The problem is the cover is just flat plastic and it can't flex, so as the the overloaded boat is moving thru the water you get up to 1/4" gaps in the seals that water just rushes in. Think about out, once you are out on the water how often do you go into that big front hatch... We store our 4 person life raft in there, our first aid kit, some flares, flare guns, 2 bilge pumps, our tool kit with spare parts, our night time navigation lights, and that's about it, nothing we would ever need to access while on the water. If your planning to go out in really rough seas far offshore, or plan to go out severely overloaded, just tape over the hatch to seal it (that's what we do). Of course in lighter conditions, or if we are not overloading the boat we don't bother with any of that crap (which is the case 90% of the time we go out). Actually it's pretty dangerous opening any of the hatches while on the water, we have flooded and floundered our TI more than once trying via open hatches.
On the rear of the boat you have all your rudder lines, the way their supposed to work is the tubes inside the hull are supposed to curve up above the water line so water doesn't come in, in theory that great, in practice on an overloaded boat, water comes in those tubes like a faucet because the entire stern is typically submerged (no fix for that one). Think about it those tubes are the same size tubes used in the icemaker on your fridge, have you ever seen your ice maker starving for water, now multiply that times 4 tubes.
Another problem that comes up (more speed related), when we are cruising at our normal cruising speed of 8-10 mph mostly only when the boat overloaded all the scupper holes become drinking fountains (water shoots up just like a drinking fountain thru all the scupper holes). Filling the boat with water (which is really heavy), many times with my boat anyway the water in the way back, and the rear seat area is up to the gunwale (that's the main reason I don't like to sit in the back seat, (sitting in waste deep water). Normally when I go out solo, I'm usually out a few hrs, and I typically take in about a cup or two of water in light conditions. If I'm out hot dogging in rough seas at way too excessive speeds, I take on a gallon or two (if I don't tape everything up).
You definitely want to pressure test the hull to make sure you don't have a punctured scupper tube, or a leak in the mirage drive area (the two most common problem areas). But bottom line I know my hull is pretty sound, and when overloaded my boat can take in as much water as yours did (without any known leaks), that's just the way it is with these boats. Just make sure you have a good bilge pump. FE
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