2015 TI water leak

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

I don't think we was overloaded too much, but we were probably close. A quick calculation shows we should have been at 605lbs, plus maybe 10lbs of gear. Water was not over any hatches, but it was splashing across them at times. Like you, we never open them while under way, unless the water is super smooth. I'm not sure on the front hatch either. It seems to be a pretty good seal, and the water would have to go over a lip, then down past the first seal, then push back up over the top seal again. Unless submerging the front, I don't think it's going to leak more than a hard splash or two. When we open it, the top of our spare life jackets are always dry, but the bottoms are soaked from the water inside. I don't doubt that all of these components leak a little, but this still seems pretty excessive. I'm a little under the weather this weekend or I would likely be taking it out and trying it after sealing those fittings. I did not see any leaks around the drives or scuppers, but will check again if this doesn't resolve it.

I was only trying to share some of our experiences and observations with these crazy boats, not pointing at any one thing or another, just things to look for mostly.

We go out on weekends and hang out at sand bars and stuff, and meet up with our powerboat friends. Always too many people who want to go out on rides and stuff.
Near the sand bars it's pretty shallow and fairly safe so we putz around sometimes. It's so hot here we have to be in the water most of the time, the boat just gets us there and back ( lol)

Here is a pic taken a couple weeks ago at a local sand bar, we had 5 people on the boat, and I think we were tipping near 700 lbs, yea the hatches were under water, and the boat was pretty sluggish but everyone had fun. We were only jacking around giving rides for a couple hrs, but took on if I had to guess 1.5 gallons of water, normal when not overloaded normal is a couple cups for the whole day, so I'm pretty sure I don't have any major leaks.


As you can see in the pic it was not wavy, and I don't think the bow dove under more than once or twice a little on downwind yet we still took on the water. I wasn't planning anything far offshore so I didn't tape anything up or take any extra precautions. It's not a big deal, I just pump the water out with my bilge pump (I have two on board just in case). I honestly have no clue where the water actually comes in, I suspect a little bit from everywhere.
FE

Yea, you are definitely loaded more than we were. Start getting the rudder lines and hatches under the water line and I would expect a little seepage. Lol.

Well,,, i'm not sure if this is what I was after or not, but it shows how much Hobie supports their product..... After my dealer sent a picture of where my leak is, they are replacing the boat under warranty.... They didn't clarify if it's the entire boat, or just the main hull, but we'll find out when the dealer gets it.

I'm happy to get a new hull and not have to be concerned about future issues, but i've spent many hours getting this one set up just like I want it. My biggest issue is that I am in the middle of rebuilding the engine on my truck to get ready for a trip over Labor Day weekend, and I don't really have the time to move all of my upgrades to the new boat. My dealer will gladly step up and move over a lot of things, but that just means that I "hope" they set it up just like I have it. And they only do minimal wiring, which I have some pretty detailed and custom routed wiring for bow/stern lights as well as my volt meter and power panel. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing at least that part of it myself.

We'll see how this plays out and how I can fit everything in with my crazy schedule at the moment. It's kinda bitter sweet, because it's great news, but means a LOT of work that I don't have time for at the moment. Anyway, i'll keep you posted.

That's really good news.
After posting my response, I thought about it more, and came to the conclusion you may have a serious problem. Should have added more. Those plugs are blind into an insert buried in plastic inside the hull, even if the plug were removed water shouldn't come out.
With water dripping out this means the inner hull was breached. When stationary it only drips small amounts of water, but under sailing load, that area is under high stress, and water was likely passing thru in large amounts.
A leak like that is completely un-repairable and Hobie did the right thing (they always do).
I had the hull replaced on one of my TI's under warranty. I didn't have any custom mods (I never modify anything on the boat itself).
The dealer just had me bring the boat into their shop, and they took off the AKA braces and fit them to the new hull. All the hatches, hatch covers, and hardware came with the new hull. It took them maybe fifteen minutes to do the work, they even loaded it on my SUV roof for me. We went straight from the dealer on a two week vacation in key west, not a lick of problems.
This is interesting, they are instructed to saw the problem area out of the hull, and sent it to Hobies engineers for further study, I'm really impressed I gotta tell ya.
FE

It is definitely good news! I've got a couple of threads on here about mods, none are major. Mostly a couple of rails anchor trolly, a couple of 1/8" holes for bow light wiring and a larger hole for stern light. The one that is really time consuming is my volt meter. I may mount it differently this time though so it's easier to deal with, although I really liked how it's currently mounted, just a lot more work. I'm sure after I get it all done again, i'll be very happy.

Got a call from my dealer and the new hull is in. Came as just the main hull without accessories and such just as we suspected. I finished up my truck last weekend but our next trip is right around the corner so i'll probably hold off until we get back from that to do the swap. We did take it out Sunday after the truck was finished and my temporary fix sealed it up completely, not a drop inside. Good to know that worked, however like we mentioned earlier it's not really a permanent fix anyway.

Mine is also deformed a bit at the pins. Have not checked for leaks yet.

However, I just sheared that front brass insert (it hold the mast in place). I just posted a new topic on it.

I think the stress on the front insert causes both the deformation and the leak. The deformation might be due to the v-brace pushing down on that very spot.