Leaking Bow Eye

[Wind Knot]

It took a couple of weeks to figure out where the water was coming from in my aluminum boat, and I am 90% sure that it's a leaking bow eye. With two people on the casting deck, the bow eye is totally submerged and we get water. When I'm fishing by myself, there is much less water and the bow eye is out of the water more than it's under water. I did a little bit of reading about leaky eyes and they can take on a pretty good amount of water when submerged because the water entering the holes is pressurized.

- Filled the boat with as much water as I felt the trailer could handle, no leaks.
- Lowered the tongue to slosh water to the front of the boat, no leaks, but the bow eye isn't submerged
- When I fish by myself, little to no water
- Put two people on the bow spider rigging and we get a pretty healthy amount of water after a few hours of fishing

The question is, how do I fix this? Tracker installed the bow eye, then poured foam in the compartment that holds the bolts. No way to get to it from the inside. I can guarantee there's a pretty stout brace running down the length of the deck right where I'd put an inspection port to hack out the foam from the topside, so that isn't going to work. The deck is welded to the boat, so the entire bow would have to be taken apart to get to it.

I'm wondering if there's an injectible sealant that I could push into the gap between the mounting plate and the ridges in the ice runner. Does anybody know of a sealant like this? Any other ideas?

[jimfish]

Might try some Vulcum its a roof sealant you can get it at hd or lowes,sets up in 24 hrs.

[satdoc1]

Clean it up well and use JB weld.

[DonDon]

WOWWW, I didn't even think of that. I've been having problems when a big ole boy goes fishing with me and no problems when Nessa is on the boat. He's bout 285ish so when we're both up from, it's about 500 pounds. So glad you brought that up

[Wannabe...]

Lets see a pic of the bow eye.

Wannabe...

[majflyboy]

What Sat said but make sure you use the marine formula.

["G"]

actually the regular formula has always worked better for me.......secret is to clean and rough up the area good

[Wind Knot]

WOWWW, I didn't even think of that. I've been having problems when a big ole boy goes fishing with me and no problems when Nessa is on the boat. He's bout 285ish so when we're both up from, it's about 500 pounds. So glad you brought that up

Drove me crazy. I had a bunch of water in the boat and found a crack in the ice runner going down the middle of the boat. Figured I may have a crack in the hull as well, so it went to the welder. Of course the split in the ice runner was under a portion of the floor that couldn't come out, so he had to cut a hole in the floor to get to the hull. No damage. Filled the boat with water, no leaks. Fished another weekend and a little water, but not as much water as the time before that, but four of us were in the boat. Two in the front and two in the back. Then the GF and I fished... Water. Leak tested the boat and nothing. Then I fished by myself. A little water but not much. Then the GF and I fished... WATER!!! I was starting to think that I was going nuts!

I'll snap some pics after work. I'm thinking I can push 5200 through a syringe and fill the gap, then run 5200 around the whole deal and seal it off.

[Wannabe...]

5200 was what I was thinking.

Wannabe...

[Wind Knot]

Yep. Bow eye. Pics seem to confirm to me at least.







Think 5200 is the way to go?