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Express tube has a leak

kaydano

kaydano

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Can the bunks be removed from the center pontoon while the boat stays on the trailer supported by just the two outer toons? That would make it easier to access underneith the Express center toon while the boat stays on the trailer.

Anyone know? Guessing this is what's done when adding the center tube, which some guys have had done here, like Link. I may have to trailer it that way to a welder. I'm thinking this is warranty work. There's a black circle on one of the welds of the center toon that someone made with a marker at the factory. The boat was delivered that way. I assume it was to mark a leak at the factory. There's also a big arrow pointing to the circle. Pretty obvious something was caught and fixed. It could be leaking in that same spot. Seems to be, but it is hard to tell.
 
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I don't see why your idea wouldn't work. Keep us posted.
 
Express doesn't weigh much you'll be fine.
 
Where is the dislike button for this post?  Sorry DanO. Keep us posted
 
David Letterman's Top 10 reasons you know your tube is leaking:

10.  It squats.

9.  It's sluggish at the throttle.

8. Tape measurements from the rear corners to the water are dropping each day.

7.  Water scum marks are no longer parallel.

6. It doesn't plane up like it normally does and the stern plows water

5.  Slight loss of top speed.

4. Bottom of the tube is still wet after 5 days on the trailer.

3. You can see it dripping.

2. You can hear it sloshing around on the trailer when you hit the brakes.

And the number 1 reason you know your tube is leaking:  People keep staring at your crotch.

Ha ha.  I hope this doesn't take a big bite out of boating season.  I am tempted to drill a hole, let it drain out, plug it with JB Weld, and then have it fixed this fall.  We'll see what I can get lined up...
 
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Oh man! Take it back!
 
That sucks! Let me know if you need anything.
 
Jared, are you offering to suck the liquid out of Dan's log?

maybe try a shop vac or something like that, they suck and blow depending on the model. :blink:
 
My center toon gets water in it as well.  After spending a lot of time on it I discovered the source to be the water toys the kids where putting down there when they were still wet.  I sucked it our with a wet vac and have not seen it since.
 
The Express tube is sealed.  No storage compartment like other hulls can have.

My kid crawled up under there tonight and found the leak.  Pinhole in a weld.  The end of a toothpick would fit in there, but probably note the whole toothpick, to give you an idea of size.  Same place as the marker marks from the factory were pointing to.  So, I'm happy it should be a simple fix.  Hopefully I won't have to move any bunks either.  Talked to a welder today.  Hopefully have it fixed in the morning now that it appears simple.  I have some pictures I will post this weekend sometime.

So, I drilled yet another hole in my boat.  This time it was a 3/8ths hole about 1/2 inch off the bottom edge of the back of the Express tube to drain it.  They'll have to weld that shut too.  Water has been coming out for an hour and is still coming out strong.  I might have to pack a cooler and take a lawn chair out there and see how late it goes.  It filled a 3.5 gallon pail in 15 minutes, so almost 15 gallons came out so far...
 
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Just spoke to the welder just now.  He said it would be a quick fix.  10 am tomorrow!  Assuming it stops leaking by then...
 
An Express Tube doesn't require a center support on the middle toon when trailered.  The center toon just weighs approx. 250 lbs.

Any full size center toon is a different matter--usually having a big fuel tank and a 500 lb. motor.  They do require a center support on the middle toon.
 
Good to know Bama. I didn't think it would be that light weight.  But, I also didn't know how much water was in there either so I wasn't sure how much more it would weigh.  Sounds like moving the bunk boards will not be necessary since the hole is small and a couple inches away from the carpet.  Not worried about it melting as it is all coming off soon.  Going to add PVC boards on top of the bunks.

I emailed my dealer about it yesterday.  He's a good two hours away, so I didn't want to haul it back there, and then have to go get it again, totaling 8 hours of driving for two round trips.  Since he had not seen it yet, and plus me not knowing where the leak was at the time, he suggested that they might have to send it back to the factory for warranty repair.  Who knows how long that would have taken.  So, I am SOOOOOOO glad boating season did not come to an end for over this.  I've only been out 4-5 times this season so far and I need the stress therapy the boat provides me with.  It would have sucked to send the boat back to the factory.  Glad it's simple.

But, my luck all my life has always been two things go wrong at the same time, so just when you think you have something fixed, you don't.  I have my fingers crossed right now.  And I'm thinking about duct taping them that way overnight...
 
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Here are a series of photos of the tube leak and the repair.  Note the black magic marker arrows.  These were on the tube when it was delivered new from the factory.  They had found the leak at the factory, obviously, but never fixed it (or it broke open again).

There are two marker arrows.  One at the top, the other by the strake (hard to see).



 

Here's the lower arrow by the strake.



 

Here's the hole with my fingers for perspective.



 

Closer up.



 

Here's a pic of the hole I drilled to drain it with water coming out.



 

Final repair of the leak.



 

Final repair of the hole I drilled to drain it.

 
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Aren't the pontoons pressurized too ?  
 
Ha ha...  I dug up this old photo.  It shows the arrows from the factory.  When I took this picture, the boat was still on the dealer's lot, sitting on the concrete, and had not been in the water yet.  The motor hadn't even been put on it at this point. 

 
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Jack M. said:
Aren't the pontoons pressurized too ?  
Click to expand...
Nope.  We took the plug out, and the plug has a small hole in it to let the chamber "breath".  So, not pressurized.  I assume they pressurize them to test them, then they draw arrows on it where the leaks are, then they put a plastic plug in the hole at the top of the pontoon when they are done.  But, the plug itself has a small hole in it.  My plug was only in hand-tight too.  Didn't need a wrench to remove it.
 
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So, there was probably around 25 gallons +/- in there.  Around 250 lbs (round numbers).  It sure drove like a dog though, much worse than having the equivalent of two more people on board (equivalent to 250 lbs).  So, I'm at a loss to explain why it felt so bad by the "seat of the pants", when there was only 250 lbs of water on board.

The way I see it, I lost 250 lbs of buoyancy due to water displacement in the pontoon.  Then, upon acceleration, I was accelerating that extra 250 lbs of water that was in the tube.  Plus the boat was squatting more due to the water in the tube, so it was also harder to come up on plane.  Am I right to view this added water as the equivalent of somewhere between 500 to 750 lbs of extra "people" on board?  That's what it drove like from the "seat of the pants" feel, but I was surprised by the relatively small amount of water that actually came out.  I was guessing it would have been much more. 

The boat was really plowing water hard at around 10-12 MPH when it would normally be riding up on plane at that speed. There was a point where I was wondering if they'd have a hard time pulling the boat up the ramp due to the extra water.  But, it turned out not to be as much as I was thinking.

Anyone have other explanations why this would "feel" so much worse than it was?
 
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My guess would be a negative effect. Your tube added buoyancy, then all of a sudden it became the total opposite. Or it could quite possibly be because Andy is one sick minded individual. LOL. Or maybe it's because the chocolate pudding your driving in weighs more than water?

Either way, glad you got it fixed.
 
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