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Water in Tube

KC24

KC24

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Has anyone had water in a Tube and had a problem finding how it got in? I finally set up for mine to be fixed, but they could not find how it got in there and only when they heard it sloshing after many attempts did they drain it and plug it. So now I took the boat out Sat to look for Eagles on Dale Hollow for the day(uneventful :mellow: ) and we are backing the boat into its garage the wife informs me she hears sloshing again. My next step is to look myself if I can find a scope to use to look into the top of the Tubes. Any suggestions?
 
Pressurize the tube with about 3 or 4 lbs of air and get a spray bottle with soapy water and spray all the welds. Do not put in too much air!
 
Not trying to say "no, don't do that" but,no, don't do that. Leave pressurizing tubes to the pros.

I remember a post on another forum a few years ago and 3-4 lbs might be too much. Pics were graphic for the tube and IIRC, the person who done it was lucky and didn't get hurt.
 
KC......

It's still under warranty. Let the dealer handle it......
 
I haven't had the best luck with a dealer. Thanks guys for all the responses.
 
What tube is having the issue? Express or outer?
 
It is an outer, Im going to investigate tonight hopefully to at least know for sure which one it is. 
 
The chances of you actually seeing it are pretty slim, a pin hole or hairline crack won't be visable.  The only way to find it is pressure and soapy water, but let a professional do that.

Ask the dealer if they would rather have you take it somewhere else to have the repair done and bill it back to them. Find a welding shop that has experience with pontoons, give them a call for an estimate for diagnosis and repair and present that to the dealer.

Maybe that will get them motivated...
 
Im not going to pressurize it myself, I just want to identify which tube its in by looking into the bung hole in the top for standing water. Then find someone to fix it. 
 
It " should " be covered under your warranty .
 
Its definitely under warranty, Just need to find someone interested in fixing it. I will figure it out. I was just wondering if anyone had a similar problem finding a leak.
 
Fluid in the bung hole!!! Nice!

Good luck and keep us updated.
 
I had a hole in mine.  Couldn't find it until there was enough water in it and I saw it seeping out while the boat was on the trailer.  After the pontoons dried off, the area where the hole was stayed wet.

That and there was a big circle drawn around it and an arrow pointing to it with a sharpie from the factory.  Apparently they found it during construction, but failed to fix it.  It was just a pin hole in a weld.  It wasn't big enough for a toothpick to even fit all the way through.  I found it last summer.  Boat was on it's 5th season, so it took that long to get enough water in it.  At the end of 2014 season we could hear sloshing, but the fuel tank was right by it, and we thought it was that.  Eventually there was enough added weight to the boat that I knew something was wrong.  Eventually found it.  Took a year to find it.  $120 to have it welded shut.  I took it to a local aluminum welder, not the dealer.  Dealer said that's what they would have done.  Bennington reimbursed me.

I actually drilled a new hole to let the water out.   Around 20 gallons or so came out.  Welder then welded both holes shut.
 
Thanks Kaydano, 
 
kaydano said:
I had a hole in mine.  Couldn't find it until there was enough water in it and I saw it seeping out while the boat was on the trailer.  After the pontoons dried off, the area where the hole was stayed wet.

That and there was a big circle drawn around it and an arrow pointing to it with a sharpie from the factory.  Apparently they found it during construction, but failed to fix it.  It was just a pin hole in a weld.  It wasn't big enough for a toothpick to even fit all the way through.  I found it last summer.  Boat was on it's 5th season, so it took that long to get enough water in it.  At the end of 2014 season we could hear sloshing, but the fuel tank was right by it, and we thought it was that.  Eventually there was enough added weight to the boat that I knew something was wrong.  Eventually found it.  Took a year to find it.  $120 to have it welded shut.  I took it to a local aluminum welder, not the dealer.  Dealer said that's what they would have done.  Bennington reimbursed me.

I actually drilled a new hole to let the water out.   Around 20 gallons or so came out.  Welder then welded both holes shut.
Click to expand...

I'm just thinking out loud (well, through my finger tips), but I wonder how much sense it would make to have drain plugs put in the back of each toon, close to the bottom, just for something like this. Since fiberglass pleasure boats have the drain plugs, you'd think these would benefit from them as well.

After typing, and being too lazy to delete, I have have just thought of something else. Benningtons have "sections" in each toon for extra buoyancy in case of an accident. I guess that wouldn't work, then. 
 
Our marina told me once they do that on a lot of older pontoon boats.  They said just let them leak and let the toon fill up with water.  Then install a drain plug when the tube gets too full, and pull it out once a year to drain it, or whenever the tube gets too full of water.  Obviously today pontoon boat performance is far better than it used to be, with the old boats being not much more than a floating dock and draining a pontoon was only done just before the boat sank.  By the way if I couldn't have a boat, a floating dock would suit me just fine if I could set a few chairs and a grill on it.  That was the "old pontoon boat owner's" philosophy on life.  Of course that's changing with today's pontoon boat being high performance.

Another thing they told me, and this was in all seriousness, was to just drill a hole (1/8th inch), let the water drain, then plug the hole with epoxy or JB Weld.  Repeat every year or two (remember mine took 5 years to fill to where it was noticeable, but then again my boat didn't sit in the water all season either).  They said they did that all the time.  But, if you look at the average pontoon boat in our marina, you'd have a hard time knowing it wasn't a pontoon junk yard, so take all that with a grain of salt.  This isn't a marina full of performance pontoon boats. 

You know, now that I think back, it's funny they never ONCE said anything about actually fixing the leak!  When I told them I was looking for an aluminum welder to fix my pontoon, they told me about a guy that helped them weld/build a marina boat (a work boat with a hoist installed in the center).  They never once mentioned they used him to weld pontoon leaks, because they didn't have them fixed!  They just drained them and glued the hole shut...
 
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I did a little investigating last night, Back to square one. The leak is now coming from the hole that was filled from the repair. But they could not find a problem and drained it and plugged it. It is in the express tube nose section. 
 
Maybe check the welds where the splash guards are welded to the cone. There was another member on here who had those welds fail. A leak in that area would force water in while underway but prevent it from draining as it cannot get up and out. If it is holding water the hole has to be above the level of the water currently in there.
 
We had a leak and the dealer could never find it. Bennington sent a new tube and the dealer just swapped them out at no cost.  Have not had a problem since.
 
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