2016 Bennington 24slx tritoon question

[John Schell]

Hi, we just had the marina inspect a used 2016 slx that we would like to purchase from a private owner. One thing the mechanic mentioned is that they could hear some water in the starboard tube. He said it could be condensation or a leak above the water line, but would not be able to tell until they ran a pressure test. Does anyone know how this is done? Does a hole need to be drilled in the tube or is there a gasket of some sort that can be used to pump the air in?

 

[gotnitro]

To my understanding, Bennington toons are chambered and do not have any drain plugs. They would have to drill a hole in the spot where they know the water is, pressure test it to find the leak and then fix the leak and hole they drilled in the tube by TIG welding aluminum back in the holes. I would assume they would sand and polish the weld back to spec.

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

There’s a tube on top of each tube chamber with a cap. At least both of mine had them. You can put a pressure fitting there. No more than I think 3 psi to test!!! You can see them in this photo (circled).

 

[Vikingstaff]

Is the mechanic able to give you a quote for doing it?

We had failing welds along our inside port pontoon performance foils last season. Although it was a bummer (lost 3-4 weeks of boating), the presure testing and weld repairs were covered under warranty.

However, if it had not been covered under warranty, it was less than $500 in repairs in total. Thus, it may not be much of an issue if they can test it, find the issue (if there is one) and then drill, drain water and weld repair.

 

[DVW]

Your boat will have 3 or 4 vents on the top of each tube. You can use the blow side of a shop vac to pressurize tubes thru those vents. Before you pressure test every chamber rock the boat on the trailer and listen for sloshing. That will get you close. Plumb the vac to the vent fitting with vinyl hose and duct tape. Build pressure in the tube, turn off shop vac and listen. Most leaks can be heard if you have little ambient noise. If that does not work use diluted dish soap bubbles to find leak. Your welder will drill drain hole and and then weld up both leak and drain hole. A common leak location on a older boat is at the stern end mounting bracket. Good luck.