Thread: Not sure what happened, but it did!

Originally Posted by icehouse

I am now the proud owner of 2022 BassTracker Pro Team 175TF! It is a beautiful boat, but I had some issues last night, my first time out with it. Those are as follows:

1) Unlike my previous BT, I will not release the front strap until the boat is in the water from here on out. Reason, as my buddy was backing me and another friend into the water, boat slid off the trailer and BAM! We were in the water, but the scag took some major scuffing/rubbing and I've now got a couple good scratches on the keel. My buddy jumped out of my vehicle and could not believe it, neither could I!!!

Did this happen because I had 2 of us in the boat and in the seats while trying to unload?

2) After we were done for the night, got loaded ( no issues, thank goodness ) pulled the plug and there was a lot of water draining. My first thought was that there was hole in the boat, but there is not! I've been under the boat and do not see any holes, just the scratches I mentioned earlier. By looking at the water line on the boat, it does sit very low in the back.

Would this be water from when slowing down from plane?


3) When locking everything down, putting up gear, I looked in the livewells and there was water in both front and rear! We never attempted to put water in those so how did that get in there.

Where and how did this get in there?


Any advice or answers would be greatly appreciated..

Number 3 could be a cracked or poorly sealed thru-hull fitting, bad livewell or bilge pump hose, just about anything. I’d start with the boat on the trailer at home with the plug in and put several gallons of water via a hose into the bilge (don’t get too carried away and fill it up) to see if you can see any water coming out from around a fitting or the plug. Sometimes the marine silicone around a plumbing fitting won’t adhere due to poor surface prep at the factory or someone over torques a plastic thru-hull and it’ll crack.

If that all checks out, launch your boat and tie up to a dock. Shine a flashlight into the bilge where you can see your livewell and bilge pumps/hoses. Inspect for leaking both before running them and again while running them with water in the system. My recent leak was due to a barely visible crack in a livewell hose due to an over tightened hose clamp that turned into a gusher when the pump was on.

Good luck and congrats on the new rig!

Originally Posted by icehouse

There is no so called plug! It has the tall stem/tube with the overflow head on it! Should I get a plug?


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Sorry to mislead… mine has just the tall removable stem/tube. If I leave the tube out, the live well will partially fill. With the tube in it doesn’t.


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Originally Posted by CrappieDreamer

Sorry to mislead… mine has just the tall removable stem/tube. If I leave the tube out, the live well will partially fill. With the tube in it doesn’t.


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The tubes were in!


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Originally Posted by Dutch552

Number 3 could be a cracked or poorly sealed thru-hull fitting, bad livewell or bilge pump hose, just about anything. I’d start with the boat on the trailer at home with the plug in and put several gallons of water via a hose into the bilge (don’t get too carried away and fill it up) to see if you can see any water coming out from around a fitting or the plug. Sometimes the marine silicone around a plumbing fitting won’t adhere due to poor surface prep at the factory or someone over torques a plastic thru-hull and it’ll crack.

If that all checks out, launch your boat and tie up to a dock. Shine a flashlight into the bilge where you can see your livewell and bilge pumps/hoses. Inspect for leaking both before running them and again while running them with water in the system. My recent leak was due to a barely visible crack in a livewell hose due to an over tightened hose clamp that turned into a gusher when the pump was on.

Good luck and congrats on the new rig!

I’m hopefully going back out Friday just to look at the issues!


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The Stratos that I had, had a worn through livewll overflow hose. That was a little tough to find. You don't think of the overflow having water in the hose. It does down at the water level. Ended up plugging it at the back of the boat. It was only a small spot but it would fill the bilge with water pretty quickly

I had a new 2017 tracker v hull & that paint they use is real slick. Mine would slid right off at the ramp soon as I unhooked the winch. I could see one sliding off of a trailer if unhooked before in the water.
My boat leaked around the transducer at the back of the boat when it was new. Tracker back then did not have a bracket for the transducer & screwed straight thru the hull. Not sure if they have changed it or not. I took mine off & used marine silicone on it. I have a Lowe now & it has a bracket for the transducer to mount to.

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A bilge pump with a float switch is always a good idea my old '89 crappie master has one in it. It has a 2 way switch on it ON/OFF/AUTO, in AUTO mode the pump comes on by itself when there's water in the bilge.

New Trackers are powder coated now, pretty slick and more durable than paint, also pretty light, I think my whole package just weighs 1700 lbs. First time out it wanted to slide off the trailer so I leave the strap on until it's in the water.now. Hope you find your water leak mine stays bone dry.