Boat taking on lots of water... Only when on pad... Need help!
Alright boys, I've got one here that I can't figure out. First I'll tell you what's happening, then I'll tell you a few details about the boat.
When I get to the lake, I can dump the boat in and it stays dry as a bone inside. I can drop the trolling motor and fish all day and no water will come in. However, as soon as I fire up the big motor and get up on plane, I can almost immediately hit my manual bilge pump and start moving water out of the bilge (my auto one doesn't work). I'm talking within 20 to 30 seconds of driving. It seems to take on more water the slower I go and the less I trim up. The other day I was fishing in some pretty decent wind so I made some minimum speed runs with no trim and I had the most water come on that I've seen so far. In a one mile move I would estimate I watched 3 or 4 gallons of water pump out after getting to my destination and starting the bilge. When it's calm out and I can drive more aggressively less water comes in, maybe 1 gallon or a little less on a one mile run. Then, after I get all the water out, it stays dry while I fish. As soon as I get back up on pad, I start filling with water again.
The boat is a new to me 1999 Stratos 201PE. I bought it with no motor and powered her with a 2005 200 Opti that I already had laying around. The hull looks as though someone was maybe a little hard on it at some point in its life. However, the bottom of the boat looks good as far as I can tell. The reason that the boat was for sale with no motor is because the last guy scraped a rock pile good enough to wreck his lower unit which subsequently did some major damage to the rest of the motor, so that's perhaps something to keep in mind. It has a 6 inch manual jack plate. The transom is solid. I have a single 12' Talon mounted on my port side that I keep as high as all the mounting parts will allow me to. The boat is quick to jump up on plane and seems to handle perfectly fine. The livewell valves work as they should when I put them to open or closed. I nurse it down off plane to make sure that no water is ever coming over the back deck. That's about all I can think of for relevant details.
So what gives? What am I missing here? Where is this water coming from and why does it only come in while I'm on pad? I've gotten on my back and looked under the boat with a flashlight at least a half dozen times. Everything looks normal. Obviously I can't see under the bunks, but I would assume that looks about the same as the exposed portions. Is it possible that there's actually some sort of hole or gash that I'm not seeing? I've considered taking my kids swimming goggles and getting under it in the water to see if the bunks are hiding something. Maybe the livewell hoses doing something dumb? I would think that if hoses are leaking they would do it all the time, not just while on pad. I have no idea...
Where should I be focusing my attention?? Thanks in advance for any input! We've gotta get this one figured out. It's driving me nuts!