Live Well

Question
"I just bought a SeaArk Extreme 176. It is my first boat with a live well. I took it out for the first time and the hull filled with water. I went home and filled the hull with water and dropped the trailor tongue to see where it leaked out. No leaks! I believe this mean there is not a hull leak. I think the problem has to do with the live well. I noticed that the setting on the live well had been left on EMPTY the entire day we were in the water. I am guessing that the tube coming into the boat must have a leak and part of the water is going to the livewell and part into the hull. Is that a possibility? I don't know how the plumbing is set up so I don't know for sure. Any ideas?";  

Answer
Hi Greg;
 I had a similar problem with my 19 foot Smoker Craft.  The boat was a couple of seasons old and developed a serious leak.  I also filled the boat with water when on the trailer to find the source.  Nothing leaked from the hull nor the fittings at the transome.  I was not about to take apart the entire boat. So I dedided to close all plumbing oulets and inlets. The boat has two separate livewells, one foward of the windshield and the other near the transome.  I then would only open one each time I went out.  If the boat did not fill with water, that fitting was not connected to the leak.  By doing this, I eventually found which fitting was associated with the leak.  As it turned out, the hose that drains the foward livewell was broken under the floor where one of the stringers had loosened up and was cutting into it. Replacing the hose was the easy part,pulling up and reinforcing the deck was the difficult part.  
 Try doing what worked for me.  Close off all the in and out fittings at the outside of the hull. I used good old duct tape.  Use the boat with all these closed and see if water gets in.  If it does, then there is a hole somewhere in the hull, maybe higher than what you could determine by what you did when you tested it on the trailer.  If the hull remains dry, then remove the tape from one of the thru hull fittings and use the boat.  No water in the bilge, then that fitting is not the problem.  Repeat this with the next.  
 Another way to go about this is again to close off all the in and out fittings to the livewell at the transome with tape. Take out the drain plug at the bottom of the livewell. While on the trailer, fill the livewell with water.  If that water finds its way into the bilge, the problem is somewhere in the hose that leads to the fitting that empties the livewell.  If it hold water, then it is most likely the leak is in the hose that brings water to the livewell.
 I am assuming you have a fairly standard set up.  Livewell up front with drain fitting and intake pump at the transome.  But no matter where it is and how it is set up, the things I suggested should help you find the problem.
-Rich