Radier 18 holding water help needed.

Hi all. A friend of mine has a raider 18, and it is holding water under the deck. It's a fair bit of water , when the boat is on the trailer and we rock the boat we can hear it but we can't find where it has got in or how we can get it out. We have checked the Ankor/ chain locker and its bone dry , we lookd under the seat and its dry too. It sounds like its caught up the bow like its holding under the locker or back a bit. We would drill from the top to put in a inspection hatch but we don't want to put it in the wrong place. The boat and trailer has been tipped bow up till the back of the trailer rubbing the ground and its still holding. More than 50 degrees up . So we think the boat has baffle inside and it's got in from the top some where. It is making it hard to steer and load the boat is hard since its nose down most of the time. The boat will not plan eather with the weight of water up front. Would any of you out there have got this problem before or would and one have or maybe able to help. It's wrecking our heads. It would be great if we had like a x ray of the boat to see how the baffles are or the building plans . Any help at all will be much appreciated. We have contacted the makers but not a lot of help so far.

These lads must have the answer: http://www.raiderboats.co.uk/

just had same problem on my long liner,could hear it sloshing up the bow,lucky in one way previous owner cut ballest tank out the front so was able to drill a hole and run it down to bilge,have no idea how it got in so ad taken off the bow rails cleats ect and put them back on with bead of sealer and new screws so hopefully wont have an issue again

These lads must have the answer: http://www.raiderboats.co.uk/

Hi Donal we have contacted these lads but not a lot of help. Thanks for the help tho.

just had same problem on my long liner,could hear it sloshing up the bow,lucky in one way previous owner cut ballest tank out the front so was able to drill a hole and run it down to bilge,have no idea how it got in so ad taken off the bow rails cleats ect and put them back on with bead of sealer and new screws so hopefully wont have an issue again

cheers Damien for the reply nice to know some one else had this problem we checked the rails and cleats and they are well on. Still don't know where to drill we don't want to get it wrong. . Thanks for the help.

This rings a very faint bell.......... Anyone remember Luke, of The Durty Fecker? I think he may have experienced something like this on his Raider 18 about 6 or 7 years ago. I think it may have been caused by hairline stress cracks on his hull bottom caused by a manufacturing defect/trailer load points that opened up when under way afloat causing water ingress then closed again when the boat speed fell off........ Maybe I'm remembering it all wrong. Dunno.

Haven't seen him around the Forums for years now, though. It might be worthwhile trying to track him down.

Ill pass it on to Luke for ya see if he can help, he is not doing alot of fishing these days new baby etc but still has his boat!!:-)

Ill pass it on to Luke for ya see if he can help, he is not doing alot of fishing these days new baby etc but still has his boat!!:-)

Cheers Phil, tell him I said hello and that the invitation to return to Donegal is always open. (If he drags his boat along too....).

This rings a very faint bell.......... Anyone remember Luke, of The Durty Fecker? I think he may have experienced something like this on his Raider 18 about 6 or 7 years ago. I think it may have been caused by hairline stress cracks on his hull bottom caused by a manufacturing defect/trailer load points that opened up when under way afloat causing water ingress then closed again when the boat speed fell off........ Maybe I'm remembering it all wrong. Dunno.

Haven't seen him around the Forums for years now, though. It might be worthwhile trying to track him down.

Thanks very much tanglerat, it sounds like it could be a possibility but to find the stress crack could be a problem. But it gives us something else to rule out. Thanks again.

Ill pass it on to Luke for ya see if he can help, he is not doing alot of fishing these days new baby etc but still has his boat!!:-)

cheers phildublin. Much appreciated . Looking forward to hearing how he fixed it. Thanks.

Raider Boats went bust a while back. Don't know who if anybody is selling them at this stage.
There was talk about problems with build quality on the later models (Polish built). There's a post on WSF about a chap that had to replace his floor.
Is there any way to attach a hose and pressure test the inner hull to see where the water is entering?

Raider Boats went bust a while back. Don't know who if anybody is selling them at this stage.
There was talk about problems with build quality on the later models (Polish built). There's a post on WSF about a chap that had to replace his floor.
Is there any way to attach a hose and pressure test the inner hull to see where the water is entering?

Hi jim not sure what year this boat was made but its in good condition bar the taking in water problem . Only ones I've seen are second hand ones for sale, I'll look up the post on Wsf. Don't think we could try the inside pressure test there is no real entry point to look under the floor but I was thinking of trying a high beam light at night and hold it to the out side of the boat and see if it will show light comming through the week area on the hull. We got a e mail back from raider uk, it said" hi we don't have a hull plan of the boat to show the baffles or any plan of the boat " so no help at all from them . Some customer serious . Thanks for the reply jim. If ya think of any other ideas let me know please.

hi dan would a stud finder be any help in finding a spot to drill

Great idea Gerry it might do the trick. I'll see if I can get a good powerful one from some sparky and see if it works we haven done any thing with it since incase the lads on here can get any ideas or answers. Thanks Gerry .

Did you find the WSF post? There's pictures of the underfloor...

Did you find the WSF post? There's pictures of the underfloor...

Hi jim I tryed to get the pictures but it wouldn't let me, so I had to become a member and I'm now waiting on approval . Could you tell me what you typed in to the search section to find the pics.

Type: raider floor

There are a good few threads related.

This is the one that shows the pictures: http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/b ... ality.html

Thanks very much jim, I looked it up today and its made life very easy and cleared up a lot of questions. So we think water has got in either from the hull not sealed right or from the deck with a hair line crack . The water seems to be holding in one of the hollows in the under floor but now with the pictures we know wheretoeat drill and what to look for. Cheers for all the time and effort you put in. Also thanks to the other lads who helped out with good answers and ideas.

bump

Thanks for opening up this post again. We have put in four deck hatches and we can see a bit into the floor. We can empty the water slowly with sponges but still haven't solved the problem with water getting in. It is holding a bucket in each side one side more than the other. So any ideas on how we can find the crack or opening where the water is getting in.

The damage may be under a roller. Launch and retrieve the boat but do not retrieve it all the way up the trailer. Have a look at where the rollers would normally go and see is there any damage there.

I have an old second boat (not a Raider) that also collects a bit under the deck, but investigations showed it was rainwater getting in from above, not sea water from below. Various suspect points have been sealed and the problem is down to about a half a bucketful in a wet week, so a little electric bilge pump easily takes care of that.
If you're still convinced its a hull crack, then presumably some water will weep out again when the boat's on the dry. So if you added some kind of dye colouring to the water inside the boat.....