1989 23' Seacraft.

[JohnB]

rsegreto,
Thanks for the compliment. Believe it or not, alot of people refer to my boat as the 'ugly boat', armadillo, and the turtle. Once the seas start to kick up, and that hull starts to work it's magic, they usually just stay quiet then, and follow me in.
Here's a couple of observations:
1. "water line is starting to go below the water level, not much but it's noticeable to me anyway. I would expect this maybe when I have a full tank of fuel but at half? Does this seem possible? I have a Merc. 200 hp. outboard hanging off the back which adds some weight as well."
The difference in the water line can change quite a bit between an empty tank and a full tank. That could be as much as 840 pounds, (4 pretty good size guys). When you say 1/2 tank of fuel, how do you know it's half? I havent been on a boat yet, that the gas gauge dosen't vary between 1/4 and 1/3 of a tank. Mine says 1/2 a tank when it has 90 gals of gas in it at rest. Than under way it say 3/4 to full. Is the water line low in front and back, or just in the back? The 2 things you want to look for are the water line, and the distribution. If it is low in the back, is it high in the front? or is it low all the way around. If it is low all the way around, maybe you picked up water, or maybe just have alot of gear in it. If it is low in back and high in front, maybe it's just the distribution of weight. Try removing all the gear on board and see if that helps. Dive gear is especially heavy. 2 batteries or 2 heavy anchors on the same side of the boat will make it lean that much.

2: "I'll have to stand on the engine when I take it out for the season this year to try and determine what the heck's going on."
Look for cracks around the corners of the cutout of the transom. Mine has 1 crack on each side, about 3/4 of an inch long. They have not grown in size, and I believe they have been there for years. Gelcoat is pretty brittle and likes to form hairline cracks. Keep an eye on them though. If something is flexing they will grow.

3. The moisture meter would be a good tool to check the stringers with. Drilling a couple of small 1/8 holes would be a good idea to, just make sure you seal them up when you are done.

4. If the boat is going to be out for the winter, in a dry place, you could remove all the screws from the top trim to the bottom transducer and try to dry it out. I used space heaters, dehumidifiers, and hairdryers on mine (be careful). You could use a moistuer meter to check the progress (it took 3 weeks for mine to dry out to less than 15% moisture). Then in the spring you could seal it all back up. If water ran out, that only means that water is getting in there. Find out where it is getting in, check for rot, dry it out, use some West marine expoxy/repair materials, and seal it back up. I like the moisture meter to just check the thing out about once a month to determine if I have any problems coming back.

Good luck.