[Jeff]

I think you're on the money with the platform suggestion. I have an '05 36 Sovran - it could be bone dry for weeks sitting in the slip, and as soon as we ran the boat I got water in the bilge. After much investigation and a lot of time and frustration, I figured out it was coming from the platform. I can open up an access hatch in my transom locker and stick my head in to look into my platform. I took everything out of the transom locker for easy access, made sure the bilge was dry and went for a ride. We rode for a while and then I had a buddy keep an eye on the helm and I stuck my head in and looked while we idled around. Sure enough, a stream(s) of water was coming through the rub rail. I finally broke down last winter and pulled the back portion of the rail off and scraped and resealed everything. I've eliminated about 90+% of the leak. It was a big job so I've held off removing the rest, but what a relief to figure it out. I will also mention, when I bought the boat used, I was finding water under the motors (compartmentalized), so I started checking raw water lines and found the main raw water hoses for both motors were drying out and weeping water. A little scary to think what could happen, and how quickly you could fill a bilge or ruin a motor should one fail completely. I replaced all of them and have had no problems since. It definitely pays to keep an eye on the stuff that "appears" to be problem free.