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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Cottage Grove, MN
    Posts
    780

    Default Water trapped between hull and ski locker subfloor

    I've posted on here about this issue with my boat. There was another member that also had this issue on his 05 I believe. I brought my boat into the dealer for them to take a look at, and they worked with Skier's Choice to get this covered under warranty, even though I'm the second owner (issue was identified within a week of owning it though).

    The dealer uses a custom paint / body / marine shop for any glass work. I reluctantly took my boat in, met the owner, and was put at ease that they would take care with my boat and walk me through their process and keep me informed of progress, and invited me to stop in anytime to monitor progress. They then took 30 minutes to talk through what they would do and made sure that I understood and asked any questions. That was last Wednesday.

    I stopped in today and they took 20 minutes to walk me through what they have done so far. They have cut the hole in the bottom of the ski locker, pulled out the foam in the immediate area, and it is sitting in the shop drying out. Once that is done, they will refill the missing foam, reglass the hole and re-gelcoat the entire ski locker. One issue that they identified was that the front of the ski locker floor is not sealed to the hull at the bow, which allows water to enter the space under the ski locker. This, to me, is an obvious miss at the factory. The space is supposed to be filled with foam and presumably meant to be bone dry. The gap between the front of the ski locker and the hull is approximately 4 inches by 1 inch, more than enough room for water to make it's way under the ski locker. Below is a picture of the hole where the foam was removed. It's hard to see, but there are two inches of standing water at the bottom of the hole. The process was to remove the foam, suck out the standing water, let more water accumulate, suck it out, repeat. The foam is saturated. If it doesn't dry out within a couple of days, they will likely remove more foam, then repeat the process.

    To access the front of the locker to seal the gap between the subfloor and the hull, they will install a 4" deck plate access panel in the floor right where your feet would rest if you were sitting in the frontmost bow seat. From there, they will be able to seal the gap then re-gelcoat the locker. I'm going to stop back in on Friday, so I'll take more pics.



    Last edited by mnpracing; 10-18-2010 at 06:38 PM.
    2006 Outback V - Gone
    2008 LSV - Gone
    2013 other brand

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Des Moines, IA
    Posts
    3,237

    Default

    Good info, thanks for posting. Good luck with the repair!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    48

    Default

    How did you initially discover this issue? Is it common among one line or should we all be worried?
    2008 Mobius XLV, Z5 Rack, RockFord Fosgate Amps and 12" Rockford sub, DBoot5 8" & 6" Tower speakers, Kicker Amp and 6.5" interior speakers, Inland Surf, Hyperlite, Liquid Force, Aerial Swing Away Racks, Perfect Pass StarGazer, ACME 1235 and Evolution Cover.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Cottage Grove, MN
    Posts
    780

    Default

    I initially discovered the issue from reading a post on this forum from several people that had this issue. Kojack was one of them, you can search for his posts and see how he is coping with it. He installed a deck fill port in the bottom of his locker floor and uses that access point to shopvac any water out of it periodically. That would have been my psuedo-fix too, if warranty did not cover the repair ($1,500).

    I didn't notice the issue at first, even after specifically looking for it. I started looking for the issue by stepping into the locker and lightly bouncing up and down. I felt nothing at first, the floor was solid, so I thought all was good. But then a few days later, when cleaning out the boat, I stepped more forward in the locker, and there the floor had some give. I wasn't alarmed though, because on my 06 OBV the floor had some give as well. Well, then I heard water squishing under the floor. Then, I noticed when I bounced a little I could hear water squishing out waayy up front (in the locker) up where the locker floor meets the hull in the bow. I then got my head in there and pushed down just with my hands/arms and could SEE the water squishing out where the locker floor meets the hull in the bow.

    I'm assuming that is where the water entered this space. I assume the water that gets into the locker from rollers or from the ballast bag sloshes up to the bow area then down through the gap in the floor/hull mating area, and viola, water UNDER the locker floor. It is also a possibility that the locker floor itself has some structural issues as there are a number of what look like air bubbles that have popped, so the black floor material (gelcoat?) has peeled off from the layer of fiberglass that makes up the locker floor. Water may be leaking down under the locker floor this way as well.

    Hopefully reglassing and gelcoating the locker compartment and sealing off the locker floor/hull mating area will solve the issue. If not, I'll be installing the flush-mount deck fill port like Kojack did...but most of the time in the shop is just waiting for the darn foam to dry out....
    Last edited by mnpracing; 10-18-2010 at 11:30 PM.
    2006 Outback V - Gone
    2008 LSV - Gone
    2013 other brand

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Tigard, Oregon
    Posts
    3,017

    Default

    Well, I think I have water under my ski locker as well. When I put my foot in the ski locker, as far forward as possible, and bounce up and down lightly, I can hear water under the locker. Seems like a lot of water under there. But there is no obvious place that I can see where the water is going down in there.

    So my question is, it's been like that probably since I bought the boat new 4 years ago - what is it hurting? Even if SC will pay for it, why should I have the ski locker opened up and the foam and water removed? What will it hurt if I just leave it alone?

    I'll give the dealer a call tomorrow and see what they say.

    Al
    Al

    2006 Mobius LSV

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Cottage Grove, MN
    Posts
    780

    Default

    Cab, I'm wondering the same thing, what does it hurt?
    1. I know there's some different opinions (maybe it's been verified) as to whether there is wood anywhere in the hull. If there is, that would be bad to have it constantly wet down there.

    2. The extra weight (I trailer mine). Don't know how much water is down there, but the space is about 5 inches deep, 4+ feet long, and 4 or so feet wide. Granted, it tapers based on the hull shape, but still a significant amount of water.

    3. The floatation foam is useless when saturated.

    4. It stinks in both senses of the word (smells and it just shouldn't be there).

    5. A constantly saturated state has to be doing some long-term damage to the hull/locker floor, stringers, etc. in addition to mold growth. May not hurt anything in 3-5 years, but what about 10 years? How much is the life of the components, and the whole boat, shortened because of this?

    6. On principle, it just shouldn't be there (or there should be a deliberately-designed way to get it out). I appreciate a value-priced boat without some bells & whistles, but it should be structurally sound. What good is a lower price if core quality is compromised? And just in case other brands have experienced this issue, I don't care about other brands. If I hit a deer with my car, and someone else says "it's OK, it's happened to me", it really doesn't make me feel any better....
    2006 Outback V - Gone
    2008 LSV - Gone
    2013 other brand

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    48

    Default

    So how is the water getting into that area? Is coming up from the bottom or is it getting there over time from boards and people dripping water.
    2008 Mobius XLV, Z5 Rack, RockFord Fosgate Amps and 12" Rockford sub, DBoot5 8" & 6" Tower speakers, Kicker Amp and 6.5" interior speakers, Inland Surf, Hyperlite, Liquid Force, Aerial Swing Away Racks, Perfect Pass StarGazer, ACME 1235 and Evolution Cover.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Cottage Grove, MN
    Posts
    780

    Default

    Gonrcn - see my post 2 up that describes where I think it's entering this space. Not certain, but it's all I've come up with so far.
    2006 Outback V - Gone
    2008 LSV - Gone
    2013 other brand

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Tigard, Oregon
    Posts
    3,017

    Default

    mnpracing,

    One thing I just thought of - you are assuming that all the water that is in the cavity under your ski locker is all going to flow down to the back of the ski locker, where they have cut out a hole. However, I believe that there are stringers down there that crisscross each other (or run one direction with blocking between them probably) and are bonded to the hull. So it seems that the water would be collecting in separate compartments down there rather than in just one big one. Does that make sense?

    Maybe we should review some of the photos of the factory tours - we might find one that shows what it looks like down there.

    Al
    Al

    2006 Mobius LSV

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Cottage Grove, MN
    Posts
    780

    Default

    Cab, that could be true. I didn't consider that. I will ask the guy whose working on the boat to see if he's considered that. He might have to make another hole further up in the compartment to find out....
    2006 Outback V - Gone
    2008 LSV - Gone
    2013 other brand

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