Water trapped between hull and ski locker subfloor

[jmvotto]

i assume i can just drill mine close to where the deepest part of the hull is?

my video was squirting out from the bow end of the locker because the boat was tipped down due to the driveway being pitched.

[rdlangston13]

There are probably thousands more moomba owners that have this same issue but have no idea. Until I start hearing about people sinking because of this or major damage then I am not going to fret over it. 8 gallons of water is what 70 lbs? meh, not enough for me to start drilling holes to vaccumm it out lol

[jmvotto]

I would not want a mold break out in the boat from water trapped in the hull. the locker smells bad enough as it is.. a dry boat is a safe boat....

[cab13367]

moombahighrider,

Up until now, we were all assuming (hoping) that the space under the ski locker was one continuous cavity so that we just have to drill one hole at the hull's lowest point and we could get all the water out that way. Your findings contradict this so it's now not as simple as just drilling one hole. I am on the fence as to whether I want to get that water out or not. I assume it's been in there since I bought the boat new and it has not hurt anything (I look at it as additional ballast ), and there is no odor that I can detect even when I stick my head in the ski locker. And I store my boat in a heated garage in the winter so the water is not going to cause any freeze damage.

Al

[moombahighrider]

Al,

I had not considered a partition in the area under the ski locker. I suppose there could be one there, but I do doubt it. I did have some water in the first hole, but it was at the surface. The foam consistency was much more compact and completely filled the void from hull to the bottom of the locker. It seemed to have expanded completely in that area and then the excess foam expanded as far as it could up towards the bow. I found the end of the foam at my third hole up at the bow end of the locker. I assumed that what water travelled toward the stern, did so only on the surface of the foam under the locker. It seemed like the bulk of the water was blocked by the foam completely filling the void. I realize that this may not make sense, and maybe a partition answers that issue. I do not recall seeing any signs of a partition in the manufacturing photos, I will have to go back and look again.
I may send one of my glow rods (fish rods for av wiring) between the cavities to verify.
Thanks for the input.
Simon.

[moombahighrider]

Jmvotto,
I assumed the same thing, but did not get the return I was looking for until I drilled the additional hole/s. I would go ahead with that first hole anyway, as you will always wonder what water is there. Maybe the water will travel toward the stern if you lift the tongue of the trailer better than mine did?

[NCSUmoomba]

I am going to play devils advocate here, I guess.

First off, my boat does have a similar issue, although my 2001 Outback DD does not have a ski locker. The only way I discovered the water was when I cut open the floor to move the batteries under it. (Check my Ruby Roo mods thread for photos.) I didn't think it was a big deal. When you have an Outback, you just get used to it being soaking wet all the time, especially with 1000+ pounds of ballast.

Anyway, I think it is rather naive to expect our boats to remain bone dry everywhere, all the time. Uhhh, it's a boat. It lives in the water. The engine is cooled by water. We get in the boat dripping wet. It rains. We have coolers full of melted ice. We have ballast systems that pump water directly into the boat. Boats get wet, period. And the water gets everywhere. Facts of life.

I also think it is rather ridiculous to expect Skier's Choice to pay to "repair" our boats, because "OMG, there is water down there!" And to say, "I'm going to sell my boat and never buy another Moomba because of this" is just childish. Although, if you can find another boat built better for the same amount of money, then knock yourself out.

By the way, those factory tour photos that were posted/linked to were ones that I took on my tour. I was very impressed with the factory and the cleanliness and the thouroughness with construction. I think they do a tremendous job up in Maryville, given their goals and what they are working with. They are trying to build an economical boat, that even though is designed by engineers, it is not built by them, it is built by factory workers.

As an architect, I am faced with this issue everyday. My design team of architects, engineers, and cosultants (who are highly educated) bust our tails to design a project and generate the documents for the construction. We have hundreds of pages of documents that are all interconnected with, and reference to, each other. When we go out to a jobsite, what do we see? Some laborer, who is usually not from this country and may not speak English, with ONE page of the documents, trying to complete some complicated task. It is absolutely amazing any building gets built anywhere close to properly!

If we want a boat designed and built by perfectionist engineers and expert top level techs, then prepare to pay more, WAY more. And I venture to say, that it would be very hard to notice the difference in the two boats, especially without dissecting them.

Although, since NASA is being shut down, I bet there are some high level engineers that will be looking for work?

Okay, I will step down off of my soapbox now.

[kaneboats]

Well said. But, there should still be a drain to let the water out of the boat. The newer models have this. My 2000 OB had one. The one at the rear of my LSV is too high to ever let anything out, even parked on a hill.

[jmvotto]

Finally got it done, so far just a half gallon of water came out. The obv is pretty shallow. Glad i did it.

[skiyaker]

JV nice repair.
1/2 gallon doesn't sound too scary but man that foam looks soaked- I'm thinking if the air cells in the foam are soaked then that's a bad thing for buoyancy but likely not a problem unless you do something mindless like put 12 people in the bow of your boat and then gun it if a few fall over the bow.

If my ski locker floor feels firm and I don't hear sloshing do you think it's safe to say that I don't currently have this problem? I mean did the problem seem pretty obvious to you- it looked that way from your video