YAMAHA drainage

[Sccala]

Hello all. Just curious here….

…I have a 2011 242 Limited. I keep it in the water at a slip. One thing that is an annoying design “flaw” in my eyes is that the floor of the boat doesn’t all slope slightly towards the back of the boat. So, when I scrub the SeaDeck and then rinse…it’s very difficult to get all of the water to flow through the rear scupper valve and essentially into the bilge area. There’s always a tiny bit of water that stays pooled on the floor towards the bow, and a considerable amount that stays in the drainage channels that surround the ski locker. It’s almost as if the shape of the flooring is bowed, with the High Point being the section between the captain and passenger chair, and the low points being rear scupper valve and the bow. Why did Yamaha do this? It makes it very difficult to get all of the water to drain into the bilge. The only way to get all the water completely in the bilge after washing The boat is to wait until the next time I use it and then once the boat gets on plane and the bow tilts up… Then all the water drains out of the drainage channels and into the bilge. It’s annoying. I imagine that folks that keep their boats on trailers don’t have this problem, but any thoughts from those that keep their boat in the water? Wondering if the newer models have fixed this problem. Another annoying thing about water staying in the drainage channels around the ski locker is that when I go to open the locker to throw my fenders in there after leaving the dock… All that water that was sitting there from the previous cleaning… Sort of cascades over the edge of the waterproofing/gasket for the hatch, and spills into the ski locker.

 

[zipper]

This was my experience on an 07 AR230. https://jetboaters.net/threads/rain-water-pools-at-front-of-bow-floor-while-on-the-water.14264/#post-246353

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

At the end of the day on the water I break out two 5 gallon buckets, fill them with water and place them on the lower swim step. This provides just enough change in attitude to promote the water flowing towards the transom to flow out the three deck drains while I use my raw water wash down and a deck brush to clean the deck while still on the lake. Some days like yesterday I have the buckets back there all day and tie them off to the aft cleats so I can wash the deck down throughout the day. if I’ve got a guest with me I have them stand on the swim deck to promote draining.

On my boat in between the bow seats is a floor locker where there is dedicated space for a 5 gallon bucket and room for a lot of other stuff. There is a drain in the channel where the lip of the hatch goes, while this doesn’t work great it does channel the majority of the water back to the oem deck drain at the transom via a 3/4” line. I don’t know if you could install a drain in your ski locker hatch channel to drain that water overboard or not but you might look into it. If there isn’t enough slope between the ski locker hatch channel maybe you could put in a small shower sump with its own pump to remove that water and keep it from cascading into the ski locker when you open the hatch. this would keep that water from going into your bilge. Like this unit. Amazon.com

Note, our boats have self bailing decks, so water that gets on the deck drains out the deck drain in the transom. The water that gets into ski locker drains to the bilge.

The design of the the centrifugal bilge pumps makes them good at moving large amounts of water for their size, but they can’t remove that low amount of standing water. If you want to have as dry a bilge as possible there are systems like this https://www.amazon.com/SEAFLO-Dry-Bilge-System/dp/B07V4G41K4

Here are some other dry bilge systems

The diaphragm type pumps will self prime and move water from a low level. Seems like the simplest way would be use one of those small gpm diaphragm pumps and drop the tube down right in front of the hull drain plug in the aft bilge with a piece of foam wrapped around the hose and that would remove 99% of the water down there.

 

[Sccala]

This was my experience. https://jetboaters.net/threads/rain-water-pools-at-front-of-bow-floor-while-on-the-water.14264/#post-246353

Thanks a lot. I read the entire thread. Great idea. I think I may do that. I’ve been thinking about buying a ballast bag for surfing anyway. I was going to buy the L-shaped one that sits on my padded transom seat, because based on what side of the boat you want to surf on, you can intentionally weight either the starboard or port side of the swim platform by doing this. But, the type of bag you got would do a very similar job I’m sure. And it would serve a dual purpose… The other one being drainage of my boat while not in use. One thing I did notice is that your former source of standing water is different than mine. I have never had an issue with water getting under my bow cover. My water purely comes from the leftover after scrubbing my deck after each day that I use it. I can do a pretty good job of getting most of it to go into the scupper valve just by having the hose on full blast and panning the spray back-and-forth rapidly while walking from bow to stern. When I’m done, I stand as far towards the edge of the swim platform as possible, and squat down, grab a hold of the bottom of the dock and sort of “dead lift” the dock, which sinks the boat into the water a few inches. It kind of works, but to get all the water out… I would have to weigh more than 185#, or hold that position for another minute, which is not what I really feel like doing at the end of a long day … Exerting myself like that. Been saying that I was going to buy a ballast bag for like three years now. Now I have a better reason to do it. By the way… With the way the boat is out of the showroom… You absolutely can surf with it. I have. It doesn’t make a “pretty” wave, but it works. You just put all of your occupants in the rear left or rear right of the boat And keep the speed, depending on the weight of the people in the boat, Somewhere between 7 and 10 mph for a surfable wave. Yes, if you wanted the “perfect” set-up, I would still get a ballast bag as well as one of those suction cup wedges. but anyhow… Thanks for the recommendation. Cheers.

 

[Sccala]

At the end of the day on the water I break out two 5 gallon buckets, fill them with water and place them on the lower swim step. This provides just enough change in attitude to promote the water flowing towards the transom to flow out the three deck drains while I use my raw water wash down and a deck brush to clean the deck while still on the lake. Some days like yesterday I have the buckets back there all day and tie them off to the aft cleats so I can wash the deck down throughout the day. if I’ve got a guest with me I have them stand on the swim deck to promote draining.

On my boat in between the bow seats is a floor locker where there is dedicated space for a 5 gallon bucket and room for a lot of other stuff. There is a drain in the channel where the lip of the hatch goes, while this doesn’t work great it does channel the majority of the water back to the oem deck drain at the transom via a 3/4” line. I don’t know if you could install a drain in your ski locker hatch channel to drain that water overboard or not but you might look into it. If there isn’t enough slope between the ski locker hatch channel maybe you could put in a small shower sump with its own pump to remove that water and keep it from cascading into the ski locker when you open the hatch. this would keep that water from going into your bilge. Like this unit. Amazon.com

Note, our boats have self bailing decks, so water that gets on the deck drains out the deck drain in the transom. The water that gets into ski locker drains to the bilge.

The design of the the centrifugal bilge pumps makes them good at moving large amounts of water for their size, but they can’t remove that low amount of standing water. If you want to have as dry a bilge as possible there are systems like this Amazon.com

Here are some other dry bilge systems

The diaphragm type pumps will self prime and move water from a low level. Seems like the simplest way would be use one of those small gpm diaphragm pumps and drop the tube down right in front of the hull drain plug in the aft bilge with a piece of foam wrapped around the hose and that would remove 99% of the water down there.

Thanks. Appreciate all of that input. I don’t have any interest in adding another pump to my boat though. Especially not to the ski locker, where space is at a premium since I keep quite a few things in there… Emergency life jackets all the way in the front of the ski locker, my table attachment, my stern anchor, two fenders, and my portable grill. I also don’t really care if once the bilge pump has pumped all the water out, if they’re still a quarter inch sitting at the very bottom that the pump float won’t activate. Honestly, who cares about that? I just wanna make sure the deck is dry and the pump is working. I think I’m going to go with the ballast bag solution that the previous gentleman offered. By the way, I love the FSH boats. And the newer ones have a lot of comfortable seating. I will never be able to convince the wife to switch over to one though. Lol she wants to sell our 242 in a couple years and upgrade to a 27 footer. .

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks. Appreciate all of that input. I don’t have any interest in adding another pump to my boat though. Especially not to the ski locker, where space is at a premium since I keep quite a few things in there… Emergency life jackets all the way in the front of the ski locker, my table attachment, my stern anchor, two fenders, and my portable grill. I also don’t really care if once the bilge pump has pumped all the water out, if they’re still a quarter inch sitting at the very bottom that the pump float won’t activate. Honestly, who cares about that? I just wanna make sure the deck is dry and the pump is working. I think I’m going to go with the ballast bag solution that the previous gentleman offered. By the way, I love the FSH boats. And the newer ones have a lot of comfortable seating. I will never be able to convince the wife to switch over to one though. Lol she wants to sell our 242 in a couple years and upgrade to a 27 footer. .

To clarify, you wouldn’t put that sump pump in the ski locker, you’d put it down underneath somewhere. The upside to putting in one of these pumps for that channel is that in theory it would keep that ski locker dry. The other would keep the bilge dry which is great to keep the corrosion down and in dealing with AIS.

I worked hard to get a dry bilge in my boat, changed out the anchor locker fitting, sealed up the clean out tray drain, added drains to the rod holders and cup holders that didn’t have them from the factory so that those would drain over board instead of into the bilge and into my storage compartments, sealed up the rod and cup holders so those wouldn’t leak into the storage compartments and then into the bilge. The engine bay and aft bilge are clean and odor free as a result of that effort, and it’s fun to watch the faces of the watercraft inspectors when I pull the plug and nothing comes out. This also keeps corrosion to a minimum since there isn’t water sitting in the bilge making that compartment into a sauna.

 

[Sccala]

Yeah. Those are good points. Gosh, that seems like a lot of work. Good on you for doing all of that. One thing I definitely know I should do and want to do… And doesn’t seem like it will take too much time… Is to at least Hook up to the cupholders that don’t have drains on them. I don’t know why all of them don’t have drains from the factory. Kind of stupid that they don’t if you ask me. When you say you have some of the cupholders drain overboard… What do you mean? Like over the gunwale??? How do you get them to drain overboard?

 

[M5Law]

To clarify, you wouldn’t put that sump pump in the ski locker, you’d put it down underneath somewhere. The upside to putting in one of these pumps for that channel is that in theory it would keep that ski locker dry. The other would keep the bilge dry which is great to keep the corrosion down and in dealing with AIS.

I worked hard to get a dry bilge in my boat, changed out the anchor locker fitting, sealed up the clean out tray drain, added drains to the rod holders and cup holders that didn’t have them from the factory so that those would drain over board instead of into the bilge and into my storage compartments, sealed up the rod and cup holders so those wouldn’t leak into the storage compartments and then into the bilge. The engine bay and aft bilge are clean and odor free as a result of that effort, and it’s fun to watch the faces of the watercraft inspectors when I pull the plug and nothing comes out. This also keeps corrosion to a minimum since there isn’t water sitting in the bilge making that compartment into a sauna.

A dry bilge has been my goal for almost a year. After multiple rounds of sealing everything I could find, it still eludes me. Water still gets in the compartment below the starboard clean out access panel and I can't for the life of me figure out where it's coming from. It's a spot that doesn't drain into the bilge so I have to shop vac it after every outing, otherwise it just sits there. Pain in the ass. At this point I'd be willing to pay someone a grand just to stop the leak(s).

 

[RightStuff]

Depending on where the water is sitting something like what I have in my post below might help. Those little drains helped keep my 2013 dry.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-official-what-did-you-do-to-your-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/page-107#post-404686

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

A dry bilge has been my goal for almost a year. After multiple rounds of sealing everything I could find, it still eludes me. Water still gets in the compartment below the starboard clean out access panel and I can't for the life of me figure out where it's coming from. It's a spot that doesn't drain into the bilge so I have to shop vac it after every outing, otherwise it just sits there. Pain in the ass. At this point I'd be willing to pay someone a grand just to stop the leak(s).

Sending you a PM, going to try and earn that grand from you LOL!

 

[Sccala]

Depending on where the water is sitting something like what I have in my post below might help. Those little drains helped keep my 2013 dry.

https://jetboaters.net/threads/the-official-what-did-you-do-to-your-jet-boat-today-thread.2661/page-107#post-404686

Wow those Drains are actually a good idea. That might actually be what I do instead of buying the ballast bag to weigh down the transom. I would probably only need one. And the trouble spot that I need it the most is the front left corner of the ski locker gutter. If I just put one there and then ran the tubing around the outer edge and let it empty near the drain of the ski locker, I’d probably be golden. No more water cascading over the edge when I open the locker the day after cleaning the boat