The 2015 24x issues thread...

[Vickie DeSilva]

I turn both batteries off for the week and remove the drain plug instead. I also have seen the blinking LEDs when the boat is off. I thought I was loosing my mind.

Because I leave the boat in the water for extended periods, I need to leave the Aux battery on to run the bilge. I agree with many on this forum who said the reason for the lights, bilge cycling is to let you know the batterys are on. This is built into the system by Yamaha. My dealer, Berts Mega Mall did not know this when I brought them the problem, but in their research, they found this to be true. They also advised it should be no problem for me to have them cycle. My concern was battery draining, but they said that should not be a problem. We will see. Thanks for the help, I actually had answers before my dealer did because of this forum.

 

[MrMoose]

Because I leave the boat in the water for extended periods, I need to leave the Aux battery on to run the bilge. I agree with many on this forum who said the reason for the lights, bilge cycling is to let you know the batterys are on. This is built into the system by Yamaha. My dealer, Berts Mega Mall did not know this when I brought them the problem, but in their research, they found this to be true. They also advised it should be no problem for me to have them cycle. My concern was battery draining, but they said that should not be a problem. We will see. Thanks for the help, I actually had answers before my dealer did because of this forum.

On a side note, I've never had a boat collect so much water and hold so much water. It's like owning an old woody with twin screws. I filled my bilge to the point that my bilge pump ran while the boat was in my driveway and nothing was leaking from the inside-out. I think that it's time to look for leaks in the cooling hoses. It is strange to me to have a gallon or two drain out of the keel drain on one outing and then not a drop on the next outing (same activities and no rain)

 

[Rodney Findley]

@BigN8
I agree with the idea - I was actually going to look into doing something similar. As as day-boater, we woul never use that much cold storage, so I personally had rather make a simi-permanent soulution with a smaller cooler and
a valve/drainline to the bilge. For me it would free up a bit more storage under the seat... great idea!

 

[Williamsone46]

It is strange to me to have a gallon or two drain out of the keel drain on one outing and then not a drop on the next outing (same activities and no rain)

Mine is the same way. Sometimes a get some water out and others nothing. I wounder if that sometimes I don't get that drain plug in all the way or maybe some debris in the threads from inside the hull allowing some water to leak in.

 

[greg]

I only get water in mine when i run ballast and the rub rail is under water. that thing is not seal at all it seems. It will kick on my pump quite often while I have the bags filled. Other then that it is bone dry.

 

[McMark]

Sealing my rub rail is one of my winter projects.

 

[greg]

I would like to know how long it takes to do that. I may try it also.

 

[Zeus2013]

I decided to open the boat on Friday before our blizzard this past weekend to make sure the cover was properly secured.

I noticed the Bimini top was lower than usual. The Bimini had pushed its way down so the post wraps that are made to protect the side cushions had gone beyond the top of the cushion.

The cushion fabric was also pushed down and stretched.

Anyone have this problem?

 

[OperationROL]

I decided to open the boat on Friday before our blizzard this past weekend to make sure the cover was properly secured.

I noticed the Bimini top was lower than usual. The Bimini had pushed its way down so the post wraps that are made to protect the side cushions had gone beyond the top of the cushion.

The cushion fabric was also pushed down and stretched.

Anyone have this problem?

Do you have a picture?

 

[Zeus2013]

Do you have a picture?

Nope...it was late and too cold..will get this weekend as I want to open her up again and see if I can release so stress from the seat...

 

[MattFX4]

Update... We have come to learn that we had a "first run" 2015 SX240. After over 3 and a half months and a lot of time researching, phone calls and emails we got the boat swapped out for a different "non first run" 2015 SX240 that does not list!! Yamaha knows there is an issue with, at least the "first run" of the 2015 SX240 boats listing to the port side. (In my opinion it is an unacceptable amount of listing). We also notice several other things that Yamaha had fixed since the first run came out. They corrected the horrible caulking job under the seat rest in the swim deck, the head compartment door closes better along with a few other minor changes they had a made since the first run.

Our dealer was wonderful and worked with us to get the boat swapped out for a different one. These are great boats and we love it. However make sure you are not buying a first run boat as well only buy from a reputable dealer who with stand beside you as our dealer did.

Now it is time to enjoy our boat.

DeAnna, what dealer did you purchase from? I am also located in Acworth, so have a good idea of who it could be. I assume you boat on Allatoona?

 

[David Decker]

I noticed something a little questionable, which I plan to fix. The head compartment door latch leaves a dark metal-oxide "mark" on the nice clean white edge molding and vinyl (see below).
I'm not sure how long it will take for the edge molding to start to pull away or maybe tear, and I don't like the look of the black scuffs there, either.
I think there should be a scuff plate - imagine a disc of plastic or metal folded in half over the edge of the hatch opening. I also thought maybe I could cover the metal arm with clear
heat shrink tubing - this would prevent it from leaving a black mark, but the arm would still rub on the edge of the molding.

I plan to experiment a bit and I'll post my solution when I figure something out.

 

[tdonoughue]

Perhaps a little chunk of thin rubber tubing? Like the thickness of what is on a fish tank, but in a slightly larger diameter. Slip it over the latch, perhaps?

 

[Bennie]

To me anything slid over the latch would still create a smear/rub mark on the molding. @David Decker I believe that if you simply loosen the latch by backing off the retaining nut by only a thread or so you should give yourself the clearance to avoid the tight fit and hence the rubbing. Those two items (latch and molding) are not made to contact each other until you close the lid pulling the latch towards the handle and locking the door.

My personal first step would be to just back that latch off. If not, a piece of lexan custom fit to your seating surgace and gorilla glued should solve any defacing to the molding.

 

[David Decker]

Thanks, Tim and Bennie - I loosened the retaining nut on the latch to give a bit more clearance as suggested. I didn't realize that the latch actually cinches down when it is latched.
It doesn't rub nearly as much now, but it still latches firmly in place.

I also slipped a short section, maybe 2" long, of clear "heat shrink" tubing over the end of the arm and shrunk it down -- it adds just a couple of thousands, to the thickness, but
it prevents the metal-on-vinyl contact. I don't know how it will wear over time, but it is very easy to remove if it doesn't work out.

I'll save the Lexan idea in case this fix doesn't work out, but it seems like it is fixed at least for now.

 

[David Decker]

This isn't really a problem, but I didn't like the exposed threads on the bow eye U-bolt inside the anchor locker. It looked unfinished to me, so before I laid 300' of new anchor line in the locker, I covered the ends of 1/2" bolts with vinyl caps.
At $0.91, this may be my cheapest (and quickest) project!

 

[tdonoughue]

That is a good idea. Where do you get those? Amazon? Lowe's?

 

[David Decker]

Yes @tdonoughue, Home Depot and Lowes both have them in the nuts/bolts aisle in those drawer organizers with all the specialty hard-to-find hardware.
They are called "Screw protectors" and the 1/2" size fits perfectly on that U-bolt in the anchor locker.

I bought a 3-pack of these at Lowe's for $0.91, but Home Depot also has them in a pack of two for $0.77 if that works better:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-2-in-Gray-Rubber-Protectors-2-Piece-per-Pack-812828/204275999

 

[tdonoughue]

Sweet! Thanks.

Hey, [USERGROUP=3]@Administrative[/USERGROUP] , is there a way to move just these last 3-4 entries to the Tips & Tricks? It would apply to much more than just our 24 footers...

 

[David Decker]

Here's my "Top 10" list of improvements I'd suggest to mother Yamaha after spending some time with my 2016 242 Limited S E. None of these is a huge deal, but I believe addressing some of these would make for a better 2017 model:

1. ConneXt really needs maps. It already has GPS, a compass and it knows lat/long/altitude, but it can't show your location, route or destination on a map. Why not add this ability?

2. The audible alarm is just WAY too loud. The first time I heard it go off was at the boat show - the sales guy couldn't figure out how to mute it and everyone within 100' heard it. It is comparable in volume to a smoke alarm, which is far too loud, plus it is too persistent (it only really needs to issue a few short beeps, not an annoying continuous tone). It alarms for what seems like an eternity every time the system boots up. Why would it do that? It is just booting! For now, I've put some tape over mine to quiet it down. But it is still extremely annoying. I'm considering designing/building a little circuit to change the continuous beep into a few short chirps the FIRST time there is an alarm, then a short periodic reminder beep if the alarm condition persists.

3. Any compartments that people reach into with their arms should have finished edges, not raw cut fiberglass that tears up your forearms. These areas include bow and rear storage, and swim platform storage. I've finished mine with edge molding, and it only took maybe an hour to put it all in place. It looks better, too.

4. The Polk stereo is nice, but the power output is just not adequate. Polk claims 50W x 4, but that is absolute maximum (peak) power at very high levels of THD, i.e. not really an honest 50W. When you consider the bow speakers and tower tweeters are wired in parallel, and the cabin and swim deck speakers are in series, each speaker is probably maxing out at perhaps 10-15 watts of continuous power. I suggest that all E-series models should have an external amp, and maybe a sub woofer, similar to the 242X. Maybe the 242X adds a second amp, the tower speakers and tower sound bar for wake boarders.

5. The passenger's folding drink table doesn't seem sturdy enough. I haven't actually broken it, and I don't expect to be able to stand on it, but judging from the way it feels I'm pretty sure it would break if someone accidentally lost their balance and leaned on it a little.

6. The bow anchor locker should have a cleat to tie off the anchor line. I installed two clam cleats for this purpose.

7. There are way too many warning stickers on the boat. I lost count of how many of them I removed. Yes, I know we live in a litigious society, but they are really ugly. Well, at least they remove easily!

8. Connext is very nice overall, but it has a few UI issues. For one, there's a bug that causes the stereo volume to show as 100% occasionally, even though (thankfully!) it is not actually at 100%.
It is also a little hard to figure out where some things are. The UI could use some more polishing. For example, at the bottom of the "Home" and "Float mode" screens, there is a row of "indicators" which show the status of the bilge pump, blower, lights, etc. They look like buttons that can be pressed to control these items, but they're not. You have to go to another screen to change these items... Maybe these indicators shouldn't look like buttons?

9. It would be nice to be able to see how much / whether the solar panels are charging the batteries. Are they helping? Disconnected? Broken? Would I ever know? How about showing a bargraph, fuel gauge or other indicator to give some idea of what they are doing?

10. The stereo remote cover should either be attached to the boat via a lanyard of some type, or it should at least float. It is neither, because Polk assumed it would be mounted at the helm, not on a swim platform just inches from the water. I'm ordering another cover in anticipation of losing it within the first season - we'll see how long it takes.

All things considered, I love the boat. Just some ideas for making next year's even better!