Time to vent, had enough!!!!

[dlkhmk]

Every time it rains I have many multiple gallons of rain water throughout the boat. The engine is sitting in 5 inches of water. The changing area has several inches. Every hatch is soaking wet. Everything in the boat is wet. Ironically the only dry spot of the boat is the damn livewell!!!!!!

On the water the boat is great. No water, no problems. The bilge pump has never once come on to pump out water. After a rain storm sitting on the trailer I have to turn on the bilge to remove several inches of water from under the engine. If I'm away from the boat for a week or two the damn thing may sink on dry land.

I've been through every thread, completed every attempt at fixing Yamaha's shortcomings. I spend more time drying my gear and airing out this POS then I actually do on the water. I've tilted it forward, I've tilted it back, I've leveled it, and still the same results, several inches of water.
Basically it always needs to be covered or in a garage.

I was at one of the local marinas and talked with a few boat owners ranging from skiffs to large center consoles. A little rain in the bilge is to be expected, but the engine should not be sitting in several inches of water. Every piece of gear should not be wet.

If Yamaha is listinging I'm sure you don't care, but I've had Yamaha motorcycles, waver runner, and now the FSH. This will be my last Yamaha purchase!!!!

Every time I take this boat out I have multiple people comment on the great looks of this boat and ask me about it. I tell them all the same, it's a nice looking boat but the Yamaha quality control is horrible and no one should buy this boat unless you're looking for a pretty bath tub!!!!

 

[chris oftedal]

what has the dealer said? Wouldn't the warranty address this? If you can't park on a trailer I would assume that is an issue.

 

[mraz72]

I feel your pain, but you did make me laugh when you said she will sink on dry land. Literally, she will have issues if you don't get the water out of the engine hatch before it climes to far.

As Chris said, I would hammer yamaha and the dealer until fixed. Do you have a particularly leaky boat, even for the FSH?

 

[JDinfla]

If the bow of your fsh is down even a little, you can collect gallons of water in the hull from a big down pour.

 

[dlkhmk]

The dealer is 2 hours away, but that's probably where this will end up.

I've had the boat for a year. At home it's always garage kept. For the last several weeks I've been leaving it out at a family residence near the beach so it's just recently been in several heavy rain storms. I've been through all the mods on here. Replaced the anchor locker drain, sealed the thru-hulls, sealed the rod holders, sealed the stern drain plugs.

So I have a surprising dry boat when I'm on the water. It's all rain water problems at this point.
It has to be either the channel drains for the hatches can't keep up with heavy rain and over flow or my leading culprit right now is the fuel tank access (thanks to @Highandsryinco for the suggestion). Opened it up after today's rain and the top of the tank has rain water on it. I guess it's time for some more silicone!!!!

Unfortunately I had to leave the boat outside again for another week till I return. This time all the drain plugs are open and the front is jacked up as high as it would go. Atleast this way what water gets in can flow out the ass end " hopefully".

 

[sysinu]

If you have all the compartment plugs out in our boats you can get water in the engine compartment. Plugs in, that compartment should never collect any water. Sounds to me like you have a quality issue. I don't have the problem you have. I really hope that this is an isolated event.

PS there are Yamaha employees on this forum and our feedback has clearly been listened to (many of the new features on our boats are consumer influenced from this very forum).

 

[bronze_10]

We open ours and leave the brass plug out ... I still get a little water in a corner because the boat is unlevel where I park it.. but mostly everything drains out the back.

 

[Julian]

Shouldn't the drain plugs always be left open when on land??????

Yes, all plugs should be out when on land or you risk your boat becoming a bathtub. I cannot fathom (pardon the pun), how the engine compartment could have 5 inches of water in it if the stern drain plug is open! So either the plugs were left in, or the drain plugs are clogged.

My boat never sits uncovered, always has the drain plug out, and the bow jacked up. The sun damage alone from sitting uncovered makes me cringe.

That said....I wonder if the fittings on your scupper drains are leaking? In particular, the plastic fitting that connects the hose to the deck. Fuel tank hatch sounds like another good one to look at. No cup holders to worry about (still can't believe Yamaha hasn't rectified that yet!).

 

[Bill Smith]

Are you leaving the bilge switch on when in the water ? It's not automatic like other boats.

 

[16'FSHSport]

Are you leaving the drain plugs in? I definetly get water in a rainstorm when parked. My driveway is pitched about 10 degrees back and the water comes from the jump seat and battery channel drains. Obviously when tilted back they fill and have no where to drain but into the lower compartments below due to the angle as they were designed to drain forward. The angle of my drive does not allow this to happen. However 5" of water in the engine compartment! I am confused. If I put a hose under the jump seat and turn it on I will never see water in the engine compartment as it will drain out the rear plugs. Actually I have never seen water in the engine compartment.

 

[Grover70]

The 5" in the engine compartment is the confusing part. My main question is whether or not the water is towards the stern or forward? If it's forward, then I don't think it has any place to go. Towards the stern, it should drain out to the stern plugs. The thought occurred to me as to the angle the engine compartment sits? Does anyone know in relation to the centerline of the boat if it is level, angles forward, or back? A pic is worth a thousand words.

 

[Earfixr]

When the boat is on level ground and the trailer jack is maxed out the engine comapartment is lower than the rear drain plugs. On a bad rain 5" is easy to see in the engine bay. I'll try and take a pic as we are getting a dumped on all week.

 

[dlkhmk]

After several rain storms in the last week, staying on the boat during the downpours and watching the water, and some trial and error I have come to a few conclusions, but no 100% fixes.

1. Easiest fix to the rain problem - Garage or cover the boat. She is now under a cover for the rest of the summer until she comes home to the garage. This will of course solve the problem until that last minute downpour while you're coming off the water. If that occurs raise the bow as high as possible and let it drain out the stern.

2. Tighten hatch cam latches so when the hatch is closed there is a better seal to keep the rain water in the channel drains. During heavy downpours these drains cannot handle the rain water and overflow into the storage area. Only problem with this is the two jump seats. Be aware, jacking up the bow to fix one problem makes this problem worse.

3. New sealant around the fuel tank access hatch. The outer rim had almost no silicone from the factory. Water would easily run under the rim and into the tank area. Top of the gas tank is wet from rain after every storm.

4. Accept the fact that this boat will get rain water inside all the compartments. Dry bags and raised floor mats are a necessity for the two jump seat hatches. The only true dry storage on the boat is in fact the live well (which is now known as the shoes and towels storage area) even the damn glove box leaks!!!

I think I've narrowed down the large amount of water in the bilge area that prompted my initial venting. These problems/fixes are all intertwined to cause the
water in the bilge along with some, dare I say, user error.

If the boat is left uncovered and you get a heavy downpour the hatch drains cannot handle the volume of water, the fuel hatch leaked like a sieve (hopefully now fixed). With a normal rain there seems to be no problem, its when a downpour occurs the boat just cannot handle the volume of water. So if you take these Yamaha design/quality shortcomings and combine them with having the trailer near level or even with the bow slightly raised, you get a bilge full of water. I would normally jack up the trailer enough to remove it from the truck leaving the bow only slightly raised.

With the stern drain plugs out there is still several inches of water in the bilge area. The only way to get that water to flow out the stern drains is to jack up the bow as high as it will go. The bilge and engine seem to be slightly slanted forward or slightly lower then the stern drains. Even with the bow completely raised I still have about an inch of water under the engine that will not flow into the stern drain area.

 

[Julian]

After several rain storms in the last week, staying on the boat during the downpours and watching the water, and some trial and error I have come to a few conclusions, but no 100% fixes.

1. Easiest fix to the rain problem - Garage or cover the boat. She is now under a cover for the rest of the summer until she comes home to the garage. This will of course solve the problem until that last minute downpour while you're coming off the water. If that occurs raise the bow as high as possible and let it drain out the stern.

2. Tighten hatch cam latches so when the hatch is closed there is a better seal to keep the rain water in the channel drains. During heavy downpours these drains cannot handle the rain water and overflow into the storage area. Only problem with this is the two jump seats. Be aware, jacking up the bow to fix one problem makes this problem worse.

3. New sealant around the fuel tank access hatch. The outer rim had almost no silicone from the factory. Water would easily run under the rim and into the tank area. Top of the gas tank is wet from rain after every storm.

4. Accept the fact that this boat will get rain water inside all the compartments. Dry bags and raised floor mats are a necessity for the two jump seat hatches. The only true dry storage on the boat is in fact the live well (which is now known as the shoes and towels storage area) even the damn glove box leaks!!!

I think I've narrowed down the large amount of water in the bilge area that prompted my initial venting. These problems/fixes are all intertwined to cause the
water in the bilge along with some, dare I say, user error.

If the boat is left uncovered and you get a heavy downpour the hatch drains cannot handle the volume of water, the fuel hatch leaked like a sieve (hopefully now fixed). With a normal rain there seems to be no problem, its when a downpour occurs the boat just cannot handle the volume of water. So if you take these Yamaha design/quality shortcomings and combine them with having the trailer near level or even with the bow slightly raised, you get a bilge full of water. I would normally jack up the trailer enough to remove it from the truck leaving the bow only slightly raised.

With the stern drain plugs out there is still several inches of water in the bilge area. The only way to get that water to flow out the stern drains is to jack up the bow as high as it will go. The bilge and engine seem to be slightly slanted forward or slightly lower then the stern drains. Even with the bow completely raise I still have about an inch of water under the engine that will not flow into the stern drain area.

Can you post photos? Is this water between the engine supports and simply isn't draining out the drain plug? Or is it behind near the bilge pump?

 

[dlkhmk]

I will not be at the boat till next week for photos. The water seems to lay forward toward the bilge pump.

 

[Blindduck]

I feel your pain but I'm not having the issues that your having...The only issue I'm having is from the scupper drains hardly ever work so water is left standing on the deck...I'm lucky for now my fuel tank cover doesn't leak...Just seams retarded they couldn't use better scupper valves to help the draining.

 

[Corey]

I deleted those cheap scupper valves all together... since deck is higher than the exit ports so I never get a back wash onto the deck and my deck drains very quickly without the scuppers..

 

[Corey]

I also put a rubber marine hatch seal (Taco Marine Weather Seal) on the fuel tank access and along both jump seat hatches and helps tremendously with the wash downs and rain water accessing the jump seat compartments...

 

[Tonkatoy]

I deleted those cheap scupper valves all together... since deck is higher than the exit ports so I never get a back wash onto the deck and my deck drains very quickly without the scuppers..

Do you mean you deleted the check valves?
I would think that if you took on enough water from some waves, etc., the boat will sink real fast because because the deck will get below the waterline in the rear from the added weight. Enough water in the bilge will weigh her down too.

I don't know man... sounds risky

 

[Tonkatoy]

I had my FSH covered in a rain storm and I still got water in the changing area. True story

I nearly lost my mind...