2002 SSV Middle Ski Locker Drainage Problem

[hlewis12]

I see a drain in the middle ski locker but for some reason I always have about 3-4 inches of water remaining in my middle ski locker. I would have thought that the drain in the very back center of the locker would drainback to where the bilge would pump it out but I'm not positive that it works this way. The ballast bag does not seem to be leaking and the drain on the ballast works fine but I always have water remaining in the bottom of the locker.

I'm thinking of running a clothes hanger through the drain to see if something may be clogging it up. Anyone think of a reason that this would be a bad idea. Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks in advance.

[Diggs]

Most likely your boat is sitting lower in the front and not allowing it to drain to the back. Next time you are on the ramp, park it there for a bit and make sure your bag is not blocking it and I bet it runs through. It was a known thing and the more recent models have a bilge pump in the front and back. You will probably just learn to deal with it and let it drain once in awhile so it does not get all slimy in there.

[jzelt]

When it is on the trailer, ours pools up in the ski locker (bow is lower than the stern). Only way I can get it to drain is to get the truck on flat surface at the top of ramp and the stern down the ramp. There is only 1 ramp in all of the one's that we use that has these characteristics. The only other option I have when I get home is to jack the trailer all the way and let it sit which drains most of the water.

[hlewis12]

I parked it on the ramp once and let the boat drain for about 10 minutes and then took it out. I did not notice if there was water in while we had the boat out but definitely there was when I got back home. I have a fat sack pump that I've been using to pump the water out in the driveway but it is definitely a hassel. Thanks for the replies.

[wotan2525]

I bet you could put an auto bilge pump in there pretty quickly..... I know my Saltare has both pumps in the front of the boat (and I don't often see water left in the back of the boat.)

[hlewis12]

I parked the boat on a very steep ramp last night and actually checked the center compartment to see how much water was in there. It has been raining quite often here and there was a ton of water in there. I moved the bag around to make sure that it wasn't blocking the hole and still it did not drain at all.

I'm wondering two things. First of all maybe the hose is pinched and where is the hose running to? Secondly I wonder if the hose is clogged up with the slim that build up in this compartment?

Anyone know?

I removed the bag completely last night and let it sit in the garage to dry so hopefully I can check it out better tonight and maybe run a coat hanger through there to see if its clogged.

[Diggs]

Probably just clogged. Remove your bag and take a hanger and stick it through that hole that carries it to the rear of the boat. You probably have some crap trapped in there.

[cigars n scotch]

I have the exact same problem and I have an 08 21V. i cleaned the boat today and opened up the v-drive compartment and saw about 3 inches of stagnant water just sitting in there, then I checked my center locker and saw some slimy, nasty water sitting there too. Took the bag out and it was nasty, all slimy and crap. So I took the garden hose and tried to spray out the locker and push the stagnant water towards the back compartment where my fresh water intake and bilge are at. Turned the bilge on and it only got some of the water out (once it gets to a lower level the bilge doesn't pull any water up)

There is a nice steep hill when I leave our launch so I am going to try the "park" suggestion and see what happens. I'll also use a hangar to check there's nothing blocking the through-hole. Glad to see I am not the only one dealing with this...

[tadarch2]

I have a 2001 22SSV and I also have the same problem. It always seems that I have water in the center locker. I usually try and vacuum it out with the shop vac when we get home. The problem is I dont always remember to. So I end up with a little bit of nasty slime.

[saltare inverts]

I have the same problem too. I decided its extra ballast. But really I want it gone. My last boat had wood stringers and I always made sure there was no water left anywhere. I cant get rid of that habit. I guess steep hill is the ticket.

[ScottnAz]

This, of all things, is my biggest gripe about my boat.
When we get home from a day at the lake, I pull the truck up the driveway (forward) and in to the garage, this leaves the boat at angle down the driveway. Then, with the boat still hitched to the truck, I swing the jack arm down and jack up the front of the boat (and the rear of the truck because they're hitched together to keep the boat from rolling back down the driveway). I leave the boat/truck like this while I wipe down, clean, empty the boat, remove the swim platform for storage, etc. Once the boat is clean, and I've had a couple beers during the process, I get the boat off the driveway and stored in the garage. Unfortunately, this only gets 90% of the water out. Once stored in the garage, I lower the tongue as far as it will go, and break out the shopvac to get the remaining water out.

I'm tempted to add a second drain plug in the ski locker area, like MC's.

[Patrick56]

My 03" SSV does the same thing. Fortunately my boat is stored on our driveway nose up. My front locker will slowly drain to the back overnight. I think the drain line routing from the front locker to the rear is just a design problem. If I want the water gone fast, I unplug the drain line from my front ballast bag and use the drain pump to suck out most of the water.

[Rusty Griswold]

Same issue with my 06 24 ssv. I would like to block the hole put not sure what that would end up causing.

[dusty2221]

I think the only solution is an extra drain hole right at the back of the center locker. I'm guessing it would be enough out of the way of the bag to not hurt anything. I miss the center drain from our malibu.

[tre]

clearly whatever the problem is has not changed since my 2009 24 ssv does the same thing and has since day 1.

[jzelt]

You can try jacking the trailer up all the way with the tongue jack. Ours doesn't sit on level ground (in the yard), but if it did, I am sure it would all have drained out.

Rusty, I would think if you blocked the ski locker hole and took one over the bow, all the water would stay there instead of running to the rear bilge pump, but it would stop whatever bilge water was in back coming forward. You could use one of those rubber transom plugs I recommended for the cooler drain.

[mleppard]

I have a 2005 24ssv with the same problem. I was thinking of putting a one way valve in the ski locker drain so the water can only go back? has anyone tried that?