What's below the ski locker?

[rkmfl]

Hello fellow Supra owners--
I've been a longtime Moomba owner and just purchased my first Supra (a used 2005 Launch 21V). The boat has many issues, and I am going through it thoroughly before placing it in the water for the first time.

I've noticed a small problem that I have not been able to solve by searching the forum or reading manuals, etc.

There is a small hole in the bottom of the ski-locker (bow ballast area). I've illustrated this in the photo below, by drawing on top of the owner's manual photo:

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3225/supra1a.png


The hole is not large enough for me to determine what is below it, but I can tell that it's soaked with water. This leads me to think it is not draining into a bilge, but instead may be some sort of sealed area, possibly a sealed area filled with foam.

If my fears are true, this is a sealed area of foam that has been breached ... does anyone have any ideas as to what I should do to fix the problem and minimize the damage it's caused?

I can't imagine it's easy to extract the water if it's soaked in the foam. I almost wonder if I'd have to use some sort of chemical agent to speed the evaporation, along with drilling out the hole to make a bit more room -- prior to re-fiberglassing it.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions :-)
RKM

[docdrs]

check out the moomba forum.....I'd say you should put a 4"- 6" access hole , remove the foam in this hole then vacuum the water out. then place a sealed access lid as described to monitor the situation

[rkmfl]

Just to be sure I didn't leave you with the wrong impression, this is on a Supra Launch 21V.

Coincidentally, I tried something similar to your suggestion today. I used a fosner bit to drill out a 1.75" hole (matching the size of a wet-vac hose). I attached the wet-vac and let it run.

It sucked up a gallon of water from that access hole. The foam at that area feels fairly dry, but there is no way to know whether it was able to get all of the water. I'm still a bit paranoid about sealing it up because I'm worried that this is a sealed space. If it is, then once I seal this back up, any water stuck in that area will be stuck permanently.

Is there any chance this area filters out into the bilge? That would be a huge relief, if it does!

[wotan2525]

I think he referred you to the moomba forum because some of their boats use the same hulls (or at the very least, the same hull design.)

It's come up on this forum but there may be more information over there. It's worth a shot!

Good luck and sorry I don't have any first hand knowledge! I do know that that is the lowest point of the hull so even if it does feed into the bilge, it's only going to do so while accelerating or parked on a hill. The olds ones have bilge pumps there... no idea why Supra stopped doing that!

[Louisiana21v]

There is an old thread that I revived titled "05 21V Big Problems" on this sight.
I have the same boat and discovered water under my ski locker floor last year.
I don't know how it got there, I had no visible holes or cracks. I ended up cutting a 6 inch hole and putting in a access pannel. I check it after every trip out and vacume out whatever water is in there. I leave the pannel open untill the next trip to allow it to ventilate. It doesn't seem to take on that much water from a day on the river. I spoke with a tech at Supra, he said that the water is probably leaking down there from one of the bulkhead pass through drains going from the ski locker back under the fuel tank. Not something I want to track down. I did not remove any foam yet, it doesn't seem to absorb water.

[98outback]

Same problem on my 2003 Supra Launch SSV. I cut a hole in the floor and removed the foam and shop vac it out. I put an access port in the hole so I can remove it, shop vac it out, and leave it open until the next trip. Here is a link to the section of the post with my pictures.

http://www.moomba.com/msgboard/showthread.php?p=117993#post117993

[rkmfl]

'98 -- thank you for linking me to that thread, it's extremely helpful and exactly what I was looking for. I've posted there to continue that discussion.

[Stuartzn]

Hi all I know it's an old thread but I was wonder I anyone knows if it does indeed drain into the bulge area. As I also put an inspection hatch in and Vacuum the water out but it's a pain and it world be much easier to drill a hole and let it drain out as long as it get to the bulge area in the engine compartment.