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2004 Setter vlx bow compartment water mystery


Hukitup

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Hey guys I am trying to figure out why water keeps showing up in the bow area where the front sack is supposed to go. Yesterday I got all the water out went to the lake came home and it had 2 inches water in it. It looks like its coming from the compartment drain behind it??? Should I take out the floor piece and see if its some thing there? No other parts of the boat are holding standing water like this... Any help is much appreciated.

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9 minutes ago, Hukitup said:

Hey guys I am trying to figure out why water keeps showing up in the bow area where the front sack is supposed to go. Yesterday I got all the water out went to the lake came home and it had 2 inches water in it. It looks like its coming from the compartment drain behind it??? Should I take out the floor piece and see if its some thing there? No other parts of the boat are holding standing water like this... Any help is much appreciated.

Are you talking about the compartment in the floor next to the drivers seat? Formally known as the ski locker? That is the lowest point of your boat, so if you have a leak anywhere, that’s there the water will collect. 

If you’re talking about the compartment under the front seats, where my bow bag is. Then you may have a leak coming from the bow loop.

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Yea its where the old ski locker would be. Just trying to figure out where the water is coming from. Does the drain in that compartment lead to the motor compartment in the back?

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16 minutes ago, Hukitup said:

Yea its where the old ski locker would be. Just trying to figure out where the water is coming from. Does the drain in that compartment lead to the motor compartment in the back?

If it's like my dad's '01, that drains to the bilge.  I'd check shaft packing first, then start looking for things like loose tracking fins.  Then look for leaks in ballast plumbing.

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20 minutes ago, Hukitup said:

Yea its where the old ski locker would be. Just trying to figure out where the water is coming from. Does the drain in that compartment lead to the motor compartment in the back?

Yes, the drain leads to the back. I have a plastic plug to prevent engine compartment water from moving forward to the ski locker. Best way to get all the water out of there is remove the mat and suck it out with a wet vac.

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27 minutes ago, jrvs23 said:

Yes, the drain leads to the back. I have a plastic plug to prevent engine compartment water from moving forward to the ski locker. Best way to get all the water out of there is remove the mat and suck it out with a wet vac.

Same with my RLXi and former SSLX.  I did find however that the plastic plug in the bulkhead is crap.  It needs teflon tape to seal from my experience.  They've always leaked without it. 

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Well guys so I added teflon tape to the plug in my center compartment and water is still showing up??? Looks like water is coming in from the drain in the back of said compartment . Looks like the floor can come out but hadn't ventured that deep into it. Not exactly sure if I should take that portion of the floor out and see if the leak is coming from there. The mystery is real and man its buggin me bad. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

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What do you mean by floor can come out? There is a mat that can be pulled out and there is a drain plug under it. Sounds like you might have water coming in from a loose tracking fin or bow eye. Pull the mat out dry everything really well. Drop it back in the water and watch with a flash light spot light.

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formulaben

Do you have a T-handle drain in this compartment?  Off the top of my head here are your leak candidates (some may not be installed):

  • Garboard drain plug(s) not sealing - the larger T-handle brass plug in same and/or adjacent compartment
  • Tracking fin(s)
  • Forward ballast system
  • Stock bow coolers draining/migrating into bilge (not sure if they drain into fwd bilge or to aft bilge via stringers?)
  • Migration from bilge compartment
    • Transom drain plug
    • Garboard drain plug
    • Shaft packing
    • Strut seal
    • Rudder seal and assembly
    • Aft ballast system
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Same here, pretty sure it's the shaft packing letting a little water in, it moves from the bilge to the ski locker as it is the lowest point of the boat. The bilge pump isnt able to get all the water from the bilge out so as soon as you stop moving the water comes back to the ski locker. Even if you shop-vaced it, any water that comes in the boat is going to end up in the ski locker. 

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