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I had a strange failure where the transmission and engine come together. The boat (2005 Response LXi) made a noise like something hitting a pully and then it started to make a screeching sound. The noise was coming from the starter area so I removed the starter and found a piece of wire in there that looked like a piece of heavy coat hanger. I took this piece of wire to the dealer and they said it was a failure of the dampening plate that resides between the trans and the flywheel. The boat is running fine with no vibration but he recommends changing it immediately. If the springs in the dampening plate come loose they can do more harm. I was also told the old design has the exposed springs while the new design has the springs enclosed. So now it's time to change out this part. I know I need to support the engine and separate the transmission. Has anyone had this problem and can anyone recommend any shortcuts or procedures that will make this replacement go easier? Thanks.

Hydrophonic Dampening System...Basically it is a box that allows water to surround the prop shaft and dampen vibration/noise. Malibu DDs have them. They are visible underneath the access hattch in the floor behind the motorbox. They have been know to leak in the past (leak into the boat). Someone used to have a video of the HDS in action..they replaced the top with clear plexiglass. It looks like and sounds like it is the HDS draining as it normally should. No worries. Nice looking ride by the way!

Matt, I recently installed this Teleflex feul sender. It's an easy job but, you have to cut it down to make it work right. Now, my gas gauge does work but, the needle bounces around a lot because there isn't any dampening built into the gauge. Just so you know, gas evaporates way faster than water. If you leave your boat sitting outside during storage that gas is evaporating very quickly. Unlike a car's fuel system, that boat's gas tank is wide open to the atmosphere because of the vent. Just keep that in mind.

search hydrophonic and you will see some postings

If you filled the bilge up with water and you see it leaking out where the shaft comes through the hull its either your packing, which your local Marina just replaced, or the HDS (Hydophonic Dampening system I think) Basically its a cavity to hold water to reduce Shaft Vibration. I have heard of them leaking. Check the postings for that. I will do the same. The packing gland should drip water. like maybe a drop every 20 seconds or so.

That sounds pretty dang normal. A lot of people have the misconception that you can just floor it with speed control and the boat will sort everything out. That's true to an extent, but first it will shoot way past the set speed, then drop too far below when it over compensates to drop all of the speed. You get into a pattern that has less variance each time, but the dampening factor is no where near good enough to fix the speed right away on the first go. I've found that if I tell people to drive like Perfect Pass isn't even there, and try to drive right up to the set point, then the transition to speed control is seamless.

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.' Did you mean to say: "You don't, and it's hydophonic? Wow, even the grammar police can't spell right when correcting other people! Yeah, Troy!

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.' Did you mean to say: "You don't, and it's hydophonic? Wow, even the grammar police can't spell right when correcting other people! Yeah, Troy!

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.' Did you mean to say: "You don't, and it's hydophonic? Wow, even the grammar police can't spell right when correcting other people!

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.' Jack, now we can get you a Spelling Police avatar so you and NorCalbu can team up together. Kinda like Batman and Robin...only we definilty don't want to see either of you in tights.

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.' Did you mean to say: "You don't, and it's hydophonic" ?

You don't, but it's 'hydrophonic.'

Can anyone advise me if my 2003 Wakesetter VLX VDrive has a Hydroponic Dampening System.

Your boat should not be taking on enough water in just two weeks to kill the battery. Hydrophonic Dampening System (or something like that). It's the box built into the floor of the bilge that the driveshaft exits through. There is great debate as to whether or not it actually does anything beyond cause headaches. The drip rate of the packing should have been checked when the dealer discovered and corrected the driveshaft coupling bolt issue. With the drive shaft vibrating as much as it would with only one bolt in it it had to have beat the snot out of the packing material in the shaft log. The packing material wears slowly over time requiring occasional tightening of the shaft log nuts. Eventually the material needs to be replaced but just to give you an idea, my 2000 (with ~500 hours on it) still has the OE packing material. The shaft log is the piece that seals the hole that the driveshaft goes through. Traditional shaft logs have the replacable material in them and typically have a drip rate of 1 drip every five to ten seconds. The dripless is a newer design and obviously by their name they don't drip but I have to think that a wobble/vibration like what you are talking about would have destroyed the entire unit. End result - you need to identify where the water is coming from. If it is coming from the shaft log (around the drive shaft) that's an easy fix, just tighten the nuts. Worse case...replace the packing material. If the HDS is leaking, that is definitely a more intricate repair and probably not a DIY.

That's basically what I was trying to get at, politely, when I said: If you're planning on sticking around awhile, be a good idea to chill. Hey, just out of curiosity, in your conversations with the engineers, did they happen to tell you the purpose of the HDS (hydrophonic dampening system) in the DDs? George at Malibu gave me the info, he didn't refer to it as such, but is it the same thing as the lining foam he referred to(the allegations of his that everyone is laughing at and not believing)? Thanks for the advice, fyi I have learned a lot from these posts from guys like you that keep it respectful, and I don't want to get kicked off or be responsible for closing the thread.

That's basically what I was trying to get at, politely, when I said: If you're planning on sticking around awhile, be a good idea to chill. Hey, just out of curiosity, in your conversations with the engineers, did they happen to tell you the purpose of the HDS (hydrophonic dampening system) in the DDs?

For some reason our fuel gauges don't have any dampening compensation like cars do. I used to have the original sender in my boat and the needle was all over the place all day. Recently, I replaced the sender with a Teleflex unit and that's when I realized that the gauge needle will still move around while driving due to the fuel sloshing but, if you turn the key on after the boat has been steady for a while, it does give me an accurate reading now.

I have a 1993 Euro F3 that I just bought used. I have a fuel gauge that bounces from full to empty when the boat is in choppy water. Is the dampening problem most likely in the gauge or sending unit? Thanks for any help you can give. Mike

I think the motor mounts are pretty much hard mounts. I don't think there's much dampening going on. BICBW

Dampening? Interesting using "water" to dampen sound. If I recall from early science class..... and later in Vibration Theory..... water TRANSMITS vibrations very well. That's why when you put your head underwater, you can hear the spin of a propeller from a boat far far away.... sometimes you can barely see the boat with your eyes..... yet you can hear the spinning prop. Vibrations (and sound is one form of vibration) travels VERY quickly through water.... much faster than in air. So fast that your head ( a microprocesser) can NOT determine the time differential between your left ear and your right ear in order to determine the direction of the sound. You can hear the prop, but can't deterine the direction/source. Then there's "water-hammer" in our home's water pipes. Turn a tap on full, then slam it shut real fast. Or have a dishwasher that closes a valve really quickly...... it causes "water-hammer".... a VERY quick and violant vibration that sounds like a bang, and can destroy a copper pipe connection. Water transmits this vibration all along the length of the pipe. So..... HDS may have a bit of a flaw in the design concept.

Call me stupid....but I am new at this....what is the HDS? Hydronic dampening system. Fancy words for building a box around the point where the shaft goes through the hull and flooding it with water to absorb any shaft vibration. Works well though. A hotly debated point. If only Ruta could see this one. OK I take it back... I heard it works well. But, the person who told me was sitting on a bus bench on the shady side of Las Vegas with a gallon jug of Vin Rose between his legs... Honest.

Call me stupid....but I am new at this....what is the HDS? Hydronic dampening system. Fancy words for building a box around the point where the shaft goes through the hull and flooding it with water to absorb any shaft vibration. Works well though. A hotly debated point. If only Ruta could see this one.

Call me stupid....but I am new at this....what is the HDS? Hydronic dampening system. Fancy words for building a box around the point where the shaft goes through the hull and flooding it with water to absorb any shaft vibration. Works well though.

Your boat has the much touted-yet useless-Hydraponic Dampening System. If you lift up the floor in front of the rear seat, there is a rectangular piece of plexiglass with a bunch of screws in it. The shaft goes through there and that box fills with water. The problem is that the box (not just the cover) is not sealed to the hull properly or the sealant (Plexus) has failed. If you are the original owner it "should be" a warranty item at your dealer. What they do to fix it is remove the cover, get a grinder in there to remove excess sealant/debris. and re seal it with a special "epoxy". I had one done on a '99 LXI a few years ago. Good luck! Pat

If I remember this correctly... HDS = Hydrophonic Dampening System. It's a box that fills with water that surrounds the prop shaft. Malibu used to use it as a marketing tool stating that it provided a smoother ride, etc... Doing a search on HDS will provide a bunch of hits. Below is just one of them. http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....6496&hl=HDS When an HDS failure occurs it is generaly early in the life of a boat rather than 8 years later. The only reason I brought it up was because you stated it appeared to be coming in around the rudder, which the HDS box is just in front of, and it is a new boat to you, so you wouldn't know the history of the boat, etc... Mike