Taking on water through rear vents?

[IDBoating]

my dang boat is still all torn apart I don't know what I was thinking starting all these projects right before the season started. Ugh I hope I have it ready before the 4th I have a big weekend planed.

I had to check twice and confirm that it wasn't ME that wrote this. I totally understand how you feel!

[IDBoating]

I have had the same problem, but this is what I do to lessen and sometimes prevent it. Is if your turning around to pick up your surfer, make a 90 degree turn as you cutting the throttle, and the wave generally doesn't get to the vents.

I've worried about this problem and that's exactly what I was going to try - turning AWAY FROM THE WAVE right as the throttle is cut. That way you're not powerturning but hopefully the wave will just pass us by.

My plan: If you're surfing on the port side, turn right (starboard) as you cut the throttle. The big body of the wave will hopefully slip past the stern corner. I bet it will be creepy turning with the boat leaning to the outside of the turn.

Idea: If we're modifying things like the routing of the intake, I wonder if the intake could be modified to pass air but route water back outside? The air intakes on cars (in front of the windshield) do that; they get rain and snow but it drains away while the air is brought inside. I'll have to look at that.

[laserfish]

Having the same problem, already ruined a new blower installed at the beginning of the season. Brainstorm everybody.

[IDBoating]

I think vent placement is the key, but that's a factory solution - not a retrofit. My old boat had the intake and exhaust sort of tucked under the engine hatch, and they were directed down as they went aft. Water approaching from the rear would first hit the hatch and fall to the swim platform.

My Tige has a flat, exposed grille centered at the top of the transom. Water has a direct path straight into the plenum on both intake and exhaust. I don't know how much of a problem it will be once my ballast system is functional, but I'm concerned and will be testing explicitly for water ingress.

Ewok's picklefork Tige has its vents toward the side. I can't decide if that's an improvement or not. On one hand, they are much closer to the water. On the other, a wave approaching from the rear would hit them at a glancing angle instead of straight on.

I agree, let's keep brainstorming. There's lots of smart, experienced folks here. An answer should be possible if we work together!

[shawn74]

Not sure what yalls vent is like but i think my 09 design wasn't factoring right turns with port surf wake as the water will pour in on top of my batteries

[Fiveflat]

I've got ideas but I haven't implemented any yet. Been focusing on my son's INT wakeboard practice and he doesn't have that big of a wake just yet so I don't get any water in when we wakeboard.

Hopefully before the weekend I'll have something fitted and I'll report back!

[laserfish]

Never had the problem until last year when we started surfing and using ballast. Wakeboarding was never a problem.

[NICKYPOO]

Could you use the old flappers from the exhaust since I'm sure you have an FAE. Those would seem about perfect.

[Jeffe]

I hate it when I take water in through my rear vent...normally only gas escapes from there.

[IDBoating]

Spent several hours surfing during the July 4th holiday period and paid close attention to this potential problem.

We found that as long as you ramp down the throttle a bit slowly, you can prevent the wave from catching up to your transom and its vents. This was true even with a seriously big wave. Given that we had enough ballast to practically bring the rub rail to the water's surface, we were sort of motivated to turn slowly anyway {grin}. We had far more trouble with water coming over the bow than with the wave catching up to the transom.

At least for us, the key seems to be modulating the throttle as you come down from surfing speed. Hope this helps someone!

[Fiveflat]

Could you use the old flappers from the exhaust since I'm sure you have an FAE. Those would seem about perfect.

I don't have an FAE. But that is a good idea. I have a similar idea and just need to get around to trying it. I need to do it sooner now than later as I already have to start adding ballast for my son when he wakeboards. He wants a firmer wake with more lip.

[laserfish]

I was "the rope guy" surfing this weekend and am usually driving, so I got to see first hand how much the wave covers up the vent when you cut the throttle. It is a bunch, no matter how slowly you roll off. I like the flapper idea and will see what I can think up.

[21v rider's edition 2000]

cheap fix!!

i ride with 900lbs port side' same thing happend UNTILL, my blower hose was dried and cracked (helping water to get in) exterior window calking (from the inside) fixed that.

then bilge pump is situated under rear seat! moved it aft ( carefull of rudder arm) and attache it on the lowest hose i found there.

cheap and easy!! the pump being higher (when parked) will only mean that a bit more of water will be required to start her up. But trust me all that water in the engine bay ended up costing me a MAJOR TUNE UP, 2 injectors, cap, rotor, and 900$

hope this helps

[Fiveflat]

That's a heck of a username you got there. Usually most would just put that much detail in their profile.

Any rate I carried out a plan I had and I'm going to see how well it works on Wednesday. My blower hose was never connected to the gapping 3" hole back there and I had it taped with gorilla tape and that was a major failure. So I found some high density plastic in my garage cut it (yea, it's a terrible cut but who cares - it's no show boat) silicone around the plate and bolted it down. Put silicone around the washer of the bolt head and nut on the bottom also. There was already a little 1/2" hole on the bottom side of the vent thingy too (don't know why - but it aided in bringing water in any way). So it *should* be all covered up and it's available if I want to put the blower hose back in that spot again (unlikely)

Here you can see the big 3" hole and the little 1/2"hole on the bottom side:



So I took this little piece of plastic I had laying around, cut it to 4" square and drilled a hole through the middle:


Doped up around the holes with some silicone and spun a nut up against a washer on the back side against the fiberglass. It'll have 48 hours to dry before I test it. I think I'm set.

[IDBoating]

I continue to check for this, varying my slowdown speeds etc. while surfing. I presume I could force it to happen, but so far it hasn't. I wonder if our swim deck has something to do with it... I've noticed that the 24Ve swim deck is quite a bit larger than some others, such as the RZ's.