Water in SV211 When Surfing

[MN Ryan]

'07 SV211TE. I get a fair amount of water in the bilge when surfing. I can leave the boat in the water overnight or run around/ski (unweighted) all day and it stays completely dry, so I'm pretty sure it's not a through-hull fitting issue. This spring, I removed the rear portion of the rub rail and sealed any gaps with 3M 5200. That didn't seem to improve it. My only thought now is that water is getting in through the rear vents--they sit pretty low when weighted, and spray from a wake shaper, etc...

1) Anything I could be overlooking?
2) Any ideas to mitigate this? I assume the vents are necessary.

[jpwhit]

If your boat has ballast, you probably have a ballast leak somewhere. Could be a cracked tank or leak in a fitting somewhere. If it's a lot of water, that's most often a cracked ballast tank. Most of the times fittings just don't leak that fast.

[MN Ryan]

That's a consideration, but it's more than I would think from a ballast leak. The belly tank is the only hard tank left. I have bags in the back. I guess that's something to investigate, though. I suppose I could narrow it down by filling them individually.

[NautiqueJeff]

Very likely it is coming from the vents. Try covering the one on the surf side and see if that stops it.

[MN Ryan]

Jeff, any brilliant ideas for covering the vents? Duct tape is too tacky--pun intended.

[MN Ryan]

No one else?

[ScooterMcgavin]

Check your local hardware store or Amazon for Polyethylene Tape
its usually red and used by stucco companies to cover windows leaves no residue and waterproof

[MN Ryan]

Red is good.

[ScooterMcgavin]

Looks like this and you will end up using it for all sorts of stuff. It’s great and like said, leaves no residue at all.

[MN Ryan]

Thanks, man.

[vision]

If it ends up not being the vents, check the through hull while surfing. I had a significant through hull leak that would only occur with lateral force on the prop shaft. Dry while not ballasted and not crab walking. But substantial leaking while surfing.


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[MN Ryan]

Thanks.

[ScrewPusher]

I'm confused when you said you removed the rubrail and put some 5200 in it. I sealed the gap between the hull and the topside with clear silicone. I used blue painters tape on the rubrail and tape on the hull which left a small (3/16 inch) gap that I applied the silicone, then wiped with finger and removed the tape. I felt it today and I went all the way to the rear tower mount. So I never removed any part of the rubrail.

[MN Ryan]

ScrewPusher I'm talking about this region of the boat because it is submerged when I have my boat weighted for surfing. The seam between the lower hull and top cap sits beneath the rubrail, so I removed the rubrail and sealed any gaps between the lower hull and the top cap with 5200. I don't know how you could acheive that without removing the rubrail--at least on my boat, you'd end up gluing the rubrail to the hull if you tried.

To clarify, the 5200 was not used on the rubrail. I just partially removed it to get the 5200 where I wanted it.

[MTRBTR]

+1 on your vents. 211s are known for that. I never felt the need to use anything other than stock ballast and a suck gate while surfing. I always felt like my wave was fine, but i know others would disagree.