How to eliminate water getting through the bow slider ?

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by buckleyjr

I had the same water intrusion problem with the sliders. I put a bead of sealant on it and it was fixed - for a few seasons. I had to do it again this spring. Poor design in my opinion.

I throw the kids in there so they like the carpet. I friggin just steamed cleaned it last week!

You put a bead of sealant where buddy ?
Does this mean you don't allow the hatch to be slid open at all ?
Not sure what Wellcraft was thinking about this design........ seems to me it's only adaquate if:
A. Boat is used on very calm waters- not subject to any spray from waves.
B. Boat is never used in the rain and then stored indoors to avoid getting wet !

Anyway, I'm carrying on here............... V21 owner Destroyer plans to evaluate this issue shortly, so we all may wind up using his solution.......I don't have a solution myself.

[Blue_Runner]

If the moon and the stars all line up correctly this evening I will snap a pic of where I put some sealant. Leaving the house at 1700 to go jug fishing for catfish on High Rock Lake!

Here are the "jugs" my buddy made up.

[bgreene]

May be worth seeing - thanks for offering to show pics.

Looking for solution here. Improvement's a good thing but DRY solution is the goal to ELIMINATE water intrusion under these circumstances:

1. Rain
2. Wave related spray action related to rough water etc.

Anything short of this to me is wet vs dry.

Sort of like sleeping in a " sometimes wet bed." No thanks.

[buckleyjr]

There are these starboard molding pieces that frame the slider and the door into the cuddy. Two long ones shaped like curve Ls and one short one under the slider. I unscrewed them, took them off and put some calk on them, then reattached. Then I put a bead along the top between the molding and the slider track. I smoothed it with my finger where I could reach. As Blue mentioned, you need a smooth bead otherwise the water pools a bit. This has kept my cuddy dry for a few years. Sorry, no pics to post.

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by bgreene

May be worth seeing - thanks for offering to show pics.

Looking for solution here. Improvement's a good thing but DRY solution is the goal to ELIMINATE water intrusion under these circumstances:

1. Rain
2. Wave related spray action related to rough water etc.

Anything short of this to me is wet vs dry.

Sort of like sleeping in a " sometimes wet bed." No thanks.

If you remove the slider you would see the raised guides on left and right connected in the middle to form a big H shape...it would not be impossible for water to fill the front of the H and overspill into the cuddy....also the guides themselves are bound to carch and channel water toward and then under the center glass...to avoid these sources RAINING, don't raise the bow too much on the trailer....there's a particular level where water runs aft in the cockpit and forward ahead of the windshield...it should find this level naturally when floating on the water and you can find it on the trailer as well...

When running w/the bow up, given enough water, it will find its way into the boat through either of the two routes above...I considered installing drains in the front of the H to give that water another place to go...hoses would run left and right and exhaust under the rub rail just ahead of the windshield...what comes thru the side channels(guides) and under the center glass is gonna be tougher..our at least I never thought of a good way to divert that water...Keep in mind all water that falls onto the slider when closed will run into those channels whether it's rain or spray...

[bgreene]

Originally Posted by reelapeelin

If you remove the slider you would see the raised guides on left and right connected in the middle to form a big H shape...it would not be impossible for water to fill the front of the H and overspill into the cuddy....also the guides themselves are bound to carch and channel water toward and then under the center glass...to avoid these sources RAINING, don't raise the bow too much on the trailer....there's a particular level where water runs aft in the cockpit and forward ahead of the windshield...it should find this level naturally when floating on the water and you can find it on the trailer as well...

When running w/the bow up, given enough water, it will find its way into the boat through either of the two routes above...I considered installing drains in the front of the H to give that water another place to go...hoses would run left and right and exhaust under the rub rail just ahead of the windshield...what comes thru the side channels(guides) and under the center glass is gonna be tougher..our at least I never thought of a good way to divert that water...Keep in mind all water that falls onto the slider when closed will run into those channels whether it's rain or spray...

Yup, I had removed the entire slider / cover and looked it over. Wait a moment - I thought you don't mind a little water in the cuddy ? I'm going to figure this out........and make it water tight to about 5,000 feet under water.

[Blue_Runner]

Here is what I thought about doing at one point. Have a small piece of sunbrella made to cover the sliding hatch area and snap up under the windsheild. Snaps wouldn't work so well on the front so (forgive me I don't know what it is called) have piping on the canvas that slides into those round aluminum channels like you see on some enclosures. Could also use the channel/piping on the sides if you wanted to.

I would probably only use when trailering/trolling in the rain cause it would make it a pain to use the slider!

BTW - got some pics yesterday. Gotta get my thumb drive out of the truck. Pics up before lunch time...r

Canvas covering area in red.

[Redneck]

I am in the process of doing the same thing of removing the sliders and recaulking. I notced that they warped a little bit and I am going to add a few more screws hopefully they wont pull away any more. This issue is my only with this boat.

[Blue_Runner]

The fishing was less than good. We ended with 5 or 6 dinky Mr. Whiskers 1 - 2 lbs and a couple of "knock downs." All released.

Cool thing about these jugs they have a strike indicator - piece of rebar that slides down the PVC essentially standing the jug up so you know it has been hit. Pretty cool.

BGREEN - bad pic and excuse my dirty drainage channels - but where the red line is and all the way up on the top too....

[bgreene]

Gotta like how calm it is where you fish..........

Me........ I'm stuck with mostly 2,3,4 foot seas because I fish the ocean off New Jersey.

So, I wind up plowing through the waves, spray, wind, rain etc....

DESTROYER is going to figure this out and come up with the best solution.