Thinking of doing something crazy... Ski Locker floor leveling?

Tommo

Tommo

Member
Sep 6, 2021
54
Buffalo NY
Boat Info
1998 Sea Ray 185 Bowrider
Engines
4.3L Mercruiser 190HP w/ Alpha One Gen II Drive
I'm thinking of doing something crazy... Somebody stop me!!

Has anyone ever attempted to raise the level of their ski locker floor (at least up to drain height) with something like this Table Top Epoxy Resin?

It sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?? That cup of dirty standing water in the ski locker drives me crazy otherwise! I can't figure out what to do to get rid of it any other way...

Looking for ideas and/or advice. Including telling me if epoxy resin will stick to the fiberglass liner in that locker! Thanks folks.

Boat on!!
 
I think we need a pic. Our 240 and 260 had the same problem in both the forward and aft floor locker. ….but it was from us so it was predictable so you could clean it out after.
 
Hmm...I'd probably say "nope". There's a reason Sea Ray designed it that way. All of our boats allow for a bit of standing water before the pumps kick on. I tend to think they knew what they were doing nine times out of ten...:)
 
Stee6043 said:
Hmm...I'd probably say "nope". There's a reason Sea Ray designed it that way. All of our boats allow for a bit of standing water before the pumps kick on. I tend to think they knew what they were doing nine times out of ten...:)
Click to expand...
No for sure this was a bad design…. I have seen sea Ray attempt to fix over model years but could never get it right
 
Blueone said:
No for sure this was a bad design…. I have seen sea Ray attempt to fix over model years but could never get it right
Click to expand...

Don't do it. It'll probably not stick, or crack.

I line the floors in all my boats lockers..... wet, or dry with these mats. If it's just water that drips off your gear after a day on the water, they'll keep it out of the water and protect the floor too. I used to leave the floor locker hatch open on my kids 195 Sea Ray Sport before closing up the boat and the locker and gear would dry out by the next time we went out.

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/dri-dek--dri-dek-panels--P015_456_001_512?recordNum=1
 
Last edited:
If you are going to do this, fit and epoxy in Coosa Board then glass it in with cloth and waterproof it with Gelcoat.
But an awful lot of work to keep a bit of water out of the ski locker.
 
Did that in my bilge when the motor was out, got rid of that pocket in front of the drain plug. Searay creating standing water pockets by design? Yeh sure
 
I cleaned and put in a carefully fitted mat but found her ski would no longer quite fit and the shifting of the mat made it worse. Just jack up the tongue and clean it out with the garden hose. Incidentally, no product I know of will adhere in the long run.
 
I have the same problem in my ski locker. The drain to the bilge seem to be at least a 1/2" above the low spot in the floor. The drain has a plug, but I never put it in, not sure why you ever would anyway. I've thought about drilling a small hole at the low point so that last little bit of water could drain through there but I've never actually done it. Guess maybe it's not that big of a problem after all.
 
It might be easier during manufacturing, but a good reason that the drain is above the floor is to separate the ski locker from the bilge - decreasing the amount of nasty bilge water coming forward.
 
Lazy Daze said:
It might be easier during manufacturing, but a good reason that the drain is above the floor is to separate the ski locker from the bilge - decreasing the amount of nasty bilge water coming forward.
Click to expand...
It could also be the purpose of the plug, to prevent bilge water from coming forward.
 
hblock72 said:
I have the same problem in my ski locker. The drain to the bilge seem to be at least a 1/2" above the low spot in the floor. The drain has a plug, but I never put it in, not sure why you ever would anyway. I've thought about drilling a small hole at the low point so that last little bit of water could drain through there but I've never actually done it. Guess maybe it's not that big of a problem after all.
Click to expand...

I don't want to drill a hole as I believe that would allow water to leak into the space between the upper fiberglass shell of the boat and the hull - thereby reducing its floatability (which seems kinda important - haha). But I like that someone above tried the epoxy. Seems like it's the least expensive permanent fix... So far... Thanks folks!
 
Lazy Daze said:
That's a huge ordeal when a simple sponge will do the trick.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I would call it a "huge" ordeal, but to your point - it's an ordeal. Maybe I should start with leaving a permanent sponge in that space and see if I find it acceptable to sponge it out after each water excursion.
 
I just learned the answer to this in another thread but forgot which one. The plug is a safety requirement to keep gas fumes from entering the forward section of the boat. I never knew this and always wondered what the plug was for too.
 
scoflaw said:
Did that in my bilge when the motor was out, got rid of that pocket in front of the drain plug. Searay creating standing water pockets by design? Yeh sure
Click to expand...

I'd love to see a picture of how this came out! Thanks for sharing.
 
Tommo said:
I don't know if I would call it a "huge" ordeal, but to your point - it's an ordeal. Maybe I should start with leaving a permanent sponge in that space and see if I find it acceptable to sponge it out after each water excursion.
Click to expand...
If you just pour the stuff in there and hope for the best, well, that's pretty easy. But to make it look at least half way decent will be much more involved. Plus, epoxy is brittle when it's thicker and doesn't have glass in it and it WILL crack.

Then, there's the sanding of the bilge gelcoat to get a good bond... fairing of the edge of the pour (which again, needs glass and Coosa) with more sanding and fairing compound, then gelcoating or painting the epoxy to color match...

Yes, it's a bigger project than what someone new to working with glass might know about. Which makes that sponge solution start to sound REALLY good.... ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,123
Messages
1,426,634
Members
61,037
Latest member
wojozobl
Back
Top