So this is something the forum does - it presents old threads as if they're new. This thread is a year old, with no answers until this point. Anyhoo, onwards.
I don't have my boat out of storage to show what I believe his issue to have been, but if I'm correct, it's a stupid Yamaha "design". The rearmost cupholders simply drain into the carpeted areas under the rear seats. Yes, this is on purpose, unless and until they actually address it..
Check both ends. While exploring access to fish wires I found several cup holders that were not connected at all at the cup. Cup has a small nipple with no barb, attached hose is too big with only a small zip tie to compression the tube on. I gotta go through the whole boat now and check all the cup holders.
There are no "both ends". The nipple on the underside of the cupholder simply has nothing on it to check. It's SUPER annoying that Yamaha decided not to address it.
All of this will be boat-dependent, as shown by
@FSH 210 Sport's comment about the dry deck. Each boat will/may have a different setup than what is talked about, so each owner is left to check their own setup. None of this is hard, but there's no 100% solution for every person's boat, so some effort WILL have to be made by the respective owner to investigate, and improvise where their boat deviates from available information. Again, not hard, but just something to be aware of.
Your hose with a zip tie would be a welcome attempt over the zero burger they did with many. My swim deck cupholders had the drain lines fastened with a zip tie, and when tracking down water intrusion, they easily pulled off, creating a problem where it didn't exist before. Thanks Yamaha
And seal the cup holders to the boat or water will leak around then into the compartments. I couldn’t figure out how water was getting into storage compartments, it was coming around the cup holders and the rod holders. I use three bond 1211 silicone sealer, probably the same as Yamabond, for such jobs as it stays flexible for years.
This. 100% this. You guys will be amazed at what you find. Some will be so well sealed, you'll KNOW that there were two different people working on these, and one guy was drunk or high when he showed up to work that day!?
3/4 screws per cupholder, up it comes, add some sealant, and screw it back kdown. If you can't find them, there's a trim ring to remove. Put your palm over the cupholder, and press down while turning. It should pop off easily.
Thanks gthorson! I will check all those cup holders and follow all the lines now too. Who is the head cup holder guy at the factory?!?! My goodness!
There's a trained monkey who they pick up from the zoo on a work release program. I'm guessing, but I bet I'm not far off ?
Its how the cost is kept down…. Not desirable but easy fixes. I also suggest dry deck in the compartments, it will keep your stuff off the floor and keep it from wicking any water that gets in there.
I think there's a lot to be desired with the assembly processs, and I agree completely that it's a cost-saving process. It's also a training and people problem, but there's no way to eliminate the people problem completely, no matter how much is involved.
Fascinating…so pull the carpet and put down dry deck?
He's already commented, so no need to address that - his boat is different, hence my comment above about each owner and the need for their involvement. We're hopefully getting our boat out of storage this weekend, and I have to complete the fix for this. I have the parts needed for the "fix" I'm going to be going with. It's not going to eliminate the water, it's simply going to add a drain line, and run it to a fitting that leads into the engine compartment, where it can be pumped out by the bilge pump, or emptied when I pull the plug. It's not perfect, but I won't have the carpet soaking wet if the boat gets rained on, or I'm hosing out the interior. Responding to this thread should keep it in my watch list, and remind me to post up my solution.
Oh forgot you have carpet in there my bad, mine are finished gel coat… best to just make sure no water can get in there from things like non sealed drink holders or drink holder drains that just dump on the carpet. You may have to either extend the drain tubes so that water goes into the bilge or just block the drains by putting a vacuum hose blank over the drain nipples, that’s what I did with the two most forward cup holders and I just use a micro fiber towel to remove the water IF they get water in them which is usually only when I wash the boat.
Theres a bit of work involved but our boats can be made to be pretty darn dry with some sealant, hose clamps (I put small hose clamps on all the drink holder drain tubes), I also had to add universal rod holder drains on 6 of the 8 rod holders as they just drained right into the storage compartments, and a little effort. Most of the time no water comes out of the drain plug hole at the end of the day, sometimes I may get a 1/4 coffee mug full.
I really wish they had done the finished gel coat, all that's under the carpet is the raw fiberglass. It's nice to keep things from sliding around somewhat, but when they failed to drain the water, and were content to allow it to drip all over the carpet or whatever is stored in those compartments, it makes me wanna take a tour of the assembly plant and chime in with snide comments about this stuff.
Your suggestion to drain it to the bilge is exactly what I'm doing, as I want to be able to wash down the cockpit without having to sponge out the cupholders afterwards. I have learned to deal with the amount of water that I have coming out when I pull the plug, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop trying. Some of it is due to not finalizing fixes just yet, to add other things, but the major problems have been addressed, and I have half (or less) the amount of water that would come out as when I first got the boat.
Slow, steady, methodical troubleshooting, and the help of many on here WILL result in a drier boat. How much we invest in this endeavor is up to us.
