waterproofing ski locker??

[avanti16]

hi everyone,
my boat is a 1972 avanti tri-hull 16 ft. it has the ski locker in the middle of the deck, but this will be a fishing boat and id probably break my a** if i tried water skiing lol. Its completely sealed towards the bow, but has 2 small drain holes towards the stern. im making a new cover for it that fits a little nicer with stainless hinges. id like to try and weatherproof the lid to keep water out so i could store some tackle ect. in it and glass over the drain holes. i was thinking putting some foam weatherstripping under the lid held on by some 5200 to form a seal when closed with a snug latch. actual lid will be stained and clearcoated. does this sound about right? anything else to use other than foam weatherstripping? thanks for any help!

-Joe

 

[oops!]

Re: waterproofing ski locker??

hi welcome to iboats !

the only problem is that the ski locker drain holes go thru to the bilge......that means if water is in your bilge...and you slow down...the water will come forward.
if you put a false floor in the locker...you could keep tackel dry.

weather sealing the edge might help some...but that actual amount of water intrusion from up top is minimal unless it rains

 

[avanti16]

Re: waterproofing ski locker??

thanks for the welcome, love the site! so what your sayins is, if i plug those holes and i have a decent amount of water in the bilge, it'll spill over the top and onto the deck if i slow down.. i have an automatic switch in the bilge area. not sure if it works yet, but will this help me out? thanks for the info!

 

[boatnut74]

Re: waterproofing ski locker??

Theres a hole in the front and the back of the ski locker to drain water from to the bilge. I think what he means is build a false floor, about an inch or two up from the bottom. This way you would still have the "channel" for water to drain to the bilge but your tackle would be raised up and would stay dry.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: waterproofing ski locker??

I wouldn't store any tackle with hooks down there, no matter what you do it's always going to be humid down there. Might be a good place to store soft plastics and lead weights though.

 

[avanti16]

Re: waterproofing ski locker??

thats the plan. i may build an on deck storage with drawers to store hooks and stuff, but i could store tons on plastics in the locker. gotta improvise with what i got to make a nice fishin boat lol. thanks for the help guys!