www.iFourWinns.com

I have been having an intermittent problem with water on the floor of the cuddy in my 2003 Sundowner 245. At first it was a little bit on the first 12 inches or so just inside the door on the cuddy floor. But earlier this week we had a huge downpour and this weekend I found the entire cuddy floor was sopping wet and the two port side cuddy underseat compartments were filled to the top with clean water. The bottoms of the two cuddy seat cushions on the port side were also wet. The underseat head and carpet on the starboard side were bone dry.

I've read on here that this water may be coming from the transom lockers and draining onto the upper ledge within the bilge (where the batteries (sb side) and fresh water tank(port side) are located, then running forward into the cuddy along that ledge. I'm not sure if the previous posters meant the long ski-type locker that runs the width of the lower transom or the two smaller rope lockers that are on each side of the upper transom. I have a feeling that the culprit is the port rope locker, but as far as I can see, the drain hole for it just drains right into the sound dampening foam within the engine compartment (which doesn't seem right anyway). I'm on rack storage, so jacking up the trailer to make sure the bow is WAY up in the air isn't an option. This would probably happen if it was in the water as well.

Anyone have any experience at resolving this problem in an 03-05 era Sundowner? Any pics of the resolution? Should my port side transom rope locker drain into the engine compartment foam? This is a real mess! I'm just dissapointed in general that FW designed this boat with so much drainage into the bilge instead of overboard. THANK YOU!!!

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Matt
2003 Four Winns Sundowner 245
VP 8.1Gi/DP
2008 Toyota 4Runner

Yes, the lack of consideration for proper drainage is a disappointment. My 2004 245 didn't have any drains in the rope lockers at all originally ! They used to just fill with rain water and eventually overflow into the bilge, as they were not watertight where they join the engine cover. No water ever got forward to the cuddy though. the base of the underseat lockers in the cuddy is the hull, so presumably if the boat is at the wrong angle with the bow lower than the stern, water could move forward from the engine bilge as at it's lower point theres a hole connecting it to the underfloor fuel tank area.. It's have to be quite an angle to fill the cuddy underseat lockers though ! Plus, it should affect both sides of the cuddy.

The water could be getting in via the anchor locker if one side is not sealed as well as the other. ( the 2 drains are above to lowest point in the locker; clever of them, wasn't it ?). I built the bottom of the locker up so now it's level with the drains

Later 245s had a modified cockpit cover; it covered the rope lockers to stop water getting in in the first place. When I get a new cockpit cover made up, I'll get is made so it covers the rope hatches and the gap at the rear of the engine cover.

Hard to tell for certain, but it appears to be stored level on the rack. When it was pulled off of the rack for the first time after the huge storm, and the forklift tilted the bow up at a good angle, the automatic bilge kicked in and pumped out a TON of water.

Drain holes in the anchor locker in the bow are clear and I don't see any area where water could get in unless the whole locker filled with water. Then I would think that the front part of the cuddy would be wet (not the rear, toward the cockpit).

My temporary fix for the port rope locker is to just cover/seal the drain hole. The thinking is that as long as the water drains into the engine hatch like yours used to, in theory it won't drain onto the upper ledge and run into the cuddy, assuming everything else is the same between our boats. If I still get a wet cuddy, then I t may be as simple as storage angle. I'll have to talk to my marina and see what is going on with the rack.

I saw someone on here mention hoses running from the drain of the rope lockers, but I didn't see those. Would FW have the locker drain right into the engine compartment foam?

Does the updated factory cockpit cover go over the transom ski locker? If not, water would still have a way into the bilge there, but at least the rope locker issue would be addressed.

I can't see Four Winns fitting drains to those 2 lockers in 2003 then deleting them for 2004 but nothing would surprise me now .............................................
Maybe a previous owner fitted them and didn't cut throuigh the foam?
Maybe FW fitted them and they forgot to cut through the foam?
Maybe they forgot to fit them in mine ?!!!

It would be quite easy to fit flexible hoses from them leading to the lower bit of the bilge, it would at least control where the water goes to ( I led them to the rear gutter, because it dumps water overboard)

The modified cover doesn't go over the transom ski locker. That is moulded in and has a drain that goes overboard. The only way water could get into the bilge from it is via the hinge screw holes and if the drain hose and fittings were leaking. They are easily checked for integrity ( by the way, the lid is cored and the woodcore rots around the stainless latch; the hole is not sealed. An easy repair if you catch it early enough!)

One mod I was considering was to get 2 canvas covers made that would cover the rope lockers, and clip the standard cover on to them with a good overlap. That would stop water getting in in the first place, unless there was a gale force wind blowing rain upwards into the overlap.

re the anchor locker, a few people have indicated they were gettingb water ingress where the back wall of the locker is fitted .

If other Sundowner owners are following this it would be good to hear if they have drains in those lockers, and where those drains are routed. ...And if they have wet cuddy issues.

I'm fairly certain that the transom ski locker in my boat drains into the bilge. It really surprised me when I saw that as I was cleaning it no water was being expelled. Perhaps that was an '04 update?

Re possible '04 mod; maybe- the ski locker drain on mine has a hose which takes the water to the transom; above the waterline. The same sort of outlet as the cockpit drains.

Not the same exact problem but similar, on my '88 Horizon bow rider the front cover did not cover the anchor locker, the rain water would run in there and under the bow seats and fill up the ski locker and then run under the gas tank to the rear bilge. When I re-did the boat fixing all the rot, I had the cover changed so it covered the anchor locker, all it took was a triangular piece to be added on. Since then the inside has been much dryer and I have not had water in the ski locker in years. It used to get so damp that I had mildew on the underside of the mooring covers.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Went to the boat last night to try to remedy the situation. Well, I was right about the drains in the rope lockers: they are just holes that drain right onto the engine compartment foam. The temporary fix: duct tape sealing the holes.

I was wrong about the transom locker drain. It doesn't drain into the bilge; the drain hose is routed to the inset on transom where the outdrive lives.

Funny thing about the two ledges in the bilge, the starboard side has an 8-10" "offramp" built into the rear portion of the ledge, just under the area where the engine hatch hinges and water would drain into the bilge from the outside. No offramp at all on the port side. I'm not sure why they felt one side would need it while the other does not.

The marina was able to squeeze the rails together on the rack in order to raise the bow of the boat a couple of inches. I'm hoping that is enough to angle the ledges toward the rear of the boat...

I had the same problem. It was the leaky anchor locker at the bow that was draining into the storage holds inside the cuddy. I caulked the joint between the hull and the back of the anchor locker with 4200 sealant and then raised the bottom of the anchor locker with spray foam (easy to remove if necessary). This prevents water from standing in the anchor locker. The idiot who decided the anchor locker drains should be above the bottom of the locker should be fired.

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2006 Sundowner 255, 5.7 GXi, 320 hp
"Simply Irresistible"

The port and starboard sides of the engine compartment in mine are symmetrical; both have a fairly shallow channel connected to a similar one at the forward end that directs water to the stern ( originally to the bilge, but now to the gutter I installed). Maybe they trimmed your topsides moulding wrongly ! I really don't understand why they designed the rear to be a vertical panel with no provision to catch water/ divert it overboard. In respect of moulding the GRP, it would have been extremely easy.

Graham, I would LOVE to see photos of these channels and the gutter you installed...and the drain tubes coming from the rope lockers!

I'll try to get some photos takem; the boat is about 100 miles away, hopefully we'll get to use it next week if the weather plays fair ! This is the worst boating season in 12 years for us, apart from when the boat was launched, we've had ONE trip out in it !