Dead in the water again....

[wheels 151]

Nice pics Baws. So what are you doing in the meantime, not shutting of the boat when loaded?

[Bawshogg 77]

Well.... in the mean time I'm not doing a damn thing differnt. I haven't had an issue yet. 

I typically have a very light crew, came to the realization MY boat only really could USE 600-800 leads effectively and I usually always drain my ballast when we stop and chill. 

So im gonna roll business as usual until I have a reason to really worry about it. Whole boat has 5 MORE years of warranty left. 

[carguy79ta 67]

good question wheels..I sent my dealer a question about this and the accordion tube that some of you have mentioned is cracking..told him these were serious issues.  he said he was going to contact Centurion this am.

[NW Boat Sports 232]

You can see in the pictures Baws has the updated rubber exhaust hose. Baws, how tight was that 1/4 nut and bolt holding the flapper in place?

Edited June 2, 2017 by NW Boat Sports

[Bawshogg 77]

It was tight, but not over tight. I looked at the threads when I removed it and they didn't look stretched at all.

[carguy79ta 67]

glad to hear about the upgraded hose. the flapper looks pretty cheesy tho. like a 10 dollar part.  I would pay 300bucks for an engineered well designed unit I could trust.  I am an engineer.  I have to say I am disappointed.  however that will be the same unit that will be on mine.  mine will be done towards the end of the month.  I wonder if they can move the exhaust port up about 5 inches.

[MistyCreek 3]

So, for those of you that have been dealing with and digging into this a little deeper.  Is it safe to say that as long as the grab bar is not submerged while stationary there is no risk of this happening?  Going to Powell in a couple weeks and I can't imagine how mad I will be if the trip is disrupted by this problem.  We take the good with the bad I suppose.  We absolutely love this boat so far.  Hope it stays this way......

[Darkside 248]

This pic is from delivery day,  so no extra lead,  etc.  Just factory weight,  and the grab handle is below water.....

So draining ramfill is my plan.   

[cripper 8]

Is flapper getting stuck on the nut?? From pic it appears flapper would hit bolt when "deployed"???

[cripper 8]

One other thing and it may be wishful thinking but would a bead of silicone around the outside edges of flapper bracket help with this at all?  I know Baws said you can see light around edges....just wondering if that would help or hurt??

[Bawshogg 77]

2 hours ago, cripper said:

Is flapper getting stuck on the nut?? From pic it appears flapper would hit bolt when "deployed"???

No, the flapper is not long enough to come in contact with the nut. 

11 minutes ago, cripper said:

One other thing and it may be wishful thinking but would a bead of silicone around the outside edges of flapper bracket help with this at all?  I know Baws said you can see light around edges....just wondering if that would help or hurt??

No, it would be a feeble attempt at best. The way it sits inside the pipe, I'm not sure you could ever achieve 100% seal of water flow. It would still leak past around the top edge of the flapper bracket. As I stated before, this was never designed to completely seal the exhaust path off. 

[257Tsunami 50]

Great pics Baws. Thanks for sharing. I hadn't had time to take mine apart to check it out yet. Now I don't need to.

I think what everybody needs to understand is that these exhaust flappers were never designed or intended to be water tight. If you were to make them water tight, than they wouldn't open and allow exhaust to be pushed out. You can do the math. Sounds like the issue has been with boats running more weight over the factory ballasts (from what we can see so far). Either way, if you were to have 18 people in the boat and full factory ballast, you'd be running more weight than what the people who have been having issues were when they experienced the issue. So it's definitely an issue that Centurion needs to address. But it sounds like they are already on it. I think the fix in the meantime would be as Darkside has mentioned. Empty the Ramfills when stopping for a period of time. I'd also be cautious as to how quickly you let off the throttle with a full load. The less water you can keep from coming up to the back of the boat, the better.

[carguy79ta 67]

This is disappointing.  Bawshogg does there look to be room to move the port up 5 inches or so?  looking at Darksides ride I dont know if 5 in is enough...also if the flapper gate was made of metal with a little weight to it..and the hinge point was set so the flapper plate (with sealing gasket/oring) was parallel to the flapper seat the gate would seal better.  also they could motorize it with a small elec motor or vac actuator that worked from the throttle position sensor.  it would be pricey but I ( and most likely all of you)  would gladly pay for it.

[daz28iroc 73]

I think the simple fix would be a new routing for the exhaust. As long as the exhaust gets routed up above the water there is no need to even have a flapper in the first place. Then the current flapper would be more than adequate and the boat could be shut down wether full of people ballast whenever. 

 

 

[Bawshogg 77]

The idea that exhaust needs to be fully sealed is wack-a-do. You guys need to get that out of your heads. ALL of these flappers, flaps, whatever you call them DONT completely seal off the flow of water up the exhaust... they just slow it down. It WILL eventually find its own level, just depends on how long you have to wait. 

5" up higher with the exhaust port would do nothing, accept mount your exhaust outlet where the platform is now. It still would not be the highest point.... and not  above the water line . You changed it for NOTHING. 

I agree with Daz. A high point loop in the exhaust is a simple fix.... if the exhaust can be routed in this manner. Otherwise there are several other complicated methods of preventing this. 

This issue really isn't for us to figure out... this is a manufacturer issue. I'll let them do their thing. 

[carguy79ta 67]

they need to figure it out fast because there will be an influx of warranty claims because not all boat owners are as anal as we are about our boats.  easy to imagine someone ballasted up stops to talk to a buddy and 20 Minutes later engine is hydrolocked.  also they need to get it figured out before mine arrives...lol

[257Tsunami 50]

@carguy79ta - You'd have to mount the exhaust above the water line (when fully weighted) for it to rectify this issue. Have fun surfing behind that. You might as well bring back Side Swipe. As Baws said. The only real fix is higher exhaust risers. Unfortunately they'll have to re-engineer the engine and the boat to make that work. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

[NW Boat Sports 232]

13 hours ago, Bawshogg said:

 

5" up higher with the exhaust port would do nothing, accept mount your exhaust outlet where the platform is now. It still would not be the highest point.... and not  above the water line . You changed it for NOTHING. 

 

What I was thinking..

Edited June 3, 2017 by NW Boat Sports

[carguy79ta 67]

was killing it in the axis this weekend with about 3500 lb plus 1500 people lbs and when I was filling and burping the sacs I looked at the exhaust routing.  the catylitic converters..which were the high point of the exhaust system were a good 18 in above the exhaust port/flapper.  How high is the high point of the exhaust system above the flapper in the RI257?

 

[257Tsunami 50]

13 hours ago, carguy79ta said:

was killing it in the axis this weekend with about 3500 lb plus 1500 people lbs and when I was filling and burping the sacs I looked at the exhaust routing.  the catylitic converters..which were the high point of the exhaust system were a good 18 in above the exhaust port/flapper.  How high is the high point of the exhaust system above the flapper in the RI257?

 

Probably the exact same height as on your Axis. The problem is that the engine as a whole sits lower in the 257. Your point of reference should be where the exhaust risers sit relative to the water line outside of the boat. That's the determining factor here. Regardless, as long as your exhaust port is below the exhaust risers, it doesn't really matter where it is. The only way it would make a difference is if the exhaust port was above the risers. I know when I opened the engine hatch on my 22 MXZ, the engine was right there. Look under the hatch of the 257, the engine is way down there. It's a deeper and heavier boat. Not to mention the amount of ballast the 257 carries. When you weight it up is sinks A LOT. Significantly more than my 22 MXZ. I'd say at least twice as much. It's exactly what we want only it has created this hiccup.

@chowder2016 - Any updates?