My first AM build. Rickter XFR - Full Carbon

[JKMike]

Now that's a mean looking ski!

Thanks bro! Now if I could only make up my mind on what motor to upgrade to... lol

 

[InsaneFMX]

sweet adventure here, i can't wait for mine to arrive in a week or two, and this gives me great insight what to look forward too as well, thanks bud cheers

 

[Carbon Jet]

any update on where the leak(s) came from?

 

[JKMike]

sweet adventure here, i can't wait for mine to arrive in a week or two, and this gives me great insight what to look forward too as well, thanks bud cheers

Thanks bro! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. One big thing I will recomend is to seal up all the hull penetrations (coolant, exhaust, trim) from both sides.

 

[JKMike]

any update on where the leak(s) came from?

Yea actually. I ended up drilling 2 small holes in the back of the ski and I got over a gallon of water out, which is just ridiculous for a brand new 10k hull.. lol I Then I rigged up a quick pressure tester and pressurized the tray with about 10-15 psi of air. I found several leaks with the most significant being where the exhaust penetrates the firewall in the engine compartment. There was about a 1" portion on the bottom of the tube that seemed like it had no sealant on it whatsoever and air was just pouring out. This was probably where most of the water was getting in my tray as I end up filling the engine compartment with an inch or two of soap and water after every ride during the washdown. To seal this leak I injected as much 3M 5200 into the gap as I could using a syringe and then sealed all around the tube as well.

I also found leaks coming from 3 of the 4 brass ride plate thread inserts and upon closer inspection, I found a couple issues. First, the inserts that RRP uses, well at least the ones they used on my hull, have no real bottom to them. They are hollow all the way through and the only thing that was sealing off the bottom was a thin layer of the waxy type sealant that they use. I would have expected those inserts to actually have a brass bottom to them and not been through bolt type inserts. I even ended up accidentally punching through the sealant on one of them when I was cleaning the bottom of the inserts out with a pick. To this issue I ended up flipping the hull and then filling the bottom 0.3" or so of all the inserts with West Sytems G-Flex Epoxy, creating a watertight plug. Don't quote me on the 0.3", this was a couple weeks ago. But basically I measured the length of the ride plate bolts and them measured the depth of the inserts and filled the difference with epoxy.

With the plugs cured I pressure tested the tray once more and found even more leaks, this time coming from around the ride plate thread inserts. More on this tomorrow.

 

[Sanoman]

ln assembling the hulls l have done in the past,l took as a much time and care to prevent water leaks.But found after a few months that all the extra work was somewhat in vain.The last SF Circus l built,l really made a big effort to prevent any water coming in under the tray.Checked and rechecked with 5-7 psi to make it water tight.But sure enough it leaked too.I guess all the pounding and landings create leaks.
All we can do is try

 

[JKMike]

ln assembling the hulls l have done in the past,l took as a much time and care to prevent water leaks.But found after a few months that all the extra work was somewhat in vain.The last SF Circus l built,l really made a big effort to prevent any water coming in under the tray.Checked and rechecked with 5-7 psi to make it water tight.But sure enough it leaked too.I guess all the pounding and landings create leaks.
All we can do is try

Very true!! These things definitely take some serious beatings, and stuff is going to flex & move around, potentially creating leaks. There isn't much getting around that, especially when your dealing with lightweight hulls that are as thin as possible and I get that comes with the territory. On that note, I do think there is something to be said for using adhesives and sealants that allow as much movement as possible. For me, my go to is 3M 5200/4200 for sealing all the tubing type hull penetrations and for epoxy, it's the West Systems G-Flex line. What bothers me is that so far all of the leaks I have found all appear to have been caused by someone skimping on the sealant/epoxy inside the tray, either on the thru hull tubes or the brass inserts and while I can certainly try to fix the issues from outside of the tray, nothing I can do will be as effective as it would be if I had access to inside the tray.

Ps. For anyone reading my thread, Sorry if it seems like I am complaining a lot that's not my intention. I just want to provide as much detail as possible so others can learn from the issues I have had. It will be a lot easier and more effective for someone to address problems like these during their initial build, when everything is super clean and dry than after the fact.

 

[2lick]

Wow, makes me wonder how much water is in my ski???!!!??? You've done some damn fine work detecting and fixing your issues. I'm thinking its a losing battle tho, perhaps install two of these and just let the water that gets in, get out!

1 Thrust innovations Ez Drain micro Products Model: ti-ez-drain-micro Price: $27.20

Thrust Ez Drain micro which is designed to be easy glue install . When your ski is sitting in the water the water pressure push the ball closed to keep drain closed,when moving the ball falls back and allows the tray area to drain . Works great installed just in the V chine at teh back of the...

www.thrustinnovations.com

 

[Big Kahuna]

Wow, makes me wonder how much water is in my ski???!!!??? You've done some damn fine work detecting and fixing your issues. I'm thinking its a losing battle tho, perhaps install two of these and just let the water that gets in, get out!

1 Thrust innovations Ez Drain micro Products Model: ti-ez-drain-micro Price: $27.20

Thrust Ez Drain micro which is designed to be easy glue install . When your ski is sitting in the water the water pressure push the ball closed to keep drain closed,when moving the ball falls back and allows the tray area to drain . Works great installed just in the V chine at teh back of the...

www.thrustinnovations.com

I had those in my freak, I am not sure if they did not let in even more water.

 

[JKMike]

Wow, makes me wonder how much water is in my ski???!!!??? You've done some damn fine work detecting and fixing your issues. I'm thinking its a losing battle tho, perhaps install two of these and just let the water that gets in, get out!

1 Thrust innovations Ez Drain micro Products Model: ti-ez-drain-micro Price: $27.20

Thrust Ez Drain micro which is designed to be easy glue install . When your ski is sitting in the water the water pressure push the ball closed to keep drain closed,when moving the ball falls back and allows the tray area to drain . Works great installed just in the V chine at teh back of the...

www.thrustinnovations.com

Thanks bud. Yea I thought about installing those but for me my main concern is the reserve buoyancy the tray provides, I would be afraid that those could let water in if I ever sink my ski. I do end up riding solo more than i probably should so i want as large of a safety margin as possible with regards to reserve buoyancy. Right now I just have 2 #6 or #8 stainless screws that thread into the holes i drilled in the back and seal with an O-ring. I just pull them after every ride. Ultimately I plan on gluing in some custom drain plugs i made up.

 

[Sanoman]

Very true!! These things definitely take some serious beatings, and stuff is going to flex & move around, potentially creating leaks. There isn't much getting around that, especially when your dealing with lightweight hulls that are as thin as possible and I get that comes with the territory. On that note, I do think there is something to be said for using adhesives and sealants that allow as much movement as possible. For me, my go to is 3M 5200/4200 for sealing all the tubing type hull penetrations and for epoxy, it's the West Systems G-Flex line. What bothers me is that so far all of the leaks I have found all appear to have been caused by someone skimping on the sealant/epoxy inside the tray, either on the thru hull tubes or the brass inserts and while I can certainly try to fix the issues from outside of the tray, nothing I can do will be as effective as it would be if I had access to inside the tray.

Ps. For anyone reading my thread, Sorry if it seems like I am complaining a lot that's not my intention. I just want to provide as much detail as possible so others can learn from the issues I have had. It will be a lot easier and more effective for someone to address problems like these during their initial build, when everything is super clean and dry than after the fact.

The thing that bothers me is the fact of what a ski costs.At 10k,the production line worker and their supervisor should have spent more time making sure that the ski was as watertight as possible.It’s not like they don’t build these skis every day.And l feel sure that they are aware of where skis take on water under the tray.

Wow, makes me wonder how much water is in my ski???!!!??? You've done some damn fine work detecting and fixing your issues. I'm thinking its a losing battle tho, perhaps install two of these and just let the water that gets in, get out!

1 Thrust innovations Ez Drain micro Products Model: ti-ez-drain-micro Price: $27.20

Thrust Ez Drain micro which is designed to be easy glue install . When your ski is sitting in the water the water pressure push the ball closed to keep drain closed,when moving the ball falls back and allows the tray area to drain . Works great installed just in the V chine at teh back of the...

www.thrustinnovations.com

The micro drains are great as long as you don’t have any small debris floating around inside.l like just drilling a hole and run a screw in it.That way,when you do have some stoppage,you can run a coat hanger up inside.Yep,cheap ass l am.But simple

 

[Carbon Jet]

Very true!! These things definitely take some serious beatings, and stuff is going to flex & move around, potentially creating leaks. There isn't much getting around that, especially when your dealing with lightweight hulls that are as thin as possible and I get that comes with the territory. On that note, I do think there is something to be said for using adhesives and sealants that allow as much movement as possible. For me, my go to is 3M 5200/4200 for sealing all the tubing type hull penetrations and for epoxy, it's the West Systems G-Flex line. What bothers me is that so far all of the leaks I have found all appear to have been caused by someone skimping on the sealant/epoxy inside the tray, either on the thru hull tubes or the brass inserts and while I can certainly try to fix the issues from outside of the tray, nothing I can do will be as effective as it would be if I had access to inside the tray.

Ps. For anyone reading my thread, Sorry if it seems like I am complaining a lot that's not my intention. I just want to provide as much detail as possible so others can learn from the issues I have had. It will be a lot easier and more effective for someone to address problems like these during their initial build, when everything is super clean and dry than after the fact.

Hey man, I definitely don't think you're complaining one bit. I think you're taking it all in stride, better than most would. I cannot believe how poor the quality control is, especially when paying top dollar for a "best in the industry" custom hull. yea the 5200 works great, I use that for all thru-hull tubing. I can totally picture the hollow brass inserts that you're mentioning, as I know there is a "ceiling/stop" to the standard OEM inserts.

 

[Carbon Jet]

Very true!! These things definitely take some serious beatings, and stuff is going to flex & move around, potentially creating leaks. There isn't much getting around that, especially when your dealing with lightweight hulls that are as thin as possible and I get that comes with the territory. On that note, I do think there is something to be said for using adhesives and sealants that allow as much movement as possible. For me, my go to is 3M 5200/4200 for sealing all the tubing type hull penetrations and for epoxy, it's the West Systems G-Flex line. What bothers me is that so far all of the leaks I have found all appear to have been caused by someone skimping on the sealant/epoxy inside the tray, either on the thru hull tubes or the brass inserts and while I can certainly try to fix the issues from outside of the tray, nothing I can do will be as effective as it would be if I had access to inside the tray.

Ps. For anyone reading my thread, Sorry if it seems like I am complaining a lot that's not my intention. I just want to provide as much detail as possible so others can learn from the issues I have had. It will be a lot easier and more effective for someone to address problems like these during their initial build, when everything is super clean and dry than after the fact.

Mike, out of curiosity, have you made contact with TC or Rickter directly to address these issues?....or at least see what they say so they can keep an eye on quality control at the factory in Thailand? (I know TC has nothing to do with the way the hull is laid up, but I'm sure he's in direct contact with RR)

 

[JKMike]

Mike, out of curiosity, have you made contact with TC or Rickter directly to address these issues?....or at least see what they say so they can keep an eye on quality control at the factory in Thailand? (I know TC has nothing to do with the way the hull is laid up, but I'm sure he's in direct contact with RR)

I honestly haven't bothered trying to reach out to either of them for this latest batch of issues. But you make a good point, I should probably at least send TC an email about the issues I had and hopefully it will get back to RRP.