I had a fantastic drive in the Phoenix yesterday through snow, hail and driving rain. The pain when hit in the face by hail as I am sure many of you know is excruciating . The pain aside, it was a good drive and a searching test for the car. It handled well in the wet and the Toyos coped with standing water without a hint of aquaplaning. So, all in all very good.

However, when I checked the car over afterwards, I noted that we had an inch or so of water swilling about in the bottom. The seat bases were saturated and are still drying out. This wil obviously be an ongoing problem and I have thought of drilling holes in each floor section which will have removable bungs.

Has anybody got any better ideas to cope with the water. Not going out in the wet is not an option!

Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

John

A few holes in the seat bottom works for me.....

If your worried about water comming in through the holes in the floor you can buy self sealing drain thingies for boats...

They only allow water out and not in...have a little diaphragm (sp?) inside....

quote:

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Originally posted by tegwin
If your worried about water comming in through the holes in the floor you can buy self sealing drain thingies for boats...

They only allow water out and not in...have a little diaphragm (sp?) inside....

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Presumably you are familaur with self bailers for boats (from title) ?
- I guess you could fit one, however they solve a problem that you dont have on the car (that your trying to get water out of the bottom of the boat, below the water line) and the non-return flap is usally only fairly poor.

I would just make a pair of smallish holes, 10mm say, and see how that goes.
- If you really find you have problems you could always stick/rivet a deflector/flap over the hole, which would do the same priciple, without looking like a ruddy dingy part. And costing the same amount. Plastic self bailers are about £20, stainless £45+.



Daniel

drill/cut a couple of holes and use rubber basin plugs?

link

or

http://www.tri-1st.co.uk/product_BLU70ENERGIE.htm

I've just got 8mm holes in the floor in each corner of each panel, works a trick and never had water come up through them.

You don't need very big holes, you haven't got to cope with a particularly high flow rate even in very heavy rain!

What about a saniflo ?

Just leave a large sponge on the floor behind the seats. Squeeze it out after you have been out in the rain.

Weighs nothing dry and is locost.....

quote: drill/cut a couple of holes and use rubber basin plugs?

No one can accuse Locosters of having no sense of humour. I really like the idea of a sink plug but I think I'll go for matt_claydon's suggestion of 8mm holes in each corner.

Thank you all for your replies. Really appreciated.

John

Don't forget that if you're running close to the ground you'll have negative pressure under the car and that'll suck the water out of the cockpit and not let water in

I was thinking of bonnet vents, 1 in each side of the floor at the back facing backwards, negative air pressure should drag any water out

Have a look around the scrap yard. Check the scrap cars for heater scuttle drain grommets. They let the scuttle drain into the engine bay (insted of into the heater) but have a baffle to stop engine smells getting drawn in.

adrian

Hi John

If a slot was cut with a small slit disc, then a half moon tool inserted (half round file shape) you could create a half round louver facing backwards.

I've seen something like this in U section chassis members in tin tops.


atb

Paul G