Block drainage holes in Tub?

[scottm]

So after stripping the tub ready for spray on tub liner followed by Drawers I'm wondering if I should be blocking the drainage holes in the tub?

I know the tailgate isn't water tight but it seems more chance of getting water coming in through a river crossing up from those drainage holes, which would result in a very wet drawer system, cargo and unhappy wife...

Anybody done this or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Cheers,

-scott

 

[bods]

Personally I would be. And you can get rubber seals from clark rubber to seal the tailgate if you are that way inclined also...

 

[scottm]

Personally I would be. And you can get rubber seals from clark rubber to seal the tailgate if you are that way inclined also...

Thanks for chipping in Bods, would you be bogging / fibre glassing it up or silicon / sikaflex?

 

[bods]

Probably just sikaflex if you are putting drawers in. But if you have it stripped you could always weld them up instead

 

[mike1303]

I gooped them up with silicone then covered them with duct tape when it was wet

 

[Bad Juju]

Push a foam ear plug in them and call it good. The the type you compress and they expand in the ear.

 

[Old.Tony]

I can only see two problems.

1) The tailgate won't seal properly even with the stuff from Clark Rubber. I've got it, and I could still park a car in the gap that remains.

2) If you have a watertight tub, and a watertight cabin, that's a lot of boat.

 

[75 GRC]

Hi Scottm,

There is a thread on here

Called (Seal the tailgate kit)
If you have a read of that There are a few objections and positives to sealing your tub area.or the tub holes for that matter..

I think it's worth a read before doing it..



Cheers Geoff Go the V-6's

 

[fzrr]

I got one of those multi size grommet kits from the hardware store and the smaller ones fit the holes in the bottom of the tub perfectly. Easy to take off if you do need to drain water out or wash the tub out.

 

[rastik86]

If I was going to go with a spray on tub liner (even sticking drawers in over the top) I'd use grommets, or plugs or bolts with a bead of silicon around them for a neat look once the tub liner is sprayed on.

 

[scottm]

Thanks all for your replies, I discovered a couple of them had already been plugged so I put a bead of silicon to make sure they're water tight and then I just siliconed the others with sika flex 227. I guess ideally rubber grommets would have been good but Clark rubeber want $7 each (ebay from China they are 5 for $4.95) I just got impatient but I think the sika flex with the raptor kit over the top will do the trick. I might even give them another touch from the bottom once I've attached the drawers (as I'll be sika flexing around the bolts etc)

Photo of the tub liner sprayed on (still fresh, having a beer and reading the forums while it dries )



Cheers

 

[scottm]

I can only see two problems.

1) The tailgate won't seal properly even with the stuff from Clark Rubber. I've got it, and I could still park a car in the gap that remains.

2) If you have a watertight tub, and a watertight cabin, that's a lot of boat.

G'day Tony,

1) do you know if that is consistent with other people's experience? Just wondering if everybody does it for leakage minimisation rather than expecting it to seal all together.

2) do you think those couple of little holes would make the difference between floating in a river crossing and not(obviously many variables, just after an opinion)

Cheers mate

 

[Old.Tony]

I reckon there's a considerable amount of leakage deliberately. I've had mine up to the windscreen in water and it stayed on the bottom, but she's 2560kg empty.

Floatation occurs when the vehicle displaces more water than it weighs itself (that's how boats work and why they're measured in tonnes of displacement). 1 cubic metre of water weighs 1 tonne (it's 1kg per litre). My tub is roughly 1400*1700*400 which is just under 1 cubic metre (I'm not counting the canopy). The cabin is about a little larger again - so you're looking at about 2 tonnes of displacement.

So if your car is on the light side, you'll float. Give it a bullbar & winch and the front will sit a little lower but your tail might wag in a river crossing. Add a canopy and a bunch of junk inside and she'll sit down.

Proof: here, here (good one), here (D40 with the front JUST touching) ... all of these were fairly light on installed gear.