Drain plugs anyone?

[Zeroice]

After pulling my boat out of winter storage I noticed a few inches (5" to be exact) in the cockpit, lockers & transom compartment. After getting the boat back to my house for a few addons and maintainence I noticed a few cracks in the hull down were the bottom meets the side: one 6"long on the port chine and two smaller 2" on the stern seam. It looks as though water got in from the inside and froze to force a crack.

I have already started repairs with sanding and re-glassing the affected area on the port chine. I used some left over clothe and 1.3 tubes of 5min epoxy. Boy you sure have to work quick! It looks good now and will be better with some sanding and paint over it.

While I was at it though, this brings me to the point of adding drainage. I feel that it is very important to give the water some way to leave the boat because no matter how good you tarp the thing up ( I had 2 tarps covering the boat) you will have some water getting into the boat some how :?

So I installed one of these brass drain plugs that can be removed and the boat tilted to the right angle and let all the water get out. I put it in the stern compartment and bedded it in with some 3m 5200. This should do it I hope.

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[JMetzner]

Zeroice,

Any thougths on how all this water got into the cockpit? Windblown

past the tarps? I've heard about condensation under tarps, but I didn't

think it would create 5" of water!!?!

I've been considering putting in the drain recommended on the

Steveproj site (drilling down through the keel) but didn't know how

big a problem I'd have with condensation or leakage past tarps in the

winter. But with 9 or so months of winter in Fairbanks, it'll have plenty

of opportunity.

--John M.

(usually in) Fairbanks, AK

[Kudzu]

I have been thinking bailer also. Seems like it could server douible duty really well on any boat.

[Charlie Jones]

I added a drain quite similar to that in my Sharpie. mine was a plastic one rather than brass, but it works fine. I had to trim a tad off of the screw in part so it would be flush with the bottom.

On the Anderson bailers- why not just pour a cup of water inside the cockpit if you want water in there ? I've NEVER seen one of those bailers that didn't leak while the boat was at rest.

Me - I'll use a milk jug with the top cut off to get water out while sailing !!!

[Barry Pyeatt]

I'm doing the cockpit drain per the little planlet that Stevenson's posted. It works and it is easy and inexpensive to do. I've had other bailers in small boats and not had particularly good results with them either. I too find a gallon milk jug with the bottom cut out makes a dandy bailer. If you want a heavier duty one, then try a liquid detergent container. Sponge works well for the last little bit. And it is reuseable. :roll:

[Greg Luckett]

Barry,

I would like to read about that. Is it somewhere at the Stevenson's site?

Thanks.

[Johannah]

Here ya go. It's a downloadable file.

http://www.stevproj.com/Planlets.html

[Greg Luckett]

I went to the site (before you gave me the link) trying to locate it and found nothing like it.....I must be doing something wrong again :oops: .

Thankyou for the link.

[capt jake]

Well, I just used one of those portable bilge pumps and thought it worked great. Only left behind about two sponges worth of water. I had a LOT to bale out today, twice.

[Zeroice]

I believe that the tarps started to breakdown a little and a combination of wind and heavy rain made its way down the deck from the front down to the seatbacks in the cockpit and into it.

Another remedy I have done is to install long 1X2 splash comings from the cabin sides to just past the back of the lazeret. ( I'll have to post the pics.) Also I installed some small homemade deck drain scuppers to drain the water off the deck. Really nothing more than some 1/4" copper tube glued into a hole I drilled from the corner were the deck meets the hullside overhang though to just out under the top rubrail with some 3m 5200.