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Penobscot 17: keeping water out


Melissa Goudeseune

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I'm in the process of refurbishing a Penobscot 17 that I purchased used in the summer of 2010. Two photos attached, from the date of purchase. It had been sitting outside for several years under a (rapidly-falling-apart) tarp, which allowed significant water to accumulate in the bilge :(. At least one bulkhead is rotted, due to standing water.

The former owner used a trolling motor with two 12V batteries. I've removed the battery mounting tray, as I have no desire to drag along 120 lbs of batteries. It's a sailboat, I'll sail it :).

Two questions about keeping water out:

1. It occurs to me that the boat would have sustained less damage if they had simply drilled a hole in the deepest part of the hull, to allow standing water (rain and condensation) to drain out. Is there any point to installing a bronze garboard drain plug there? This might help with washing out the boat as well, I suppose.

2. The boat came with a small electric bilge pump, which is not functional to me, as I'm not putting the batteries back aboard. Typical wisdom calls for a bucket aboard a small boat. This one has floorboards, which sit a few inches above the deepest part of the hull. I'm leaning towards a manual diaphragm-style bilge pump (whale gusher, or similar). What I'm wondering about is where to plumb the outlet. Sending it to the transom makes sense, but I don't want to drill a hole in the 1" thick transom. Is my best option likely to have a length of flexible hose, which can be directed overboard to either side, as needed?

There will be many more photos to come of the rebuild, which I'm starting in the next few weeks.

Thanks

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Beautiful boat!

1. I would definitely put a drain hole of some sort in. I worked on a couple of old conventionally planked boats that used a very simple method of drain hole. It was just that, a hole, about 1/2 -3/4". Each spring I would put a slightly tapered plug in the hole. Just a section of pine or cedar cut to be tapped into the hole from the outside and come flush or a bit proud on the inside and then cut off flush on the outside. Then it was painted in. The following fall it was knocked out with a drift and hammer. Rinse and repeat yearly. This was a very common practice in years gone by. A small bronze garboard plug makes the process much easier to repeat. Storing fresh water in the bilge of a conventionally built wooden boat is not a clever thing to do.

2. Definitely get a bucket regardless of what else you do. I would probably consider a good hand held piston bilge pump. Cut a hole between and into planks in the floorboards on either side of the centerboard trunk to allow you to get down into the bilge. Store the pump in a handy place, maybe in clips under the seat or something like that.

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Most manufactured manual pumps are way bigger then you'll ever need on that boat. WoodenBoat Magazine had a wooden, home built pump several years ago, which may be worth a look up. It was typical of most like it and a single action pump, that discharged at the top, where a wooden 3 sided ramp, lead the overflow past the rail, to drain over the side. This is a very simple device to make, being little more then a box section tube, with leather (usually) flaps attached to a plunger stick, the pump bottom and some holes. They are often seen mounted to the back of a center or daggerboard case, so this can be used as the overflow tube, with water being pumped directly into it. A little time with a pencil and some scraps of pine, will yield a handy little pump, plus I can think of nothing more appropriate for a little lapstrake like yours. If you're really clever, a much more efficient double action pump can be rigged, with very little extra engineering.

All boats should have a garboard or transom drain. It just makes life easier. On plywood boats, getting the last drop of water out of the bilge with a flanged garboard drain is imposable without a sponge. On small craft I've used epoxy bonded, then taped holes, which produce a flush drain. It's a little more work then installing a manufactured drain or using a hammered in plug, but it's handy and the end grain is protected by the epoxy, in the event of a leak. If you store the boat outside, then use a transom drain and raise the bow with the trailer jack. This lets water shed aft, regardless of the boat's shape. If she's stored level, then a garboard drain is the usual choice, at the lowest point of the bilge of course.

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