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Well today my new old boat has begun to take water. The plug on the floor seems to have lost it's muster. The plug itself has to be old. It's the only plug the previous owner had and he hasen't had the boat in the water for a few years. It was mored for a day by me and took some water. Trailored it home and put back in today and instantly you could see water filling up from the floor plug.. We brought it back in adjusted the plug and still the same thing. We noticed after taking the plug out and sticking our finger in the hole the hole itself is oblong or uneven inside. My buddy suggested sealing the whole permanately. Any suggestions? Are there any plugs that work better than others. I have an old beat up 71' or earlier hull with a decent motor. I just want to ride out the rest of this summer and possibly get a better boat and put this motor on it. But for now the drain hole is a major problem. Any suggestions?

Andre'

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And what type of boat might you be talking about?

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71' 13 ft whaler. Sorry. Any plugs work better than others?

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So you have 2 drains.

One in the splashwell and one in the transom.
Where do you put the drain plug?

Or do you plug them both up.
Whatever you do, I always... always... carry a spare drain plug or 2 in my tackle box.
Drain plugs are cheap so have at least one extra.

Either the screw type or the lever type. Whichever you prefer.

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The transom plug fills. Alot. The hole itself is shaped not exactly round and smooth inside. We noticed after taking out the plug and feeling inside the hole.

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I never plugged the transom drain when I had my 13' unless I wanted to keep fish in there temporarily.

I generally only plugged the splashwell drain.

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My mistake. It's the splashwell drain that's not plugged and the hole is not exactly round and flush inside the hole. The hole on the floor not near the motor in back.

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By all means buy another plug or try another plug in it, but under no condition whatsoever would I plug the hole permanantly! You will take on water at times and I would imagine that some time or another you will wash it. You will need a drain to get the water out of the boat.

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I will buy another plug and hope that does the trick. I will let you know the outcome. Thanks.

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A picture might help a great deal in this situation. The new plug suggestions are on the money. An old plug may lack the resilience to seal... especially if the hole is out of round.

The out of round hole makes me wonder if someone might have damaged the drain in an attempt to seal one that had developed a leak.

Send a picture....

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Is there even any brass left? If not, that could explain the problem.

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http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad83/dredey12/hole/newoldbostonwhalerjuly192010boys-13.jpg

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Drain opening and surrounding area appear pretty 'battered'. I'll venture that if you take the boat out of water, insert the plug and fill the drain sump with water... you'll see water leaks from around the drain hole. The brass tube is no longer sealed. Water may be leaking into the hull.

Check the extensive resources here related to repairs for this.

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I'm going to call around and see if I can have it fixed. Is that possible at a reasonable cost?

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You can replace it yourself if you want, I fixed mine through the help and support of members on W/C and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I would have never attempted it by myself.

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Yes but doesn't the tool itself cost like a hundred bucks? The marina near me said they can do it for $85

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I think the tool is most likely 40 dollar or so. If you are doing just one, it might be worth it just to pay a marina due to the amount of time it might take you to get it right.

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I went with PVC, it was easier and inexpensive for me.

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Well it looks like I am SOL guys. The marina who looked at the drain hole could not intall the copper due to extensive fiberglass damage. It's damaged beyond repair. Apparently who ever the previous owner was drilled the hole out and damaged it very badly. So I am SOL.

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dredey. I don't think you're SOL and I hope you're not disheartened by what he said. There are several threads on "Drain tube replacement" on this site. You may have to go ahead and replace that copper tube with a PVC tube and fiberglas it in. Unless you have a HUGE gaping hole in your boat, you're seldom SOL.....it's just going to take a little fiberglassing effort on your part or someone you're paying to do the work.

I think your marina guy is just being lazy. Just my $.02.

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Thanks. He did recommend a fiberglass guy since he doesn't do fiber work. I'm still waiting for a call back from him. But to answer your question, yes, I am disheartened by this turn of events. Looks like at this point alot more work than expected. Definately a little sad right now. My little boys are so excited and the boat and trailer was registered already by me.

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Dred,

Hold the phone there, is there any way that you can get some pics up so that we can see the problem ? You may not be S.O.L.

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I bet there is a temporary solution so you can use your boat the rest of the season. then you can work on making it look nice later. Where in CT are you?

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I'm in the New Haven area. Here is a picture of the drain hole.

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There's a picture on the first page of this thread. comment #14. Copy and paste the address.

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I just copied and pasted and it worked.

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The brass tube in the deck floor of my whaler (11 ft.) was corroded, so based on advice from WC members, I installed a pvc tube with WestSystems Six10 thicked epoxy through the deck. That acts as a permanent barrier to keep water out of the hull and doesn't depend on the O-rings and the brass tube. I'll be reinstalling new brass tubes for looks, but they are no longer needed. I'll post pics to my personal page when I get a chance.

p.s. The link worked when I tried it.

Mike

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Pics would be great along with a detailed list of material I would need and tools. I like the pvc idea.

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Members are always welcome to submit articles using the link on the left sidebar along with photos.

Here is one members article that may or may not help you.
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...icle_id=94
We also have other articles on the Brass Drain Tubes.

Also check out the Project Albums that members create and upload photos to WhalerCentral.
http://www.whalercentral.com/userphot...lery_3.php

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Not sure this is normal but after looking at all the photos of other 13ft Whalers of various years my boat drain hole goes all the way through to the bottom of the boat. No other boat seems to have that from studying all the pictures. The drain hole on my boat goes all the way through to the bottom of the boat. So you can see clear though to the other side.

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I'm surprised someone hasn't tried an "all epoxy" drain tube. This may work even better if the current hole is oversized. If you can find a pipe or piece of PVC with the correct OD, you could coat it with a release agent, spread thickened epoxy around the outside, slide it into the hole, use a syringe to inject more thickened epoxy if needed, squeege flush on both ends, let cure, then tap out the pipe. Guess you could also do this with a bit larger OD pipe and then install the brass drain tube afterwards too, for added protection and to keep the original look.

Just an idea...

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I'm thinking a piece of PVC pipe cut to length, gooped with 5200 marine adhesive and put in place, then fill in the void around the pipe and hull with "Marine Tex" and wipe clean with a rag soaked in mineral spirits.

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So filling the hole completly shut would be the way to go you think?

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The hole is there to drain the deck. Why would you want to fill it in?

Take a piece of 1 in pvc pipe and, like MW said, cut it to length. You will have to remove some foam to make the hole larger between the hull and deck. Mark a 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" dia. circle around the existing hole. Cut the hole however you like. (I used a Roto-zip tool.) Place the tube in the hole and use some shims to center it and hold it in place. Now inject West Systems Six10 thicked epoxy in the spaces adjacent to the shims. (If you want to use 3M 5200 adhesive like a lot of people recommend, you must wait one week for it to harden and even then, it doesn't have structural strength and remains flexible. I made that mistake.) After about 4-6 hours, carefully remove the shims and fill in the gaps where the shims were. I left two holes to inject Great Stuff foam to fill the void around the pipe. The second hole is to verify that the foam filled the void. After the foam hardens, clean the two holes of foam and injectwith Six10 epoxy. Sand it, paint it, install new brass tubes with o-rings for the original look, and DONE.

Mike

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G. Thank you for the detailed instructions. I will probably do just that minus the brass. Will the plug insert into the pvc and not let water in no problem?

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I don't know of any Classic 13' that had a hole through the bottom of the boat for a drain.

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Take the pvc pipe length that you are going to use to the marine store and check for the correct plug. I believe that it's a 3/4" "Live Bait Well" plug that fit's into 1" pvc tubing (actual opening is 3/4").

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I know. You think someone drilled a hole all the way through? But why would they do that? You can actually stick your finger up through the bottom and see it inside the hull. The hole itself is about 2 1/2 inches long all the way through. The guy I got it from said he had it on a slip in Rhode Island in the water up until 5 years ago. Since then it has seen no water.

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I have completed the drain fix described by derwd24 on a friends Whaler and it turned out great. We replaced both thru0hull splashwell drains with Flo-guard1" CPVC piping. The inside diameter of this pipe was perfect (perhaps a bit snug) for a standard T handle drain plug-about 7/8" as I recall. Here is What I did.

1. Remove the old brass tube. A hammer and large slotted screw-driver should do the trick.

2. Drill a 1 1/8" hole (the O.D. of the CPVC tube) in the outer hull. The CPVC pipe should fit into this hole VERY snugly.

3. Cut a 1 1/2" hole in the inner hull (bottom of the splash-well. This will create a 3/16" +/- air space around the CPVP pipe when inserted through the hull.

4. Determine what your deadrise is for your hull and cut a rough length of pipe. Place a standard pipe coupling piece on to the rough-cut pipe (it will slide on only so far and will be snug) and mitre-cut the tip of the coupling to the deadrise angle. Pull the coupling off, flip the coupling around, apply CPVC glue to both parts and insert the cut end of the coupling on to the pipe and let dry.

5. Cut the pipe-coupling connection approximately 1/8" below the transition at the same deadrise angle. This will leave a section of pipe with a 1/8" lip created by the glued-on coupling.

6. Insert the pipe through the hull bottom to ensure the deadrise angle of the lip you crated fits well to the deadrise of the hull. Remove the pipe.

7. Next we re-inserted the pipe and poured west systems epoxy from the top-side to fill the airspace we cored out of the hull. As was previously mentioned, a releasing agent should be used so after the epoxy is dry, the pipe can be removed leaving a completely sealed inner and outer hull. I was concerned the items I had on hand as releasing agents would not let go of the epoxy-pipe connection as the epoxy will heat up when it kicks, so I actually wrapped the pipe very tightly with wax paper. This worked as planned and the pipe slid right out after the epoxy dried.

8. Next, I re-inserted the pipe and marked where to make the final cut on the pipe at the bottom of the splashwell (about 1/8" high. Do the smae exercise with the coupling, only this time, no deadrise angle cut should be needed. Cut a 1/8" piece of coupling and have it loose.

9. Re-install the pipe from the bottom with some 5200 at the outer hull connection. The pipe should stick 1/8" above the bottom of the splashwell and glue the coupling/lip on to the pipe. Seal with some 5200 and install a standard stainless steel clam shell fitting on the underside of the hull. And there you have it.


The beauty about this procedure is that even if the pipe or the fittings were to fail, the foam core is sealed from water intrusion via the epoxy. This was important because the old brass-tube/rubber lip installation failed and began to saturate the hull. And since only the lips of the pipe are glued in place, you should be able to remove/replace the pipe simply by knocking off the lips. Unfortunately, I did not document this process. The 1st hole took a couple hours because of needed intermittent mental energy. the second hole less than an hour.

So far, so good. This is the 3rd season and things still look good

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Hold on here and lets get a few things straight. If you shove a coat hanger through the hole in your picture it should come out at the rear of your boats transom and certainly above the bottom of the hull. The bottom of a boat sits horizontal while the transom is vertical and the motor is attached to the transom.

I'll venture to guess you have a tube that comes out right below your motor mounting bracket, on the transom, just like the rest of us and not on the bottom as you state.

Either way, you have a Whaler and it will float no matter what you do even if the plug leaks. I sure would not let it ruin my season and I would highly recommend you find a better dealer or boat guy to deal with. It is all repairable and if you can't do it yourself then find someone who is out of work, like millions are, this fall and after the season and pay them to fix it. It is not rocket science but we all understand that we all don't have the tools or know how to do it ourselves. So you pay a guy but don't bother with the guy who told you you were SOL! It is a Boston Whaler and they are darn near unsinkable so not to worry. I would get it fixed over this winter and after it has dripped as much water as possible out. Mine was way worse than yours and she will sail again.

Gary

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My drain tube was so badly rotted that for 1 season I shoved a rubber cork in the back soaked in Silicone caulking to prevent water intrusion. It was a good temporary repair, I repaired it correctly in the spring.

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My bad. I thought the drain hole you described was SUPPOSED TO go through the deck like my 11 footer.

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http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad...y12/drain/

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Actually you are absolutely correct. The drain is where it should be.

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NO, the drain is not where it should be.

I can't sit here and let other 13' owners think this is normal.
It is NOT normal.

There are no holes or drains in a 13' Whaler that go DOWN through the bottom of the hull.

You don't even have a hole going OUT the back through the transom.
Both of the normal drain holes appear to have been filled and covered for some strange reason.

Look at this photo closely.
http://www.whalercentral.com/images/1...s/1971.jpg

There is one hole through the splashwell wall which goes aft, NOT DOWN.....
Then there is another hole going aft through the transom, NOT DOWN....
You should have 2 holes going aft....
You only have one hole going down through the bottom of the hull which again is NOT correct.

This should clear things up and be the end of this story.

You can either repair it the way it is and live with it or fix it properly back to the original style with 2 holes going aft and not through the bottom of the hull.

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WOW! Never saw anything like that in my life. I had only seen the first photo you posted from the inside of your sump well.

Joe is 100% correct and I stand corrected in that you did have a rocket scientist or at the very least a brain surgeon working on your boat.

Gary

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Are you sure this is even a Whaler??

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Alright. So basically I got screwed on this whole deal. I got it for $1500 with this motor.

http://s924.photobucket.com/albums/ad...hp%20merc/

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The motor is worth that.

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It's a Whaler.

I don't think you got screwed at all. It's an old boat and you'll need to do some work to it. Cheer up, you could have been sold a fake whaler and then you'd really be screwed.

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Jeez! What part of Yuranus do you come from?

No screw job here at all and just some simple work to get over the issues. As your leader has said "Plug the dam hole" and get over it.

Sorry if I offend anyone but this is easily repaired and although it is fun, not worth the print!

Gary

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Hold on there fellas, I've seen that drain arrangement before.

André, what makes you think your hull is a 1971? I think it may be a very rare 1956 or 1957.

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I know for sure it's a 1971 or earlier from pics. It may be alot earlier I can't say since there's no numbers on it. Keep in mind I am not much of a boater and have never had a Whaler. That's why I am not familiar with them. I know I have some dumb questions but I was always taught no question is a dumb question. Got the boat to take my two little boys on and chase some fish, and tube etc... We basically are a beach family and we live on the water Long Island Sound so getting my little boys into boating while they are young is only the natural thing to do I think. They are ages five and one and a half. Maybe I will just plug the darn hole and be done with it. Most likely we will move onto a bigger boat, next summer, but we wanted to start off small and see how it goes. Especially with the kids and all.

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I don't remember seeing that type of drain on the 1958 but then again, I was looking at too many other things.
http://www.whalercentral.com/userphot...hoto_id=33

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Not 1958, 1956.

There was a boat that Whaler restored at the factory and used in their Boat Show display for the 50th Anniversary. It was the oldest 13 footer they could find.

It was confirmed by Chuck Bennett that it was a pre-production model from 1956 and it had exactly that type of drain through the bottom of the hull.

I believe Jeff used to have photos of it.

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Thanks TWC. Happy to bow to a highly respected mentor as none of this makes any sense to a new BW owner that has been around boats since the '56-'57 era.

It sure does seem like a bunch of work to plug an aft directional drain hole and drill a new vertical one to solve an issue. Sounds as though BW might have been an infant the same time I was and there may be some lost history along the way.

The first boat I can remember is a 1954 Volksboat my dad had and we loved it.

Gary

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That's what I meant Tom.
1958 as I have never seen a pre-production model.

If Andre fell into this, what a lucky guy.
I would give him $1500 for the package and repair the drain.
What do you say Andre ????

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Dude. I think you may have stumbled upon a rare gem that may be worth way more than you paid for it. Consider yourself lucky!!

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Hey! this is the boat I am talking about, owned Jim Keris, a member here:

http://www.whalercentral.com/userphot...hoto_id=33

Apparently Joe, you have seen this type of drain before ;-)

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I saw that boat at the Miami boat show but didn't notice the drain apparently.
I thought he said it was a 1958 model.

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That explains it. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the pictures I saw had different drain holes. I also could tell the drain was not modified by the way it comes out the bottom. It totally looks like an original design.

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You might have "THE CLASSIC" of the Classics in your possession. Do you know what the stenciled serial number is? Unless it's been painted over, it should be in your anchor locker and on your transom on the inside just below your motor. See if you can find it and let us know what it is.

This is exciting!!

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That would be cool if it was a pre-historic Whaler, either way, it can be repaired without much hassel, enjoy the boat with the kids, worst case: Repair the boat, use it, sell it, buy another "Whaler" this winter, there are "Plenty" for sale here on Long Island ! I'm sure that our members can help you locate one for sale as well.

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I'm in New Haven area also, You could try Birbarie Marine in Branford or Diamond Marine in East Haven. I've had good luck with both, but Birbarie has been around a long time and they are both Whaler dealers!

Good luck!

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Birbarie is where I brought it.

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I couldn't find any serial numbers on the hull anywhere.

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They must have bigger jobs to deal with and don't want yours. I haven't worked with fiberglass much, it's pretty easy to do, messy, but difficult to make it look good. I bet that hole will have to be cut larger to get to good clean and hopefully dry material for the new to bond to. Do some kind of temporary fix with pvc and go boating. Don't seal it up completely in case you take a wave on board you can pull the plug while underway and it will drain. In the fall cut it out so it can sit open for the winter and dry out and finish the repair properly in the spring.

Or try other marinas there has got to be someone out there who will fix it for you.

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Thanks to Jeff, here are some photos of the ealiest known Boston Whaler in existence (which Joe has seen in person):

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomwclark/FP_56.JPG[/img]

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~tomwclark/FP_56_Drain.JPG[/img]

Note the location of the hull number in the drain sump.

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Tom,

Yes, I did see that boat but never paid attention to the drains.
Too much to see at the boat show.
I also took photos but apparently not the drain.

Is that 2 drains thru the splashwell wall? One on each side?

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That's what I do. What a mess on this one. It has to be cleaned out for anything to work.

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Mine is alot more beat than that one but other than that it is exactly the same. Everything on mine mimics that one to the T.

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Have you looked for a hull number in the drain sump? Yours has probably been painted over but a little investigation might yield something.

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Yes I did look in the drain sump for a hull number but it has been painted. Any ideas on getting the hull number without actually scraping the numbers off?

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You may have to lightly sand in that area trying to take off one layer of paint at a time until the number shows up. It'll be worth it to you to know what the history is behind your rare classic.

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I used pvc for the drain hole and put the boat in the water. Thanks to all for the great advise. It's not too bad of a ride for a 54 yr old boat. I did some light sanding around for a hull number and couldn't find one.

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Pardon me for saying it this way, and maybe you're just joking, but you seem somewhat cavalier about what may be a significant piece of Whaler history. Perhaps it's because you're new to the Whaler "family" and don't fully understand the passion, but if the boat is too much trouble for you I would hazard a guess that there are a number of members here who would gladly take your boat off your hands for what you've paid for it and restore it to its rightful glory.

Just had to get that off my chest.

John K.

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Let's start the bidding, quick before Joe K. notices!! :-)

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You are absolutely correct. All I wanted was a safe boat to go boating with my family. And what I got was a boat that is very old and unsafe at this point. I think I'm going to park the boat until I can figure things out. I mean if it is in fact a pre-production model, and I think it is, can you really put a price on it? Not to mention the fact that as it sits I do not feel comfortable at all boating on it with my wife and kids. It quite possibly can be a 54 year old boat. With only one other known in existence. The boat stays put until I can undertand more about it.

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Good for you. Take your time and find out exactly what you have. Then determine whether you want to keep it or not. You seem to have a real gem there. Don't let it go for nothing.

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One of the smartest statements I've seen in a long time on this site. Sit back, catch your breath, take your time and make the decision that is right for you, but don't let that classic ever get into the wrong hands

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I would contact BW and see if they are interested in it.

cbennett@whaler.com

If it truly is the "Classic" many here think it to be you can be sure they will know how to bring it back to full glory.