Posted by Seafarer on 06/29/09 - 1:13 PM
#8
Tom W Clark wrote:
I would NEVER plug the outside of a drain tube. You may need to drain your boat in a hurry some day and you cannot reach the outboard ends of the drain tubes form inside the boat, at least not on anything but very small Whalers.
My 20 year old, saltwater use only Whaler still has intact drain tubes. I have replaced the transom tubes and found the originals were fine.
It is not a complicated chore to replace the brass drain tubes. I recommend it to any Whaler owner so they know that what they have is sound.
The plastic or PVC idea has its own set of problems I choose not to deal with.
I have to replace my '86 Montauk's bilge tube (the tube is in fine shape, but the ring/lip at the transom came off with the plug). I opened up the bilge cover to see about using the plug at the top of the tube, and it's absolutely buried under all the rigging - bilge pump, engine electric, steering, transducer wiring, stern light wiring, etc.
It would be far faster to hang off the transom at low speed or a stop to pull the plug than to fish down through all the stuff in the bilge in order to uncork.
What do you think about using a quick release plug with a string tied off to, say, the aft railing as an emergency pull?
Edited by Seafarer on 06/29/09 - 1:14 PM