Another missing transom plug

[Nova II 260]

... and no one wants to help!

 

[rndn]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I always keep the plug attached to my boat key chain and so far it has worked.

 

[dirtyoldman]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I always keep the plug attached to my boat key chain and so far it has worked.

How do you start your boat with the keys underwater?

 

[kmk_7110]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I like the last part... The owner must now pump the water out himself or get a crane to get the boat out of the water.... I think there is only 1 option for this guy and it is the crane because how in the heck is he going to pump the water out.

 

[dirtyoldman]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I don't know....

I was thinking of a way to do this. I figured about half a dozen 55 gallon barrels with a rope between them should have enough bouyancy to get the whole boat above water. You could fill them with water and use compressed air to displace the water, raising the boat's hull all above water. From there, a trash pump ought to get it pretty close until you can replace the batteries and get the bilge pumps running. It'd probably take a day and a few hundred dollars.

 

[beezee28]

Re: Another missing transom plug

It is going to be an expensive ordeal. Figure after paying the crane to lift the boat out, the boat will need a complete check out and fluch the gas tank etc... NOT cheap.

 

[Windykid]

Re: Another missing transom plug

Thats why if you have a 100,000 dollar boat you get a good insurance company. Let them take care of it.

 

[DMH]

Re: Another missing transom plug

Didn't Mythbuster's raise a boat once using Ping-Pong balls?

It might be worth a try.

DMH

 

[QuadManiac]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I don't know....

I was thinking of a way to do this. I figured about half a dozen 55 gallon barrels with a rope between them should have enough bouyancy to get the whole boat above water. You could fill them with water and use compressed air to displace the water, raising the boat's hull all above water. From there, a trash pump ought to get it pretty close until you can replace the batteries and get the bilge pumps running. It'd probably take a day and a few hundred dollars.

I think I saw that one time on "Junkyard Wars", lol.

 

[logartist]

Re: Another missing transom plug

"how do you start your boat with your keys under water?"

I was wondering the same thing. Maybe he's wired an ignition switch to the transom?

On a serious note,though...why doesn't anyone invent a one-way valve to solve this problem? It's a simple solution...too simple I guess.

 

[typoagain]

Re: Another missing transom plug

Ran into a situation like this in the past. The boat had foam filled chambers for safety, so it wanted to float even full of water. It took 4 guys and two other boats to get it out-2 guys in each boat on both sides of the sunken vessel, lifted the sunken boat using ropes slid under the keel. We only had to lift the boat enough to raise the side an inch above the water. Then a 2" gas powered pump rented from the hardware store did the rest. In my case the guy’s boat was sunken by a storm while he was trying to get back in town from a business trip. He had an electric bilge pump that was supposed to come on by itself. Now he also used a rig that several of us have that is made from an old mechanical fuel pump mounted on a stand with a weighted pendulum to move it. Just enough flow to keep rain water out, cheap and effective-but very ugly!

 

[darrklim2]

Re: Another missing transom plug

On a serious note,though...why doesn't anyone invent a one-way valve to solve this problem? It's a simple solution...too simple I guess.

I do believe I have seen one of these things before. It was like a little ball inside of a housing that when you started driving it would drain all of the water out of the boat and when you would stop or slow down it would plug the hole again and stop any water from getting in. The only problem I would see is if you get a piece of dirt or something in between the ball and the housing you would probably have a slow leak and this same thing would probably happen anyway. Just a little slower.

 

[logartist]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I was thinking more along the lines of in conjuction with a regular compression plug. You'd lift a spring-loaded rubber-gasketed flap that shuts tight from the outside, then remove the plug. You'd have to stand there and hold open the flap while yer bilge drains, but that's a small price to pay if you ask me.

In conjuction with the spring, as long as there is pressure on the flap from the water column outside, it will be forced closed...sort of like what you have on the fill valve on an air mattress, but heavier duty...and in reverse of course.

 

[bigmacfan]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I do believe I have seen one of these things before. It was like a little ball inside of a housing that when you started driving it would drain all of the water out of the boat and when you would stop or slow down it would plug the hole again and stop any water from getting in.

That is called a scupper valve, specifically a ball and cone scupper valve. My Sea Doo Speedster had one. Worked great! Lots of people with the smaller/older Speedsters do "submarine moves" where they go in reverse pretty fast and then switch to forward very quickly so the nose dips in the water and fills the boat with water. Then take off very quickly to empty it out through the scupper valve. I have never had the deisre to do one of these moves, but the valve did come in handy when splashing water in the boat throughout the day. Water from the inside of the boat drains out instead of through the ski locker into the bilge.

 

[dhath]

Re: Another missing transom plug

I have had many dreams lately of my boat slowly sinking from a forgotten transom plug,,,,,, I put mine on before I leave for the ramp.... It's more like a nightmare