Re: Can I put a self-bailing plug into my Achillies?
Years ago we had a flapper valve in the transom drain hole of a ski boat - basically a short length of thin collapsed tubing that would let water out but not in - sort of like sucking on a collapsed straw. But that would be prone to fouling and failure I would expect. My Achilles SU-16 has a giant version of that installed off to one side - I expect that could be what's called a drain sock. It's mounted in an oval cutout that's about 4" x 3" and the tube is about 10 inches long. A rope threaded through two holes in the end allows it to be kept in the up position using a pinch block for the rope, and quickly deployed be letting the rope out. It's fairly heavy fabric so I don't know if it would work like a flapper valve while not underway, if left down. I haven't used it but it looks like it would pass a lot of water. You could install something like that in the drain hole that might work like you want, using some kind of flexible hose of sufficient diameter.
