Leave drain plug out?

[stickball]

I seem to recall that when I bought my boat last year that when we took it for a test run that the drain plug was out. Upon hauling the boat out of the water, there was no water built up anywhere on the boat. The owner said something about "because this is a self-bailing boat, you don't need the drain plug". Could this be true? The boat is a 2100ccWahoo! Being skeptical, I've always kept the plug in, but left the boat tied up in a slip at a marina. I'd periodically haul her out, remove the plug, and a ton of water would flood out. What's going on with this? Is this normal? Can anyone please help me to understand this? Thanks...

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

Self bailing refers to the cockpit area. If you take a wave over the front, it will empty out the back. If you look at the transom, there are probably two drain holes. The lower one drains the area below deck, and you absolutely want a plug in that. The top one is where the cockpit water probably washes out from.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

Some old boats, like my '59 tinny, also used to have what were called scupper drains/valves, which allow you to remove the drain plugs so excess water can drain, but only while underway at a relatively high speed (usually on plane). However, I always keep my plug in anytime I'm on the water. It just makes sense to me. Thankfully, I never really get much water in the boat, but if/when I do I just used a bucket and/or bilge pump to bail with. Plus, I've seen too many people (myself included) forget to put in their drain plug while launching, only to watch their boat start to sink right there at the ramp.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

If you're removing the bilge drain plug and have that much water coming out you probably have a leak somewhere and this needs to be addressed ASAP... like NOW!

I'm not familiar with Wahoo boats, but if this is a fiberglass boat you're ruining your stringers, transom, and waterlogging your floatation foam by letting water accumulate in the bilge. This is a major job to rebuild and will cost a lot of time and money. A fiberglass boat will rot from the inside out and you won't notice it until it's too late.

It's time for some dry dock time to assess your boat.

 

[jdlough]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

Self bailing refers to the cockpit area. If you take a wave over the front, it will empty out the back. If you look at the transom, there are probably two drain holes. The lower one drains the area below deck, and you absolutely want a plug in that. The top one is where the cockpit water probably washes out from.

I have a 1985 16' Wahoo and it's set up exactly as smokingcrater describes. In theory, I could drive with the lower plug in, and the upper drain plug out. However, on my boat, the deck drains through PVC pipes to the upper drain plug, and the PVC fittings have cracked over the years and leak. You may want to check whether your deck drains through PVC pipes. If so, I wouldn't trust it much.

I plan on replacing the PVC pipes with new fittings and hoses.

 

[flycaster]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

I seem to recall that when I bought my boat last year that when we took it for a test run that the drain plug was out. Upon hauling the boat out of the water, there was no water built up anywhere on the boat. The owner said something about "because this is a self-bailing boat, you don't need the drain plug". Could this be true? The boat is a 2100ccWahoo! Being skeptical, I've always kept the plug in, but left the boat tied up in a slip at a marina. I'd periodically haul her out, remove the plug, and a ton of water would flood out. What's going on with this? Is this normal? Can anyone please help me to understand this? Thanks...

Could this accumulation of water be from rain?? no cover on boat while moored at marina.

 

[IslandManMitch]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

The Wahoo is a Whaler copy so it is self-bailing. Reread what Smokingcrater said then follow jdlough's advice.

 

[jdlough]

Re: Leave drain plug out?

Note that there is a difference between a boat with a self-bailing DECK, and a boat with a self-bailing HULL. My 16' Wahoo has a self-bailing DECK, but it also has a bilge under the deck like a normal boat that is not self-bailing.

Most Whalers don't have a bilge under the deck because that area is totally filled with foam. I think with most Whalers, you can leave out the deck drain plug, and it will self-bail. That would be considered to be a true self-bailing HULL.

Since my boat has a self-bailing deck, I should be able to leave the deck drain out while docked, and all the rain water should exit thru that drain. In reality, some of my deck PVC drain pipes are cracked, so rain water collects in the bilge like a normal non-self-bailing boat.

If the the OP stickball's boat is like mine, I suspect that some of the forward deck drain fittings are cracked. This would allow him to drive the boat with the deck drain plug out with no problems, but would still allow rainwater to seep thru the forward cracked deck drains into the bilge while docked.

Here's a cutaway of my boat from a 1990 Wahoo brochure. If you embiggen the picture, you can see the two drain plugs.

I posted the rest of the Wahoo brochure here:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=444988

Unfortunately, it doesn't show the OP's 21' Wahoo.