transom drain

[Cptkid570]

Hi everyone. 1985 26? Sea Ray. Currently, the drain/plug in the transom is the screw in type plug (Garboard Drain??).

Well, long story short, when I installed my new engine, I put on an oil drain line, but it won?t fit through the current drain back there.

I?m thinking that if I had the Snap Drain Plug (the rubber plug that goes in and then you push the little handle over to tightnen it) in there, I would go from a ?? opening to a 1? (or more) opening and that may be enough to fit my oil drain line through.

Would you think that there would be any issues with changing from the screw in/Garboard drain plug to a snap drain plug back there?

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: transom drain

Cptkid570,

I don't think that would be any problem at all to do. You will obviously have to drill the hole bigger to accomidate the new tube. If you have some thinned resin to seal the wood with I would do that first and let cure. Then use the 3M 5200 to seal it up real good coating the inside of the hole and the outside of the tube before sliding it in. I posted a thread on how to install drain tubes in this forum a few weeks ago. There are a number of ways to do it, I happened to stumble onto a trick while doing mine that worked perfectly on all three of mine. I bought the tube at west marine for about $5.00 and the 5200 while I was there. Just dont use silicone it will never hold up in that application. Lastly I would strongly reccomend using the plug that you screw to tighten there are a lot of forces at that point of a boat while under way and would be very leary of a lever type plug snapping back to straight and coming out. (just my .02 cents)

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: transom drain

rather that go thru all that, just a couple of inch to the side of the drain plug add another larger Garboard drain. exclusively for the oil hose. thats what they do for circulating live wells, and inlet and exit. try to enlarge the existing hole will be a real PIA.

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: transom drain

That's a good idea. The more I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering if I'm thinking that I could just screw some sort of fitting onto my oil drain hose that would reduce it down and allow it to go through the hull.

May be easier to alter that then alter my hull...

Here is the oil drain hose that I'm talking about...
(the link is long, so it's ebasicpower.com part # MPI305-0380)

http://bpi.ebasicpower.com/mm5/merc...nge_high= &srch_code=1&srch_name=1&srch_mfg=1

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: transom drain

go to home depot get a reducer and some hose that will handle warm oil. you will need to bring the engine temp up anyway as they are slow to drain if you don't. wouldn't hurt to put a ball valve in it, to stop drips.

 

[burroak]

Re: transom drain

rather that go thru all that, just a couple of inch to the side of the drain plug add another larger Garboard drain. exclusively for the oil hose. thats what they do for circulating live wells, and inlet and exit. try to enlarge the existing hole will be a real PIA.

The painless way to enlarge a drilled hole: fill the hole with a core of the same material as you are enlarging. The core can be a dowel if it fits or use a hole saw to fab it. Turning the core on a lathe or using the hole saw has the advantage of locating the center for the new hole. Use the best glue you can find and apply it as directed. Epoxies have a gap filling quality that is desirable doing this. Then use a hole saw of proper size and drill away. Backing the area with some scrap will prevent inadvertent holes from the pilot bit.

 

[Sorrento 25]

Re: transom drain

On my '88 Sea Ray I noticed some stress cracks around my fitting after stripping my bottom paint. There was a lot of ugly bottom paint residue around the fitting/screws anyway so I bought another and replaced it. Good thing I did because after removing it I found there was a very poor seal. The backside of the fitting was clean. One screw was so loose it wouldn't even back out.

So I ground out and filled the old screw holes and stress cracks with MarineTex, sanded the inside of the hole (which was very dry since the boat has been out of the water for about 8 months now), sealed the inside of the hole with a finger coated with slow epoxy, and finally reinstalled the new fitting offset 30 degrees with new holes, screws, and 5200. I think you should consider doing this regardless of what method you use to get your oil drain hose out on a boat this old if the seal/fit looks at all questionable.

Maybe you could use a short piece of thinwall tubing inserted into the end of the drain hose to reduce it enough to fit through your existing drain fitting?

 

[burroak]

Re: transom drain

Will a small drill driven transfer pump extract the oil? Attach a tube to the drain orifice > transfer pump tubing > tubing >gallon jug.

 

[Cptkid570]

Re: transom drain

For now, I think I'm just going to keep it as simple as possible.. get a plumbing connection that will fit the end of the current drain tube and reduce it to a tube that will fit through my current transom drain. I don't need anything fancy. I only put the current drain line on it because the engine was out and it's only $20.

 

[OhWellcraft]

Re: transom drain

There is one other way to enlarge the hole that is no pia at all plus you don't have to make yet another hole through your transom. take your existing garboard drain out, trace it onto a piece of 3/4 plywood (6"x6") including screw holes. drill the screw holes out and re screw the piece of ply to your transome. Drill the appropriate size hole for what you need, through the ply which will act as a guide for the bit. I do it hundreds of times a year on old doors to enlarge the handset hole to accept a modern handset and it works every time. Like Serrento mentioned it might be a good time to check the seal of what is in there now. The T.D. idea is prob the best and easiest to accomidate your needs however. I just thought I might throw that method out there for anyone who might need to enlarge a hole it really works quite well.