DaySailer.org Forum

Someone moved my boat at the yard and never put the block back under the trailer tongue. Now I have a boatload (pun intended) of water in the hull. How do I get it out? I've unscrewed the supposed metal hull drainplug toward the back of the cockpit, but that does nothing. To tell the truth, I don't see how it works because it seems blocked when I put my finger down there. Any help would be much appreciated.

Which do you mean - the cockpit or bilge needs drained? The metal plug (self-bailer) at the back of the cockpit floor is intended to drain the cockpit. If you have it pulled up and it still doesn't drain, check underneath the boat and see if the drain hole is clogged. Please note that there is supposed to be a little ball in there that acts as a floating plug. That may be stuck.

There should also be a cockpit drain plug out the back of the transom about four inches up from the floor. In order to drain the bilge, you need to pull the bilge plug which is located at the very bottom edge of the transom.

The cockpit drains are OK, but I need to drain the bilge and there is no drain plug that I can find.

Look on the outside of the hull, right in the bottom center of the transom. That's where the one is on my DS2.

I think maybe I am using the wrong terminolgy. The drain you speak of, Len, takes water away from the cockpit, correct? Mine has a straight shaft that termintes beneath the boat.

The bilge I am speaking of (and this is where I think I am using the wrong word) is the area inside the hull between the cockpit and the hull--the area you would find if you split the boat in half.

I have solved my problem for the most part. I removed the inspection covers located on either side of the forward cockpit area and used a portable bilge pump to clear the gallons upon gallons of water that had collected inside there.

Now I wonder how the water got there in the first place. As I mentioned originally, someone moved my boat and did not put the trailer tongue back on the blocks I have propping it up. The cover was off and it rained. I figure that water should not be able to get in this area in the first place. But I noticed that there is another sort of inspection port inside the cuddy that does not have a cover. The rain must have run forward into the cuddy and then spilled down inside the boat. Should there be a cover here? If so, where can I get one? Thanks.