A25 aft cabin drain hole?

[Sunsetrider]

Unable to remove the stripped drain plug from the underside of the hull, I have used my vacuum hand pump to remove the accumulated water from the deep bilge in prep for launch. Yesterday I discovered bilgie water under the floor board of the centre panel in the aft cabin but after sucking it dry it continued to receive a limited amount of water from a 1-cm drain hole located in the fwd part of this area. The floor of this area is substantially higher than the lower area of the bilge so I want to know the purpose of this hole and the source of the (minor) inflow. It should be dry under there for some storage!

Anyone?

[Sven_G]

I'm not sure if you are talking about the shallow storage area between the two aft bunks but if you are I'd first check for seepage around the rudder post. If you have been running the engine the exhaust hose is another possible suspect (cooling water).

[Sunsetrider]

Sven - the boat is still on dry land, so I am pretty sure the water is coming from the small hole - appears to me to be a drain hole.

[Sven_G]

Sven - the boat is still on dry land, so I am pretty sure the water is coming from the small hole - appears to me to be a drain hole.

Ok. I'll go down to the dock tomorrow to see if I can figure out which hole you are talking about (assuming our '72 has the same one).

[Sunsetrider]

Thanks Sven - I would post a pic but my mobile phone broke down yesterday. The hole, as I say, is at the fwd end of the area where you suggest, and seems to want to drain fluid from that storage area.

[Robdog.1]

For lack of a better term, it's a limber hole. It runs to the cockpit bilge from the rudder post area. If the boat is level or bow low, water will run into mid bilge. Sounds like you're sitting bow high....

[Sunsetrider]

Well I do sit bow high for storage out of habit but where is this cockpit bilge or mid bilge? Is there access to it? When launched, will it then drain into the deep bilge?

[Robdog.1]

In the cockpit, just forward of the aft cabin door, lift floor panel. The mid bilge is where the shaft enters the stuffing box. Your engine raw water intake and stuffing box sit in the "mid bilge", there is usually a bilge pump there as well as in the forward cabin bilge access area. (At least there is on my boat and several others I've looked at).

[Sunsetrider]

I do not have a pump in there, sounds like an important safety item. I'll look into that. The moisture that was in there was from rainfall seepage after removing the winter wrap.

[mkh8911]

You won't have a pump but mine has a hose connected to a pump located under the starboard bench seat, down low. The hose snakes under the prop shaft and down into the bottom of the mid-bilge keel. BTW, I can't get my keel plug out either. did you have any success?

[Sunsetrider]

No success - the edges of the surfaces in the plug are so rounded that the (whatever you call the reverse of a socket) just rotates in there. My boat came with a handy manual pump - vacuum based system - so I pumped the keel bilge with that.

[mkh8911]

Just to be sure we are talking about the same thing I have attached a picture of mine. It won't turn.... yet.

[Robdog.1]

I had the same plug, stripped out. I replaced mine with a flip over plug about 1/2" diameter.
I also have the hand bellows bilge pump with a hose to the stuffing box area, but I have a manual/auto electric pump there also.

[Sunsetrider]

Rob how did you remove the stripped plug?

I have a bellows pump on the wall of the head but have not figured out what it is for,

[Robdog.1]

Drilled and tapped it, rean a screw into it and pulled really hard! It had been epoxied or glued in. I used a simple rubber/brass flip top plug like you see in a livewell. It's not ideal, I can imagine something snagging it and pulling it out, but so far so good!