Garboard Drain

[Albreen]

A delayed spring launch caused by major flooding here in our area gave me no excuse but to complete some pending projects. One of those "I'll get to" projects has been to install a garboard drain in the bilge to remove water coming down the keel stepped mast during our long winter layup. A Perko 124 purchased about 3 years ago and #10 bronze machine screws, washers and nuts, a small amount of West epoxy and 3M 4200 were the materials. The fiberglass is about 1/2" in this area just aft of the mast. Although slighly elevated off the bilge floor, the drain works well with a cloth to wick low levels of water out - and there's been plenty of rain to test it! I still have to sand off the 4200 when completely cured and then finish with a barrier coat and bottom paint around the exposed area of the drain plug.

[Dave Spencer]

Looks Good Paul.  How thick is the hull in that area?

[Indian Falls]

What did you use to recess the surface that the flange is going to sit in?

This garboard plug is also on my "to do" list.  I get so much water down the mast I can't believe it all comes in that way.  But I guarantee it's not "boat leaks"... could be someone I know with a bad sense of humor pouring water in when I'm not around... ya think? 

I have and put up a Quinte Canvas cover for it too.


PS; Thanks for posting this with pix and all, very cool!

[Albreen]

I also get a lot of water coming down the mast over the long winter period. The freezing and thawing cycle is concerning. The bilge has actually dried out since the hole was put in - still yet to launch at this date this year.  The thickness of the hull is about 1/2" slightly varying top to bottom of the drilled out hole. I used a battery powered Craftsman multi tool with a circular grinding/rasp blade to grind down the glass to the thickness needed to embed the drain flush with the surface of the hull. The diameter of the circular blade almost matched perfectly with the diameter of the garboard drain - purely by luck.  Our season includes a 6 month winter layup and having had a garboard drain in previous sailboats, it was a project I wanted to do with this boat. Good luck.

[Footloose]

Paul,

This looks like a good upgrade for those of us that spend more time on the hard than in the water.  Is this a tapered thread?  Is there any way to check the plug other than donning a mask and snorkel?

[Albreen]

Dave - the plug is not tapered and is very well seated once it is in place........I've never heard of problems with a garboard plug nor have I had a concern in other boats before the C34. It's nice to have an empty bilge over the long winter with no worry of it filling up and freezing solid. If you want to come see it, I'm at the SSY - not far from you.

[Footloose]

Paul,

I guess I have several plugs like this beneath my car that I don't worry about.  I am going to put this on my "to do" list near the top.

[chuck53]

I got a lot of water in my boat last winter (my first winter) and I couldn't figure out where it came from.
Then one day last spring, I was doing some house keeping in my anchor locker and it hit me that I was missing the inpection port cover that is in the locker.  Even with the locker hatches shut, doing a hard rain, a LOT of water can run into the locker and into that inspection port which then drains into the bilge.
Maybe some water came down the mast, but my money is on 80% of it coming thru the anchor locker.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : You'd be surprised just how much rain water comes down that mast - believe me!! 

[Ralph Masters]

You got that straight.  I would never have believed it if you just told me.  One rainy season here and I'm a believer.

Ralph
Ciao Bella

[Albreen]

I fully agree about the mast being the source for the water. There is typically no water in the bilge until after a rain now. However, the anchor locker drain was contributing a lot of water also until fixed two years ago when I first bought the boat. During our long winter layup in Vermont, there is no way to keep the bilge dry short of going to the boat frequently to manually pump out the water. The water level reached close to the top of the stingers and was frozen solid when I checked in mid January last year - probably not a good thing for the boat, bilge pumps and hoses..............minus degree temps will do that!  I think this is a very good upgrade if you have the same conditions. My last previous sailboat had a garboard plug for over 20 years with no issues at any time. Well, almost no issues - the new owner forgot to put in the plug in the spring before his first launch and panicked thinking the boat was soon going under - thankfully the yard noticed it was missing.