Went out with a friend of mine in his brand new boat today…I mean brand new…I was going to go with him to put those first 2 hours on the motor to break it in…Safety check first: Transom straps on…check, Winch cable and safety chain on…check, trailer lights hooked up…check, Plug in…check. Got to the landing and launched the boat. Everything fine, keeping it at 2000 RPM…check…Hey where is this water coming from??? Cut bilge pump on and it was doing it’s thing…long story short: He had put the plug in one of the livewell drain holes in the transom, not in the boat hull drain. I didn’t pay attention, DUH! The 2 live well holes are about 1" from the hull drain hole.
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
Tell me that live well drain holes have threads,otherwise you don’t need to check anything other than the guy putting the plug in…I’m gonna shut my mouth now,could have went on and on about this one.
FYI…not all drain plug holes take the standard threaded 3/4" pipe plug…this one takes the expandable rubber plug that most jon boats take. I have a J-16 Carolina Skiff that takes the same thing. His boat is a new 17 Allumacrat Pro series. Nice boat. Sometimes we have to learn lessons the hard way. Here is the boat.
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
So he attached an expandable rubber drain plug to the outside of the hull? I can’t see how a livewell drain would take such a plug from the inside bilge area.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
Yeah…it’s not like a standard jon boat where there is easy access to the bilge. This one has a built in 20 gal tank, 2 batteries, hoses, filters, etc, all in the stern/bilge area… A real pain to access deep in the bilge. The dealer put the plug in for his test ride on the outside as well. The plug fit perfectly into the livewell drain. LOL
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
My McKee has the same type drain plugs in the bilge and the livewells. The livewells are over on the sides of the transom, not in the middle, but I can definitely see how someone would make that mistake on a boat with all the drains near each other. All plugs are the expandable rubber type, so i keep about a dozen on the boat, because all my hatches also have the same type drain plug.
I’ve seen much harder to make mistakes made by very experienced boaters in my short time in this world.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
Yeah…it’s not like a standard jon boat where there is easy access to the bilge. This one has a built in 20 gal tank, 2 batteries, hoses, filters, etc, all in the stern/bilge area… A real pain to access deep in the bilge. You actually have to lift that hatch in the rear to access everything.The dealer put the plug in for his test ride on the outside as well. The plug fit perfectly into the livewell drain. LOL
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
Gotcha, I just never felt comfortable putting a drain plug on the outside of the boat. If it were mine, I would replace that and put a screw plug on there.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
quote:
Originally posted by Geronimo
Gotcha, I just never felt comfortable putting a drain plug on the outside of the boat. If it were mine, I would replace that and put a screw plug on there.
“Wailord”
1979 17’ Montauk
90 Johnson
Wilderness Ride 115
That is exactly what he is going to do. Also either replace the bilge pump with one that has a built in float switch, or add a float switch to what he has.
John
Pathfinder 23 HPS
I would assume the best place to put one is on the outside. Water pressure helps hold it in, versus trying to push it out. Granted its not a whole lot of pressure, but the bigger the boat, the more pressure is going to be on it.
'06 Mckee Craft
184 Marathon
DF140 Suzuki
my back country is the exact same way
drain plug, livewell and release well all have the same size hole in the transom
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