Transom plug/ in or out? with and without engine on transom

[ericmkraus]

My DSII recently was swamped at the mooring at a quiet inlet off the Long Island Sound in Port Washignton, NY. It appears that the rear transom plug intended to help drain water from the cockpit came loose and because we had a motor on the back, the drain was below water line, the cockpit flooded, the bulkhead flooded and, voila, we were under water.

Now, we've fixed the plug so it won't come out and salvaged the motor -- recommendation: immediately put motor that ws submerged in saltwater upside down in a barrel with fresh water, it works! -- and now my co-owner and I are having a debate: Keep the plug in or out. When the motor is mounted on the transom, there's no question, the plug must be in because the outlet is below the water line. However, if we keep the trnasom free of the motor, i'd be inclined to keep the plug in anyway but my coowner wants it out. Who is right?

My concern is that the drain is not so low in the cockpit that it drains everything. So with the plug out, there can be enough water that it would weigh the boat down ever so slightly but enough to plunge the drain below the water line again. Moreover, it might allow water to get into the bilge and then, to coin a phrase, we're sunk. Any thoughts? PS, we don't get out on the boat as much as we'd like. 2 weeks can pass between sails.

[brucybaby]

Opening the plug should keep the boat from getting totally swamped from rainwater, but it depends on how much buoyancy you've got in your boat. If your boat is a low rider, and you leave the plug out and it rains, you're in the same predicament you'll be in if you keep the plug in and the cockpit fills with rainwater. Darned if you do an darned if you don't!

Personally, I wouldn't moor my boat except for short periods of daily use AND if weather is agreeable. With the DS2's skinny/light, 3 stayed mast and low freeboard, it just isn't built to take the beating of longer moorings IMHO. I've also read that some of these boats are prone to blistering when kept in the water. Mine has a few on the bottom and I blame it on the PO who kept it moored for the couple of summers that he owned it.

Just my thoughts,
Good luck!

[K.C. Walker]

I have a DaySailer I so I have to deal with no cockpit drainage all the time. I use a boom tent. You could leave the motor on and not have any problems with the drain plug in. I leave my boat at the dock all summer and I only get a small amount of water that blows underneath the tarp in really heavy weather.

For an inexpensive boom tent I use a heavy polyethylene tarp. It’s not the most beautiful but it works for me. I purchased the whole setup from Home Depot. Obviously the small tarp is the one to get. To attach it to the boat they sell a jar of bungee cords with plastic ends that fit over the gunnel nicely. I just cut them in half, sear the ends, slide the bungee through a grommet, do a simple overhand stopper knot, and adjust them to length after I set up the tent.

[jdoorly]

Just to clarify, for everybody, the DS2 has 2 holes; the first is in the transom just under the lower rudder pintle whose purpose is to drain the bilge when on a trailer, the second is in the cockpit floor just forward of the transom, whose purpose is to drain the cockpit when the boat is moving fast enough for the venturi to suck the water out (if the boats is not moving fast enough water will be let into the cockpit). This second hole might drain rainwater on a mooring depending on fore-an-aft trim, but drains rainwater very well on a trailer if the stern is trimmed below level..

My DS2 lives on a trailer. After a sail, when the boat is on the trailer, I open the first 'hole' to allow any water in the bilge to drain (while I travel uphill). I also open the second 'hole' then to allow rainwater to drain from the cockpit. Both 'holes' are plugged again before the next launch and not reopened until back on the trailer.

If your on a mooring K.C's advice about using a boom tent to keep water out is your best bet. I've seen some pumps that work off the variance in the mooring line's tug, but I don't know if they really work. I carry two 100 AH batteries so if it was me I'd put an automatic switch on my bilge pump.

Good luck with it...

[Breakin Wind]

Like Brucybaby I have three drains & plugs. The bilge drain, which for my boat is not stern bottom center but about 1/2 way out on the starboard side, the auto bailer through the bottom, which has never worked for me and I just leave capped, and then a large transom drain and plug about 3-4 inches up the transom. If I leave my boat for an extended period tied to the dock, I pull the plug from the transom drain so if enough water collects in the cockpit, it will drain out before swamping the cuddy. Like jdoorly, I also have a bilge pump and I use a high water switch so it only comes on (unattended) if the water gets dangerously deep in the bilge. My stern normally rides high enough that the bilge plug is above water.

[Skippa]

On my DSII the cockpit drain is about 2-3 inches above the waterline while sitting on her mooring. Before I had a good boom tent I forgot to remove the plug after a day of sailing. That night a major rain storm came through the area and I knew that I had forgotten to pull the plug. I rushed to the boat in the middle of the night, found it sitting low in the water and the cockpit full of water. Inches of water over the floor of the cockpit. I pulled the plug and put my hand near the drain hole outside the transom. It felt like a garden hose the water was rushing out so fast. No doubt that it was water from inside the cockpit, I could feel the temperature difference. It took about 5 minutes for the water level to recede below the drain plug.
Now, even with a very good boom tent, I always go around the boat one time in the tender and inspect all rigging is secure, the boom tent clips are properly attached and the upper drain plug has been removed.
I sleep better now !

[Cal]

The title of this thread confuses me. The transom drain is an opening on the outside of the transom with a screw in plug - mine is a few inches to the right of the rudder - and drains the bilge (space between the hull and liner). The transom drain plug should be in place when in the water.

The cockpit drain, near the transom, goes down through the hull and allows water to drain from the cockpit. It has a press in plug that I never use, actually the drain is a safety feature should you take on water and turn in to a sailing bathtub.

A motor will lower the stern but usually not enough to swamp through the cockpit drain. Was the rear transom plug removed?

My DS2 stayed on a mooring all summer with the cockpit drain unplugged and always had a dry cockpit.

Cal

[Breakin Wind]

Hi Cal,

What you are calling the transom drain, I guess I am calling the bilge drain. On my boat the original bilge drain (center lowest point) was filled, and for what-ever reason it was moved toward the starboard side, out to just above the waterline mark by a previous owner. (see pic below - it can be found below the boat graphic) I apologize for the quality, bad lighting, bad photo and then I blew it up to center on the drains, but hopefully it works.



There is also a self bailer cockpit drain through the floor at the back of the cockpit that I don't seem to have a photo of (nor could I easily find one in anyone elses photos), but that one doesn't go through the transom at all.

Finally there is a 2nd cockpit drain also seen on the photo above and an inside shot below.



which is used as an overflow relief drain (if left open while docked or anchored). I would imagine it's intent assumes the overall boat will float with that drain above the water line, and if the cockpit fills with rain up to that drain level the water will run out and never get any deeper in the cockpit than the level of that drain. In my case, there is a stopper on a small cord attached to the starboard side of the drain (shown) that I put in upon entering the boat.
Hope this helps to clear any confusions.

Thanks - Scott

[brucybaby]

Interesting, my drain plugs are placed in the same locations as yours Scott. w the center lowest filled in. I have an early '71 DS2 and am thinking this may have been a post production O'Day design change or possibly a DS2 deck that was plunked on a DS1 hull in production. Hmmm

[jeadstx]

My drains on my 76 DS2 are in the same place as those shown in the photos. I have seen on another DS2 where there are two bilge drains that are about 8 to 9 inches to each side of center.

John

[Cal]

Hello Scott,

Yes, bilge and transom drain are the same to me. I was just trying to correct the original comment about the transom drain being the cockpit drain.

Here is a picture of my DS2's drains but there are only two of them and the bilge/transom drain is quite a ways from the center. You can see the cockpit drain outlet on the bottom of the hull with its metal housing and nylon ball which is held in place by the two 'spikes'. I guess location depended on who had the transom detail that day.



Switched from the tidal mooring of the past few years to a deeper one and grew some grass. Looks like sanding and bottom paint next spring.

Cal