GreenLake,
Yeah, I'd been thinking the same thing about the shape of the box. Turns out, on second look, that that's exactly the situation. The outboard wall of the box follows the curve of the hull, then it flattens out on the bottom, but with a very slight slant so that the inboard edge of the flat part is slightly lower than the outboard edge of the flat part. Here:
- DSII storage box.jpg (163.97 KiB) Viewed 8594 times
I measured the height of the inboard box wall (shown at the top of the photo) on inside and outside. On the inside, it's 9-1/8 inches from the bottom of the box to the top of the wall. On the outside, it's 8-3/4 inches from the bottom of the drain channel (just outside the box) to the top of the wall.
The drain channel runs along the seat wall to the aft end of the cockpit floor, where it meets the low area that you mentioned, which has the factory DePersia autobailer in the center, here:
- DSII cockpit bailer sump.jpg (157.14 KiB) Viewed 8594 times
There’s a matching drain channel on the other side.
I should note that in the photo the low area looks flat-bottomed, but it’s actually a shallow V, with the lowest point in the center where the autobailer is.
The low area (I think of it as a sump) is definitely lower than the bottom of the ice box. The drain channels are about a half inch deep at the forward ends, and 2-1/8 inches deep at the aft ends where they enter the low area. I assume this is to allow water in the cockpit to run aft down the drain channels into the sump, where the autobailer will pull it out if the boat is going fast enough to create the necessary venturi effect.
So, your idea of running a drain tube along the channel would work. That still leaves the question of how to drill the hole that connects the box to the drain channel. Maybe I’ll come up with something if I puzzle over it some more.