daysailer II bilge drain location?

[jplphoto]

May Daysailer II does not have a bilge drain on the lower side of the transom....I have a drain to put in, but want to know more about where exactly to locate. I am worried about drilling the transom and exposing wood to water...the drains I bought from d and r marine are 1/2 in deep and want to know if I will hit wood, and if so, how can i seal the area inside the drain hole. Any help or pictures would be great. I have two drains I could install. Jon

[Roger]

The bilge drain is located no more than a half inch from the bottom center. The hull itself is about a 3/8" thick there, and the lower lip sits about 1/4" higher. When I feel inside the hole, the hull is just slight lower. The following picture shows the location, lower hole. The higher hole is the mooring drain from the cockpit.

When you drill the hole, you will go through wood, so take out a bit of wood, not the fg skin, then refill with fg goop, then re-drill to make a smooth fg lined hole when the fg has cured. BTW the wood is sealed between the inner and outer skin of fg so if you remove wood using a Dremel tool, then re-coat it, it will remained sealed against water intrusion.

[jplphoto]

your photo shows where your bildge drain is located. on the underside of the hull in this same area, i have a cockpit drain that goes through the hull of the boat. will drilling in this area disturb the cockpit drain. thanks jon PS. why does my boat lack a bildge drain?

[Roger]

Not all boats were built with cockpit drains. I also suspect from having DS discussions with numerous owners, that not only did the set up on the same model change over the years, there may have been the ability to order custom made set ups. I know of a whole fleet that was custom ordered with different rigging.

As to your question of the bilge drain interfering with the depersia bailer, no it wont't interfere, but if you already have a bilge drain, you can feel the cockpit drain about an inch and a half in. If you are drilling a new bilge drain, be carefull of how deep you go. Stop when you hit metal! The reason that it does not interfere is that there is space ahead (about a 1/2") of the bilge drain, and deside the cockpit drain for water to flow around the metal fixture and out through the bilge drain.

One could put the drain slightly off centre but then it would not be at the lowest part of the bilge. The only advantage to an off center drain, would be to peek inside, or when installing, not worrying about hitting the depersia bailer, especially if it was a plastic retrofit.

[jplphoto]

what is fg goop? are you referring to fiberglass resin or the marine GOOP adhesive/sealant?

[jplphoto]

also, what would you recommend for freshening up an old hull...not sure if gel coat should be repainted or if I can use a wax polish to seal the old girl. what type of gel coat would you recommend? thanks so much for your sharing of knowledge.

[Roger]

Sorry about that! By fg goop, I am referring to polyester resin and hardner in the mixed but uncured stage. It could also mean epoxy resin and hardener, but remember that although both polyester and epoxy will both adhere to the original polyester layup and gelcoat of the boat, polyester will not adhere successfully to epoxy. What that means is that gelcoat, which is a polyester, cannot be added overtop of an epoxy repair.

There are many fiberglass restorers out there, polyglow being one of them. I would read Practical Sailor's recommendations as see what they say. I would recommend one of these prior to painting. Once you paint, you will always be repainting, but if you succesfully restore gelcoat, you may never have to paint. So if you like the color and low maintenance in the future, try a restorer like polyglow. If you don't like the gelcoat color however... paint, but be aware that you may be doing it again in a few years.