Cabin drain hole plug

[JoeWa]

Good morning C-Brats, this is Jennifer borrowing Joe’s account for a quick question. We bought the 22 cruiser CheckRaise earlier this month and moved it to Everett last week. We are so happy to have our first C-Dory! We are keeping it in dry storage at Dagmar’s marina.

I have a question about the drain hole directly under the door. Is there supposed to be a plug for this hole? In theory it is good to allow water from the cabin to drain into the cockpit, but in practice (because of how it’s sitting on the blocks) rain water from the cockpit is just pooling in the cabin. The bilge pumps are under the galley and at the transom, so neither is much help in this case.

The drain hole is partially obstructed by the water tank hose on the forward side, and the cockpit floor boards would affect a plug design on the aft side. In a perfect world the “plug” could be a flapper to allow water out of the cabin but not in…but I think the floor pieces prohibit that. What kinds of solutions have others come up with? Am I just stuck with duct tape??

[jerry97230]

My boat has a plastic plug screwed into the drain.
I see no reason to ever unplug it.
I would lift the floor boards, screw in a plug and forget it.
Ih the rare case where you might want it open, just lift the floor boards, remove the plug and drain or what ever.

Jerry C22 C Nile

[rogerbum]

That hole should have a plastic plug in it. Also, I would find a way to adjust your dry storage so that the boat is tilted slightly aft. You may be able to get Dagmar's to adjust the bunks or you may be able to add a carpet covered wedge or spacer towards the bow. I wouldn't leave it with water gathering towards the cabin.

[thataway]

Agree, that you need a plug. If a threaded plug is not in place, you may be able to use a rubber expanding plug, as in a boat drain plug. Some of the C Dorys have the bilge pump aft, some have it just outside of the door, and some (as my current 2006 22) have the bilge pump inside of the door. You can put a pump there if you want, along with a step and "dam" so the water does not go any further into the boat. My 1993 boat had an arrangement as you describe and we kept the plug in place except when I washed the cabin down, or drained the water tank into the floor--again the bow was raised.

[DuckDogTitus]

same here, mine is plugged and I had enough rain water saturday night at one point that if it wasn't plugged it would have run into the cabin me thinks.

[JoeWa]

Thanks everyone! I'd love to find the original part that's supposed to go in there, otherwise I'll find something else to use. We'll also talk to the marina folks about readjusting the stand. The cabin is nice and dry otherwise, so it would be nice to keep it that way...

[UncleRichie]

When I bought my boat I asked about that plug he said it was for washing out the cabin when it got really bad ( think stinky fish stuff ) have used it once scrubbed it down an rinsed it out worked fine . Although it was a pain taking ever thing out.
Richard

[Sunbeam]

I just replaced mine a few weeks ago. Presuming yours is the same, they are available and not very expensive (see links below). By the way, it's the same plug fixture that was in the port lazarette drain hole on my boat.

While we're on the topic: The reason I replaced my cabin drain fixture is that, in looking at it, I couldn't tell for sure if it was left completely circular and the fiberglass and core of the hull were cut out to install it (and then only sealed with the caulk that I could see), or if the flange of the plug was cut off and that flat spot was sealed to the intact fiberglass of the hull. So, I removed it (which required destroying it in the process). I was glad to see it was just the fitting that was cut, not the glass/core.

I played around with a few other options, since by nature it's not really a good fit (so much of the flange has to be cut off that there is not much left to make a watertight seal with on the bottom edge), and thought that really, I might just glass it closed. I don't see myself hosing my boat out, what with all the non-sealed wood edges near the sole, and the fact that the cabin on mine is more "cabiny" and less "outdoorsy." And if I have a cabin flood, well, the door sill is not that much higher (so most of the water could drain out that way).

I also debated putting the fitting in with the plug removal/replacement on the inside of the cabin, since with the floorboards in place I can't get it out/in on the outside; but then the sealing flange wouldn't have been on the outside, so that didn't seem so good.

Ultimately, I decided I'd just put a new version of the same fitting back in for now, and then decide later whether to do anything further or different. The only change I made was to through-fasten it, with acorn nuts on the inside. I sealed it with 3M 4000 caulking.

Hmm, well somehow I managed not to take any photos of it on my boat, but here is a link to the fitting on Sea Dog's page. As you can see it's also possible to purchase just the plug (it has an O-ring).

http://www.sea-dog.com/groups/2051-garboard-drain-plug

This one with no tube might work even better for the cabin drain, if dimension "B" is long enough (not sure as I'm not on the boat; I cut the tube version to fit).

http://www.sea-dog.com/groups/2052-garboard-drain-plug

Sunbeam

[colbysmith]

Reading this thread reminds me of something I wanted to ask earlier. I have the 2007 model of the CD-22. My bilge pump is in the stern, between the fuel tanks in a small step down at the stern drain plug. There is no bilge in the cabin, nor any drain for water to leave the cabin if the windows were ever left open, or if water found another way in. I don't have a cockpit cover, and I don't use the storage cover routinely in the summer months. Of course backed in the driveway, the bow is lower than the stern so water pools just behind the cabin. Has anyone installed a bilge pump in the cabin anywhere? Has anyone found it necessary? Thanks. Colby

[bridma]

Hi Colby,

I keep my boat in the driveway over the winter. My driveway is level. I wind the dolly wheel down as far as it will go, then block up the trailer. You need to do this in case the dolly wheel fails. My boat always ends up bow high, so no water collection issues. Is your driveway higher at the house end, thus keeping the bow down? I have never had water get past the windows when they are shut.

Martin.

[colbysmith]

My driveway slopes down, so when the boat is backed into the driveway, yes, the bow is lower. I usually keep the windows shut, but there's always that one time that can happen where they are left open and then rain. (Hasn't happened...YET...) None the less, I sometimes think it would be nice to just hose the cabin floor out, but not without some kind of drain or bilge pump. As for water pooling in the front of the cockpit, that would probably only be a problem in the winter, and my boat is stored bow high then, with a cover. Then again, water pooling there at other times is just a pain of a mess. But why did earlier boats have the bilge pump forward, and then later ones didn't? Colby

[thataway]

Actually the early boats had the bilge pump aft, and then it was moved forward--either to in the cockpit behind the bulkhead (not many boats--and I am not sure what years). Then the pump in the cabin (as I have in 2006 boat). I have added a second in the aft cockpit for running and any water in the cockpit drains aft.

Why the change? A guess is that it is cheaper to put the bilge pump in aft--you don't have to make a dam in the interior and a step over this area, with a hinged cover for access to the pump. Difference in cost for production? Guess is about $50 for materials......

[Sunbeam]

[thataway]

Amphion tells us his 2007 boat does not have floorboards, and the bottom of the boat has dri deck on it in the cockpit. He also states that there is no drain between the cabin and cockpit.

When was the solid built in cockpit floor actually was in production? I have to assume that in 2007 there were still the floorboards which might have been an option?

I have used the drain back to the cockpit to wash out the cabin when it was there. But in my C Dory 25 and the 2006 C Dory I washed out the floor and used a small pump and a sponge to clean the floor. When there was the drain, then tip the bow up, and pump it out of the cockpit.

Do the boats which have a glassed in solid floor have a passage for water under the floor, and a drain into the cabin? What year boats had a glassed in solid floor? Was this standard or an option?

[Sunbeam]