How do TC fishboxes fill with water?
- Thread starter Doryman
- Start date
Warren,
We found too that the fish box cover gaskets leak. I drilled holes in the gutter around the boxes. Water now drains to the bilge and is pumped out.
The fish boxes sound good in the ad copy, but in reality, they suck! There's always condensation in them and anything kept there gets rust or mildew. I read where someone was contemplating cutting out the box portion and just using the lid as access to the bilge area. I wonder if they have done that and how it worked.
Speaking of bilges, my automatic pumps need to be jarred a little to come on or operated manually. It seems slow filling of the bilge doesn't trip the switch while sitting on the trailer.
We found too that the fish box cover gaskets leak. I drilled holes in the gutter around the boxes. Water now drains to the bilge and is pumped out.
The fish boxes sound good in the ad copy, but in reality, they suck! There's always condensation in them and anything kept there gets rust or mildew. I read where someone was contemplating cutting out the box portion and just using the lid as access to the bilge area. I wonder if they have done that and how it worked.
Speaking of bilges, my automatic pumps need to be jarred a little to come on or operated manually. It seems slow filling of the bilge doesn't trip the switch while sitting on the trailer.
If your boat is sitting unexpectedly low in the water after being out in heavy rain, check the fish boxes...they fill up quick. Don't ask me how I know this.
Also, one of the fish box macerators blew a fuse after I pumped out a completely full box.
The fish boxes are good for storing fenders, a bucket, and a mop- I have not yet found any other good use for them. I guess one could store other stuff after first putting it in watertight containers.
Also, one of the fish box macerators blew a fuse after I pumped out a completely full box.
The fish boxes are good for storing fenders, a bucket, and a mop- I have not yet found any other good use for them. I guess one could store other stuff after first putting it in watertight containers.
My fish boxes fill with water from rain but also from simply being underway. I have to drain them every time I return to the slip. The water is backing in through the pumpout drains. I mentioned this in a phone call to the factory the other day and they had no explanation or fix.
Surprised they don't seem to have corrected this on newer TCs.
At least I was able to stop the water from entering the gas tanks.
Brock
Surprised they don't seem to have corrected this on newer TCs.
At least I was able to stop the water from entering the gas tanks.
Brock
Alok":35o9gxx5 said:
I thought live wells had aeration pumps to keep bait fish alive. I guess these are dead wells. :lol:
I plan to investigate how well the fishboxes work for storing fish, but I have always felt that fresh-caught fish should immediately go on ice, in coolers.
Warren:
My understanding is that the fish boxes on the TC 255 are supposed to be insulated and capable of holding ice for exactly this purpose. However, I have not had the occasion to test the insulating properties. Unlike the monster salmon that you guys catch in the Northwest, near-shore fish in the Gulf of Mexico, with a few exceptions, are too small to put in the monster boxes.
This summer I hope to take the boat off-shore for snapper and king mackerel and amberjack and find a use for the fish boxes. In the meantime, "fender fish" will have to do...
My understanding is that the fish boxes on the TC 255 are supposed to be insulated and capable of holding ice for exactly this purpose. However, I have not had the occasion to test the insulating properties. Unlike the monster salmon that you guys catch in the Northwest, near-shore fish in the Gulf of Mexico, with a few exceptions, are too small to put in the monster boxes.
This summer I hope to take the boat off-shore for snapper and king mackerel and amberjack and find a use for the fish boxes. In the meantime, "fender fish" will have to do...
I think they have made some progress on preventing water from entering the fish boxes while underway. When I first put my TomCat in the water, the boxes were brim full of water, but after taking mega waves over the sides for many hours on three separate occasions, only a little burp of water came out. Maybe long term, slow rain seeps into them more than large amounts of water hitting the cockpit all at once.
I am thinking of bonding a raised lip along the inside of the boxes up to where it touches the lid when closed. I am kind of concerned about opening that drain gutter into the hull because my storm experience indicates a great deal of water would enter the bilge at a very inopportune time. I am kind of thinking of trying to run a rectangular PVC "gutter" under the deck from the fishbox gutter back to the scupper indentations. That way there would be less hydralic pressure forcing water thru the rubber seal.
I got the live bait well and want to warn others that it is molded into the aft cockpit, so extremely limited access to anything under the aft cockpit area. We used the live well as a cooler which seemed to work pretty well, but it got down to freezing most nites, so not much heat to avoid. I could not detect any insulation, but have not had good enough weather, and calm enough water to take things apart and gawk around much.
The scupper drains are close to the water line, so if one has alot of weight aft, I could see that you could sink them below the normal waterline. For some reason, mine have stayed well above the waterline.
John
I am thinking of bonding a raised lip along the inside of the boxes up to where it touches the lid when closed. I am kind of concerned about opening that drain gutter into the hull because my storm experience indicates a great deal of water would enter the bilge at a very inopportune time. I am kind of thinking of trying to run a rectangular PVC "gutter" under the deck from the fishbox gutter back to the scupper indentations. That way there would be less hydralic pressure forcing water thru the rubber seal.
I got the live bait well and want to warn others that it is molded into the aft cockpit, so extremely limited access to anything under the aft cockpit area. We used the live well as a cooler which seemed to work pretty well, but it got down to freezing most nites, so not much heat to avoid. I could not detect any insulation, but have not had good enough weather, and calm enough water to take things apart and gawk around much.
The scupper drains are close to the water line, so if one has alot of weight aft, I could see that you could sink them below the normal waterline. For some reason, mine have stayed well above the waterline.
John
I have not had water in the fish boxes from just being under way- only from having the boat out in the rain.
John: If I remember correctly, you have your batteries on the port side near the refrigerator. That seems to be helping in keeping the starboard scupper a little higher. Mine are under the cockpit seat. Under normal conditions, there is no backup of water through the starboard scupper, but even one person standing aft on the starboard side leads to backflow of water into the cockpit.
If both the fishboxes were full of ice and fish (don't I wish!), I have no doubt that I would have standing water in the cockpit. I wonder what the implications of that would be, especially if some of that water keeps making its way into the bilge via the hole in the fish box lip.
John: If I remember correctly, you have your batteries on the port side near the refrigerator. That seems to be helping in keeping the starboard scupper a little higher. Mine are under the cockpit seat. Under normal conditions, there is no backup of water through the starboard scupper, but even one person standing aft on the starboard side leads to backflow of water into the cockpit.
If both the fishboxes were full of ice and fish (don't I wish!), I have no doubt that I would have standing water in the cockpit. I wonder what the implications of that would be, especially if some of that water keeps making its way into the bilge via the hole in the fish box lip.
I can speak from my experience on this.
My stbd. cover for the fish well does not seal well. So, water in the cockpit will find its way in. The port side is okay.
Most of the water comes in through the hull penetration for the macerator pump out line. I've anchored many times and watched as small swells roll over the holes. I drain the fish holders every couple hours. The stbd alsways seems to have more than the port, probably because Dive Cat always has more weight on the stbd side with water, fuel, me, etc.
On the last trip to Santa Rosa, the guy sleeping in the cockpit was instructed to pump the stbd side if he woke up during the night.
It looks like newer boats have the hull bilge and macerator dumps higher on the hull. Does this solve the problem?
Bob Cat
My stbd. cover for the fish well does not seal well. So, water in the cockpit will find its way in. The port side is okay.
Most of the water comes in through the hull penetration for the macerator pump out line. I've anchored many times and watched as small swells roll over the holes. I drain the fish holders every couple hours. The stbd alsways seems to have more than the port, probably because Dive Cat always has more weight on the stbd side with water, fuel, me, etc.
On the last trip to Santa Rosa, the guy sleeping in the cockpit was instructed to pump the stbd side if he woke up during the night.
It looks like newer boats have the hull bilge and macerator dumps higher on the hull. Does this solve the problem?
Bob Cat
MY
My Fish Boxes Suck, they are a terrible catastrophe of a design. They leek from the deck due to faulty seals, and they leek saltwater because the boxes are lower than the water level and the check valves leek. My thought is to remove them, plug the thru hull and use the space usefully for more storage. The boat is ok other than the back deck drains will not drain and it is a nightmare to clean. You have to elevate the nose about 2 ft to get the drain to go, it has no head. If you sit in calm water the aft deck floods. I dare anyone to beach their C-Dory to enjoy a nice beach you come across and not need to worry about a flooded deck when you return. What rocket scientist decided it was a good idea to place thru hulls below the water line?
Ice in the insulated fish boxes is a fantasy. If you are plannig a weekend fishing trip, bring insulated ice chests that actually keep ice from melting for more than 24 hours. Our trip to Boom Vang would have been a dissaster if we would have actully caught some tuna, hahahaha. C-Dory did not insulate them as promised . Clearly the idiot who wrote, " how about putting fish in the fish boxes" Hasn't gone fishing for more than about 2 hours. Duh! Or, if he has, I'm not eating his fish!!!!
Later,
Joe and Holda
0they will not drain. C-Dory has been totally unresponsive to all requests. C-Dory Boats are ok but I would not buy another if the boat in California sells mine will be the next on the list
Joe Hull #1
My Fish Boxes Suck, they are a terrible catastrophe of a design. They leek from the deck due to faulty seals, and they leek saltwater because the boxes are lower than the water level and the check valves leek. My thought is to remove them, plug the thru hull and use the space usefully for more storage. The boat is ok other than the back deck drains will not drain and it is a nightmare to clean. You have to elevate the nose about 2 ft to get the drain to go, it has no head. If you sit in calm water the aft deck floods. I dare anyone to beach their C-Dory to enjoy a nice beach you come across and not need to worry about a flooded deck when you return. What rocket scientist decided it was a good idea to place thru hulls below the water line?
Ice in the insulated fish boxes is a fantasy. If you are plannig a weekend fishing trip, bring insulated ice chests that actually keep ice from melting for more than 24 hours. Our trip to Boom Vang would have been a dissaster if we would have actully caught some tuna, hahahaha. C-Dory did not insulate them as promised . Clearly the idiot who wrote, " how about putting fish in the fish boxes" Hasn't gone fishing for more than about 2 hours. Duh! Or, if he has, I'm not eating his fish!!!!
Later,
Joe and Holda
0they will not drain. C-Dory has been totally unresponsive to all requests. C-Dory Boats are ok but I would not buy another if the boat in California sells mine will be the next on the list
Joe Hull #1
Bob,
When Dreamer was in for a batch of warranty work last Summer, they moved the through-hulls for the bilge pumps and fish box pumps. They are now 10" and 13" respectively above the scupper through-hull. I get no water into the boxes from the through-hulls. I would think a loop in the hose from those pumps would help stop back feed. Last 2 photos in our album show the changes.
After drilling the holes in the gutter for the boxes, my main source of troublesome water is condensation. When stored, I have taken to leaving them cracked slightly open to help with this. We've had very few dry days to help dry them out however.
As far as flooding the cockpit from the scuppers being under water, if the flapper valve on the scupper through-hull is kept clean, I get no water onto the back deck despite the 300# of AGM batteries under the aft seat.
As far as i can tell, there is no insulation in that area.
Happy New Year to all our C-Brat friends.
When Dreamer was in for a batch of warranty work last Summer, they moved the through-hulls for the bilge pumps and fish box pumps. They are now 10" and 13" respectively above the scupper through-hull. I get no water into the boxes from the through-hulls. I would think a loop in the hose from those pumps would help stop back feed. Last 2 photos in our album show the changes.
After drilling the holes in the gutter for the boxes, my main source of troublesome water is condensation. When stored, I have taken to leaving them cracked slightly open to help with this. We've had very few dry days to help dry them out however.
As far as flooding the cockpit from the scuppers being under water, if the flapper valve on the scupper through-hull is kept clean, I get no water onto the back deck despite the 300# of AGM batteries under the aft seat.
As far as i can tell, there is no insulation in that area.
Happy New Year to all our C-Brat friends.
flrockytop
New member
There you go Mike, starting to sound silly. Everyone knows a fish box isn't for fish.oldgrowth":3e12w9nl said:
________
Wouldn't that kinda be like putting a car in the garage????
Captains Cat
New member
flrockytop":7d7f5oew said:
Son of a gun, never thought of that!! :shock: I don't think there's room!
Charlie
K4KBA