DAUNTLESS 16 Anchor Locker Drain Plug

[Tg196]

Yesterday [September 10, 2016] I noticed that inside the anchor storage [locker on a Boston Whaler DAUNTLESS 16 boat of unspecified model year] there is a drain plug in the [deck]. The plug was out. My Boston Whaler DAUNTLESS 16 has been moored and in the water for weeks. Should I put the plug back in?

[Jefecinco]

No need. I'm unsure why the locker has a drain plug, as I believe it's not needed. Perhaps, if one wanted to use the locker as a catch well or extra cooler and fill it with ice, a plug would be useful. For everyday anchor locker use it seems to serve no useful purpose.

[GoldenDaze]

Yup, just leave the plug out.

[jimh]

Install a plug into the anchor locker drain if you want to stop the drain from working as a drain. The anchor locker will begin to accumulate and hold water.

[Tg196]

Thanks guys, [the purpose of installation of a plug into the anchor locker drain] seems more like if I want to keep water in, for some reason. Perhaps [the anchor locker] can be used as a fish locker or extra cooler.

[jimh]

Yes--you are exactly right. If you install a plug in the drain of the anchor locker, then water will not be able to flow out of the anchor locker via the drain.

I don't know what basis there is for the presumption that Boston Whaler intended that you should install a plug in the drain of the anchor locker. Perhaps someone, say a previous owner, just happened to toss a drain plug into the anchor locker, and this has created what appears to be some confusion on your part about the purpose of the anchor locker drain and the possible use of a plug to stop the drain from draining water from the anchor locker. As far as I can see, the purpose of the anchor locker drain is to allow water to drain overboard from the anchor locker in order to prevent water from accumulating in the anchor locker. This seems to me to be a desirable outcome.

[Tg196]

exactly right Jim, I saw the drain plug in the locker and became concerned. Perhaps the previous owner used it for another reason. Thanks for your response!

[Oldslowandugly]

I too am confused about the locker. On mine, if I leave the drain open to the sea, it fills with about 6 inches of water. That is not a good thing for storing an anchor, line , or anything else in that spot. If I plug it, then it fills to the top with rain water. So what I do is leave it plugged, and keep a small mushroom type mud anchor and line in a small bucket there. If it does fill with rain, it's fresh water and no harm done. But if I am catching fish, I unplug it and it makes a terrific live well. At the end of the trip I clean it out and re-plug it.

[jimh]

OLD'--are you saying that the anchor locker on the DAUNTLESS 16 is so deep that the lower part of the anchor locker is below the water line of the boat? And you must plug the drain because the drain is not really a drain but an inlet for seawater to flow into the anchor locker?

[Oldslowandugly]

JIm, yes, but I have a 15 foot Sport. If I open the drain, the locker fills about halfway with water.

[msbrown253]

I too have been a bit mystified by this. [Changed topic to discuss the anchor locker on another model of Boston Whaler boat.]

[Jefecinco]

The 1999 Dauntless 16 we purchased new came with a plug in the anchor locker drain. I've no idea why Boston Whaler delivered the boat with a drain plug in the anchor locker.

The locker is fairly large and it could be used as a catch well for smaller fresh water species such as Bass or Bream with some ice to maintain freshness in warm weather. The locker is really too small for most legal sized inshore species which in Alabama must usually be at least a minimum of fourteen inches in length.

We used the cooler for our catches and the anchor locker for the anchor and rode. Food and beverages were kept in a smaller more portable cooler.

[Oldslowandugly]

Am I to understand that the drain on the Dauntless is ABOVE the water line?

[Jefecinco]

Yes, the 160 Dauntless 16 anchor locker drain is well above the waterline. At low speed in snotty weather a little seawater can enter the drain but quickly runs out. The locker can be used for dry storage if desired but it's mighty handy as an anchor locker. In rainy weather water can find itself into the locker through the non-tightly fitting hatch so it's not a very wonderful dry storage locker on the 160/16. The boat has no waterproof storage.

[Oldslowandugly]

Oh, OK, thanks Jefecinco for clearing that up.

[jimh]

OLD--thanks for clarifying that the advice you were offering was not about the boat being discussed, the DAUNTLESS 16, but about an entirely different boat.

[jimh]

Yes, the 160 Dauntless 16 anchor locker drain is well above the waterline...

JEFE--thanks for that information about the DAUNTLESS 16 boat, the boat we are discussing.

I removed a number of comments that began to change the topic of discussion to other boats. If there is a strong interest in discussing how the anchor locker drain on other Boston Whaler boats behaves, I encourage the start of a new thread about the anchor lockers on those boats.