1984 Outrage 22 - Tunnel and Live Well Work
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2017 9:46 pm
I have been fishing often this season and, as I am sure most of you know, the open transom of the Outrage 22 allows in quite a bit of water. Earlier in the season I was contemplating building the transom up with KING Starboard. Since I have twin engines such a system would not work that well and, in my opinion, would look terrible.
A few weeks ago while drifting in the race off of Fishers Island and standing in about 4-inches of water I came up with an idea: I would rig the live well with a large bilge pump (or pumps). This would basically make the live well into another splash well.
Last weekend I pulled up the aft deck section to inspect and plan out what I would need to do. I found the useless port tunnel full of water which makes me think that all of the tank foam is soaked. I also noticed that when the boat was rigged for twin engines and batteries the tops of the rigging tunnels (between the tunnel and live well) was notched a bit (about 1" vertical and 2" horizontal) to allow for wires to cross. This basically means that every time the boat swamps, the port tunnel fills with water. I should note that the tops of area they notched were sealed up nicely with epoxy.
For the problem of water coming over the transom:
--install a 1-inch drain tube from the port tunnel into the live well. I would most likely keep this plugged to prevent a massive amount of water from entering the tunnel. The plug would be removed when the boat is not in use.
--install a bilge pump (or pumps) in the live well. I would put in two float switches, one high and one low. The floats would be switchable so that I could use the well as a live well (high float) or as an additional splash well (low float).
--seal the top of the live well between the live well and port tunnel so that if the live well fully floods it will not get into the port tunnel.
Wondering if this sounds like a good idea? I figure even if the boat does eventually swamp, the pumps will be capable of bailing it.
I should note that over the winter I also plan on:
--remove the full deck
--replace the tank and fuel lines
--re-wire everything
--rebuild the deck similar to what Jeff Rohlfing did. I don't think that my boat is a soft as Jeff's was.
--move up the console a few inches.
A few weeks ago while drifting in the race off of Fishers Island and standing in about 4-inches of water I came up with an idea: I would rig the live well with a large bilge pump (or pumps). This would basically make the live well into another splash well.
Last weekend I pulled up the aft deck section to inspect and plan out what I would need to do. I found the useless port tunnel full of water which makes me think that all of the tank foam is soaked. I also noticed that when the boat was rigged for twin engines and batteries the tops of the rigging tunnels (between the tunnel and live well) was notched a bit (about 1" vertical and 2" horizontal) to allow for wires to cross. This basically means that every time the boat swamps, the port tunnel fills with water. I should note that the tops of area they notched were sealed up nicely with epoxy.
For the problem of water coming over the transom:
--install a 1-inch drain tube from the port tunnel into the live well. I would most likely keep this plugged to prevent a massive amount of water from entering the tunnel. The plug would be removed when the boat is not in use.
--install a bilge pump (or pumps) in the live well. I would put in two float switches, one high and one low. The floats would be switchable so that I could use the well as a live well (high float) or as an additional splash well (low float).
--seal the top of the live well between the live well and port tunnel so that if the live well fully floods it will not get into the port tunnel.
Wondering if this sounds like a good idea? I figure even if the boat does eventually swamp, the pumps will be capable of bailing it.
I should note that over the winter I also plan on:
--remove the full deck
--replace the tank and fuel lines
--re-wire everything
--rebuild the deck similar to what Jeff Rohlfing did. I don't think that my boat is a soft as Jeff's was.
--move up the console a few inches.