CONTINUOUSWAVE

Hello all. I have a [1963] SPORT 13, with the transom cut for a short-shaft engine.

There is a splash well. There is a drain hole in the transom and a drain hole in the splash well, cockpit side.

When the SPORT 13 comes off of plane, a slug of water sloshes over the transom and into the splash well.

In which hole do I put the plug?

If I plug the hole in the transom, the water that sloshed in won't drain.

If I plug the hole in the splash well, the splash well slowly fills with water, but the water does evacuate quickly when I get back under way.

Short of adding a bilge pump in the splash well, is there another solution?

Thanks.

Good question. I put mine on the inside of the transom and try to remember not to come off plane to fast. If I were in rougher water I would plug the bulk head splash well and leave the transom open to drain.

My winter project will be to fill the transom notch for a long shaft engine.

Con

Generally the splash well drain should be left open to the sea. The purpose of the splash well is to catch any water that splashes into it and drain it off to the sea.

You seem to describe a drain for the cockpit to drain into the splash well. That sounds like it probably also allows the splash well to drain into the cockpit--not good.

I think I would plug the drain that drains the cockpit into the splash well, and open the drain that drains the splash well to the sea. That would be the normal mode of operation.

If water accumulated in the cockpit, the drain from cockpit to splash well could be opened while the boat was underway, and water would drain out of the cockpit, into the splash well, and into the sea. That is how you de-water the cockpit without an electric sump pump.

That's my guess.

Also, if the boat were left on a mooring you might leave both drains open to prevent the cockpit from filling with rain water.

Although written for the later models, see this advice in an owner's manual about drains:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... drainTubes

Depends on what you want to do.

I grew up with a 1963 Sport (1966-1981) on Great Peconic Bay, Long Island. We only plugged the transom. But when you're 12 years old you do things differently than when you're older. We tried to avoid water coming over the transom that would require us to pull the plug. If it did come over, we'd pull the plug to drain. Then again, to get barnacles off the bottom we'd aim for the beach at 20-knots then cut the throttle, pull the engine (no power tilt) and hit the beach scraping the barnacles off. Would I do that now? No way.

Your choice.

JimP

Thanks guys for the good information.

Jim that is a great picture of the boat with friends

Dutchman - Thanks. We had lots of fun in that boat. Scuba diving for lobsters in Shinnecock was a lot of fun. That's me midships (15 yrs old), brother driving, and a friend. Towed it everywhere from Long Island to Maine.

Again great pictures and Dad put out a nice towing bridle behind the cruiser for the Whaler she looks good at that speed.