170 / 146 owners - drain ideas?

[Tereza]

OK - with all the clever small boat talent out there, someone must've found a simple solution to the following:If you leave your boat at the slip, when you go back to it, especially now in spring/early summer, its filled with all sorts of gifts from above. And I DON'T mean from our winged friends - I mean from the trees.Then it rains...hen the drain clogs, and your boat is full of oak flowers, maple polynoses, and other detritus from the trees, that together with the rains, finds your drain, lodges in there, and thanks to the clever Hunter design, stickes in that 90-degree turn the drain takes.So, any of you implemented cute little screens to keep that drain running clear?(My baby's been docked more than she's been sailed so far this rainy season...

 

[Terry M]

big flower pot

Apparantly you weren't out on the lake thisweekend Tereza? Me either. First too windythen stormy. Terry

 

[Tereza]

Flower pot...interesting...

No, Terry - didn't make it out! Though have a not too bad an excuse aside from the terrible weather - have been distracted with taking delivery of my new Mini convertible! ALmost as much fun as sailing! And I don't have to reef it if the wind's too strong! Problem is, it competes with sailing time...Hmmm...that's actually a very good idea - it doesn't need to STAY in place while sailing - an inverted clay pot is heavy enough to stay in place, then just leave it on the dock when I head out! It just needs to be a bit uneven, so water can creep in undder the rim, but all that muck stays out of the drain.Thanks!!

 

[Rick S.]

lint trap

Tereza,The 146 may not come with a sail bag, but at least it has a proper transom, and a drain. The 170 is transomless, so water, debris, beverage cans, sunglasses, or anything that you may fervently hope not to lose if you drop it, slide or roll immediately astern and disappear into the deep. Unless you install the optional transom net, which I did. The net lets the water out, but traps all the stuff from trees. Kind of like a lint trap, which leads us to...On the 146, depending on the diameter of the drain, and the depth of the opening, you may be able to stuff a wire lint trap -- the kind used in a laundry tub -- into the opening. If not, maybe a small piece of nylon window-screen material, rolled up into a tube. Or some similar porous nylon or plastic filter material, like a kitchen scrub pad, rolled into a tube.The advantage of a tube over a disk is the additional surface area. The upper part of a tube will still filter and drain if the lower part becomes clogged.Less fragile and easier to stow than a clay flowerpot.

 

[Tereza]

Rick - more good drain ideas

Scrub pad is a good idea too! I actually already iplemented the flowerpot idea...attached some floatie stuff through the hole in case it falls off the dock...Decided I would just leave it at the dock while underway.But a scrubby I can just toss up front, and even use it (gently) for some cleanups! Dual functionality of any object on board such a small boat is defintely a bonus!Wow - never thought of how easily anything and everything can roll off those beautiful 170s...Thanks for yet another briliantly simple idea.

 

[Jeff]

no big deal

I have never lost anything off of my 170. I am pretty strict about keeping things tethered or stowed. Even if I had a transom I would be that way. I like watching the water roll up from under the boat as I clip along at a nice pace. Its like one of those little garden waterfalls people install in their yards. Real relaxing.