Bilge drain holes on Hunter keels?

[murrayabbott]

I have a 2011 Hunter 45DS. We are in fresh water. We are getting a rust spot high on the back edge of the keel. I was going to grind it down and seal and fill it. Then I started to wonder if this rusty spot was once a drain hole. Does anyone know if Hunter put bilge drain holes in their keel on their larger boats. There are voids in the bilge that can not be drained from inside the boat.

 

[kappykaplan]

Seems unlikely that anyone would put bilge drain holes in a keel, as that would provide a path for open communication with the water and you'd end up with more water in the bilge.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Hunter did put a drain hole there but it doesn’t drain the keel. It drains the hollow keel stub. There is no metal in the stub so obviously there should be no rust staining. If you are seeing rust, it might be some other cause.

 

[murrayabbott]

If a boat has a bilge drain hole, there is usually a bolt in it. You remove the bolt when the boat is out of the water to drain. mine has a big growth of rust in one spot and it may or not be what is left of a bolt.

 

[JamesG161]

There are voids in the bilge that can not be drained from inside the boat.

Bilges around the Engines or Diesel tank to not drain to the Open Water.

You need oil/diesel "diapers" to soak up any spills in those bilges.

Jim...

 

[Terry Cox]

Our boat consists of a watertight barrier between the bilge and the keel stub. As long as that barrier remains sealed, there should be no water. Our keel does not have a drain hole; it is solid lead. If something causes the joint to fail, like a hard grounding, water will enter into the stub joint cavity and eventually leaking past the keel bolts/studs and into the bilge.