drain plug for 1954 Shock Santana 22?

[barrys]

I've been given the boat and it's got rain water accumulating below deck. It's trailered and the trailer is currently it's most notable asset. The mast is busted and I'm not sure if the sails are available but I'm old and still foolish and ready to take on another boat project. I did a 26 foot Reinell sport fishing boat 5 or 6 years ago; 7 thousand dollars and about as many hours and I got it running well enough to get out in the Pacific swell for bouts of Chinook fishing and crabbing interspersed with bouts of seasickness; I have a motion sickness thing...

Anyways...the first thing I want to do to this huge mass of problems is drill a drain plug in the hull somewheres and build a self draining cockpit if there isn't one in it already (there was a bunch of crap in the cockpit and it was dark last night and I was very turned off by the overwhelming chaos of it all so really couldn't tell whether there was one or not).

So, anyone have any thoughts about the drain plug and where it belongs?

 

[David in Sandusky]

Drain plug

I'm not aware of a drain plug on a sailboat with a keel. Most of us would avoid putting a new hole in the hull just to empty water from the hull, because it could easily become the cause of a sunk boat. Better ideas include:

- Unplugging an existing through hull. Candidates are holes for a depth guage, a speedo, or a drain (from a sink, for instance.)
- Borrow, rent, or buy a pump.

Cockpit drains are usually two holes in the back of the cockpit floor with hoses leading to holes in the stern. Your boat could easily have cockpit drains blocked by detritus of some kind. If not, I'd recommend bailing the cockpit, and thinking through a drain design after checking out designs on similar boats.

Good luck!

 

[Benny17441]

You may drill for a drain plug at the bottom of the transom. That way when you park the trailer you can tilt it back and get all the water out of it. Those boats usually leak around the keel trunk and that would be one convenient way to get the water out.

 

[ishmael3]

You do not own a 1954 Santana 22 . The 22 didnt come into exsistence until the early 60's. There is no hull drain below decks. There are two cockpit drains, located directly below the companionway. Two hoses go straight down to thru-hulls. PM sent.

 

[Joe]

Don't you have a bilge pump?