Draing my '78

[Houshmanzilla]

Hey all I'm new here, I recently bought a Catalina 22 from a good friend. Well she didn't weather winter well and some how filled with water, now the tounge of the trailer is looking at the sky and the transom is pointed towards the ground.

I was thinking about drilling a hole in the back, and installin a drain plug to empty it.

Has anybody done this before? If so how thick is the fiberglass or does anybody have some better ideas on how to get her empty and get her home?

Any and all help will be greatfully appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[DavoArts]

I wouldn't necessarily install a drain plug (unless you plan on this happening more than once!), just drill a hole, let it drain out, patch hole with fiberglass later on.

Good luck with the project!

 

[Stu Jackson]

Don't drill any holes! That's why God made pumps.

 

[Houshmanzilla]

What is the easiest place to pump from, can I get all the way to the bottom from the one of the back bench hatches?

It is still up in Bear Lake, going to get her drained on Sat and brought home.

 

[Stu Jackson]

...can I get all the way to the bottom from the one of the back bench hatches?

Yes.

 

[SailAway1]

You're not alone! A similar thing happened to me my first year. Except, it was just the cockpit that filled up with water because the tarp prevented water from getting through to the boat. I simply used a hose to siphon it out.

Greg

 

[Chris Patterson]

Hey man, just go to walmart, whatever, and buy a cheap bilge pump, with hose. A piece of wire long enough to connect it to you truck battery, drop it by the wire through the port hatch, (lazzerette), whatever the thing is called, and pump. It'll do it fairly fast, cheap, no buckets, and most important, no holes.
And you'll probably end up using the pump many times for other things.

Like keeping the boat from sinking is one thing that comes to mind..

 

[Houshmanzilla]

Mine is tarped kind of like this hopefully it will be this easy.

 

[CaptGregg]

Hey! I used a manual hand pump and a wet/dry vac I bought from walmart. I'd go that route, I wouldn't drill a hole. Do you have a bilge pump and battery?

 

[Ken]

transom scuppers

Once you get the water out and the boat home you might want to move the transom scuppers to the top of you list of to-do's... It's a easy upgrade that will allow this to never happen to you again.... There are many methods of doing this and they all get the job done.

It only take two leaves covering the forward scuppers in the early models to see this happen.

Like said before you are not the first nor will you be the last that this has happened to. You will want to make sure no damage has happened to the hull from the bunks.

 

[GorillaToast]

Whatever you do DON'T drill a hole in your transom while water is in your boat!

There's a 1/8" or so air space between the outer fiberglass of the transom and the inner wood core. At least there is on mine. Allowing water in there would completly soak your core and cause untold misery down the road.

The scupper upgrade is a good idea, and one I would do if I wasn't on the boat almost every day. But do it after the boat is pumped dry.

Good luck.

 

[Houshmanzilla]

Thanks for all the replies I am going to get her cleaned out on Saturday, I picked up an 800 gph pump and am going to hook it to a car battery and pump her dry. Then strap some shit down and get ready to cruise home on Sunday. Looking forward to gutting and fixing her back up.


Thanks again!

 

[Chris Patterson]

Be careful of when the water starts getting pumped out, that the tongue of the trailer doesn't return to earth in a rapid fashion.