Holes drilled in the floor pan under floorboards?

[John Schaub]

I have talked to two different Hunter 23 owners who have holes drilled in the floor pan under the floorboards to extract water from between the floor pan & the inside of the hull. Is this common to drill these holes? Is it common to have water in there?

 

[Ward]

I had it in mine

I had some in mine and drilling holes sure fixed the problemWard

 

[John]

Questions about these holes

How big are these holes and how do you get the water out? Shop Vac?

 

[Rob Morton]

Holes under floorboards

I have some holes in my boat its an 86 h23. It looks like they were there from the factory. It seems like we always get a litte bit of water here. Is it really a bilge? More input would be helpful.Rob Morton

 

[william]

are we talking about under the sole boards..

...by the keel bolts? if so, i too have had water weep up from the keel here. there's some posts in the archives. part of why i am trying to reseal the keel hull junction before next spring. there were no holes here from the factory when i got my boat. water simply seemed to weep up forever around the bolts. i finally drilled a 1/2" hole and did the shop vac trick and must have sucked out 5 gal. now the idea is to try to keep it from coming back. i will be watchinmg it closely when i put the boat back in the water. seems like there was allot of water there and weeping around keel bolts is one thing....flowing out a 1/2" hole now might be another. i may have to plug it.

 

[John Schaub]

I need a specific location & angle to drill

No holes in my boat from the factory. Built in August of 1985, sold as a 1986 model #303. After hearing these stories of people sucking multiple gallons of water out with a shop vac, I'm really concerned how much water could be in my boat. I have the same problem as William from the last post with water seeping up from the back two keel bolts. If someone could give me more of a specific spot and the angle your drilling at, it would be greatly appreciated. I sure don't want to drill a hole right through the hull. *cry

 

[william]

where to drill

i had no "instructions" so i simply picked a likely spot. i picked the aft most of the 3 keel bolt areas, just below the lip that the sole board sits on and drilled at as shallow of an angle as i could in the aft direction.

 

[Bill Leathen]

how about a picture - is there a void in the keel?

William,Any chance you can put up a picture of the hole? Is there a big void in the keel that collects water? Thanks, Bill Leathen