How to install drain plug

[Pizza]

I'm tired of hand pumping out my 1975 O'Day 20 which takes on rain water on the trailer. I want to install a brass,one-half inch drain plug in the transom.How high up, exactly, should I drill it?
I drilled a small "test hole", centered, one inch up from the lowest point, but no water came out. The hole seems to be below the floor. Doesn't the water drian to the lowest point? So why is the water not draining?Has anyone installed a drain plug?

 

[sailcruiser]

Pizza, (gee thanks I wasn't hungry until I typed that! )

I think what you are after is a garboard drain plug. My boat is not a trailer sailor but has one at the lower end of the keel. (we winter ashore) You would want it where ever water accumulates. Personally they make me nervous but up here frequently a necessary item.

SC

 

[ebsail]

Pizza, (gee thanks I wasn't hungry until I typed that! )

I think what you are after is a garboard drain plug. My boat is not a trailer sailor but has one at the lower end of the keel. (we winter ashore) You would want it where ever water accumulates. Personally they make me nervous but up here frequently a necessary item.

SC

On my old Sonar, I just bought a $2.00 PVC flanged fitting, at Home Depot, roughed it up and glassed it into the lowest point, in the keel sump. A plug for 55 cents finished the job. Each spring I'd buy a new plug for 55 cents and put a bit of silicone on it and drop the boat in the water. The new owner still uses the same fitting 6 years later. For an Oday 25, go into the sump where you can lift the floor board panel. You would have to drill a pilot hole from the outside in. The fitting should encompass only the exterior skin. I also have a 25 and am working hard to stop all exterior leaks by rebedding fittings with butyl rubber. I'm down to about a glass of water per month, total leakage and intend to get to bone dry in another year.

 

[Pizza]

On my old Sonar, I just bought a $2.00 PVC flanged fitting, at Home Depot, roughed it up and glassed it into the lowest point, in the keel sump. A plug for 55 cents finished the job. Each spring I'd buy a new plug for 55 cents and put a bit of silicone on it and drop the boat in the water. The new owner still uses the same fitting 6 years later. For an Oday 25, go into the sump where you can lift the floor board panel. You would have to drill a pilot hole from the outside in. The fitting should encompass only the exterior skin. I also have a 25 and am working hard to stop all exterior leaks by rebedding fittings with butyl rubber. I'm down to about a glass of water per month, total leakage and intend to get to bone dry in another year.

Thanks for your response!
I can't lift the floor board, as it is sealed on the O'Day 20. I have a brass drain plug which I was going to install on the exterior of the transom, one inch up from the lowest point on the keel. But again, this test hole seems to be below the floor yet not draining water. I think I'll just drill a bigger (half-inch) hole and see if I get water. Maybe the small hole is clogged, although I pushed a wire through it.

 

[Pizza]

Pizza, (gee thanks I wasn't hungry until I typed that! )

I think what you are after is a garboard drain plug. My boat is not a trailer sailor but has one at the lower end of the keel. (we winter ashore) You would want it where ever water accumulates. Personally they make me nervous but up here frequently a necessary item.

SC

Thanks! See my response to ebsail below

 

[caguy]

I was going to install a drain at the lowest point of the transom on the Mac 25. The Hobie 16 that I had, had one through the transom. I was a plastic (pvc) threaded plug. The idea is to drain the boat while it is on the ramp. While on the ramp the lowest point is the transom on the Hobie and Mac 25 anyway.
I also had an inspection port on the Mac 25 at the lowest point of the boat. The inspection port was to service the transducer for the depth gauge. I kept a pool slurp gun on board to suck out the half gallon of water that would sometimes collect there. I learned that from my kayaking days.

 

[LordNelson]

my oday 20 does not have a drain plug for the hull. it does have a cockpit drain at the cabin entrance so i lower the trailer tonque so the water flows to the drain. i also put a small tarp over the hatch to keep the wind from blowing in rain water when on the trailer since the boat can't swing into the wind as it does on the mooring. (i rarely get water in when on the mooring.) in the winter i completely cover the boat using the mast as a ridge pole.

i don't think i would want to install another drain plug below the water line if i didn't absolutely have too.