Added Deck Drain to Rear Cup Holders on Sailfish 282

[wahoo33417]

From factory, rear cup holders on Sailfish have a tube that allows rain water to drain into the bilge. It appears that the tubing is meant to get the rain water safely past batteries, switches, etc., and into the bilge.

I typically take a quick look in the bilge each time out. Prefer to see it bone dry so I don't have to assure myself it's just rain water or some wash-down water. Especially true on long boat trips when boat is in the water for weeks, far from home. A dry bilge is reassuring. So I connected the two lengths of tubing.

My boat sits on an outside covered rack, but we get enough hard, sideways rain that the cup holders can fill with water. The bilge would be dry, but the cup holders would get rather nasty if they held water for too long.

I found some really small 'Mini-Thru-Hull' fittings, (SKU 260-2778-CP) at

Mini Thru Hull

Marine Town Mini Thru Hull fittings provide a compact drain outlet solution for cup holders, rod holders, cleats, deck drains, ice chest drains, and other marine applications.

www.boatoutfitters.com

.

Ordered "QuQuyi 5/16" ID x 1/2" OD Soft Braided PVC Tubing, Clear Flexible PVC Tube Vinyl Hose Water Oil Winter antifreeze & Soft for Four Seasons (3.3Ft length)" from Amazon to fit the Mini-Thru-Hull. Then needed the "1/8 in NPT" from Home Depot to connect the Mini-Thru-Hull tubing to Grady's cup holder tubing.

Used a grinding stone to start the hole in the gelcoat just behind the rear fold-down seat. Made a mess making sure the hole was well coated with adhesive sealant and then took some pics, obviously before cleanup.

Hopefully, the boat will now have a dry bilge and clean cup holders. One annoyance taken care of.

Mini-Thru-Hull from BoatOutfitters.com. Did not use rubber bushing:



What served as a tubing connector from Home Depot:



What I believe is factory cup holder tubing now cut shorter and connected to 5/16"ID tubing from Amazon:


Thru-hull in place, inside of hole is covered with sealant, before clean-up:


Drain is not obvious with seat up or down.

 

[Ekea]

are you doing the same with all the rod holders?

 

[wahoo33417]

No need to on Sailfish. It only has four in the gunnels, (not counting hard top) and they already drain directly onto the deck.

 

[DennisG01]

That's a nice, neat solution. Other than the leftover sealant........ Plastic razor blades and a rag

I know... you said the pics were before cleanup... but I couldn't resist!

 

[Fishtales]

Agree but you could just plug the drain line. It would probably never fill to the cup holder unless you were in monsoon season somewhere.

 

[wahoo33417]

Fishtales: I thought that too. And that might work well for many owners. At first, I just plugged the two drain tubes together at their ends. But, surprisingly, here in south Florida it would fill the cupholders rather frequently. We are one of the wettest climates in the US, averaging about 60"-65" of rain each year

At first, I would simply open that nice big, hinged stern access hatch and drain the cupholders onto the deck.

But if it it had been a few weeks since I had been to the boat, the plastic cupholders would have a pretty good growth in them. That would be one more thing to be prepared for at O-dark thirty when I'm trying to get out quickly but not miss anything.

At least for me, with my boat stored on an outside rack, even with a skimpy roof over it, it became enough of an annoyance to drive me to drill holes into the gelgoat. Something which is scary to me each time I do it.

p.s. Two days ago, we had massive storm cell sit over us nearly all day. Same cell that horribly brought down that Learjet 60. News said we got 13" in 12 hours. And another 6" the next day. Water was about 20' from our back porch.. Others less fortunate.

 

[mleads310]

I did the exact same thing to my Boat a few years back. I tied the tubes in and put a small plastic thru hull type fitting right next to the battery selection door. I’ll try to grab a picture of it.

 

[mleads310]

It’s kinda hard to see, but if you look just starboard of the battery selector door, you could see the white plastic thru hull. The two cupholders just above that are tied together with tubing and they drain right out onto the deck.

It’s saying it’s too large of a file. I don’t know why this keeps happening and I don’t know how to size it down.

 

[mleads310]