Keel Drain

[Capt Chuck]

Jason asked me to post a couple of pictures of the innovative keel drain system installed on my 23'.

Considering the transom is now enclosed and the engine mounted on the bracket and the fact the the boat is kept on a lift most of the time, access to a standard bilge drain plug would be near impossible.

In the following picture you can see that the standard bilge drain hole was plugged and filled in.



A hole was made against the inside of the transom straight through the keel. A screw type "T" handle drain plug was glassed in.



This application was sufficient, but reaching the "T" handle thru the transom door was a long reach and combersom. A viable solution was sought. A 18" Stainless Steel extension "T" handle with the threaded male screw at one end was fabricated. A starboard guide at the top keeps the handle in place without fishing for the hole at the bottom.



When the boat is on the lift or a trailer, draining the bilge is an easy task. Just reach in the transom door and unscrew the "T" handle and "Voila" [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]