[Public-List] Garboard drains

[Gordon Laco]

I should add…

The year I put my garboard drain in, I was in a rush to do it between a work project that took me out of town and launch day.  I wondered how to locate the hole so as to miss the iron ballast and put the question out to this list, where I’d received much good advice in the past.

Promptly a instructions with specific measurements referencing from the lower after extremely of the keel came back.    I went down to the boat, measured forward the prescribed distance and up as specified… and drilled.

If any of you heard cursing coming from Canada one morning years ago, that was me when my drill hit iron.   I was too far forward and too low…I had not missed the ballast, rather I’d made a useless hole that only went through the encapsulating fibreglass skin.

The next day I came back to do something else on the boat and discovered that the iron ballast’s outline was revealing itself in the morning chill by condensation caused by warm moist spring air on the area of the bottom backed by the still-cold iron.   I re-drilled and mounted the garboard plug.

Now I had to deal with the other hole.   I kept the round piece of Surprise’s bottom and lightly sanded it on it’s bottom and sides.  I filed and sanded the hole in the boat so that instead of have parallel sides as the hole saw made, it had angled funnel-like sides more like a crater.   I sanded an area around the hole.   I made up a batch of epoxy and thickened it to the constancy of peanut butter.    I ‘painted the bare fibreglass and iron keel that was visible with raw epoxy, then troweled in the thick stuff.   I then pressed in the plug of bottom I’d pried out of the hole saw and troweled off the epoxy that was pressed out.   I covered the whole thing with wide masking tape to hold the epoxy and plug in while the goop cured.

Next day I came back and peeled the tape off… and sanded the whole thing smooth.  I then painted raw epoxy over the sanded area, and laid on a pre-cut circular piece of fibreglass cloth.   I again covered my work with wide masking tape to hold things in while the epoxy cured.

Next day came back and took off the tape, sanded the work smooth, and slapped on some bottom paint.   That part of her bottom is probably stronger now that it was before.

While all this was going on I installed the garboard plug in a place that missed the ballast… It’s not right at the bottom of the bilge, but I don’t really care if a bit of water remains in there.

Gord
#426 Surprise




> On Apr 21, 2019, at 9:48 AM, Gordon Laco via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
> 
> Good day Greg,
> 
> First I’ll comment that it sounds like you’re considering putting the garboard drain through the bottom of the keel… this would be a very dangerous thing to do.  If you ever went aground, even lightly, you could break the fitting off or even drive it up through the bottom of the keel resulting in a serious leak that would be impossible to get at.  your boat would sink.
> 
> A better place is on one side or the other of the lower keel… 
> 
> Bronze fittings last forever.  We supply good English made fittings that are more expensive than the much less expensive Chinese-made ones.  The difference is comforting knowledge of the alloy.   So what type do I have?  A Chinese one.   I needed it quickly to beat launch day and had none in stock and couldn’t wait.  Oh well, it seems to be surviving OK.
> 
> I bedded mine with Boatlife Lifecaulk… and fixed it in place by drilling and tapping for machine screws.   If you bed with epoxy or 5200 you’ll never get the fitting off if you ever need to replace it.  Reasons to replace would include messing up the threads, losing the plug, corrosion… etc.
> 
> Gordon Laco
> #426 Surprise
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Apr 21, 2019, at 9:40 AM, Greg Dawson via Public-List <public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi All
>> Has anyone out there fitted a garboard drain to their A30? If yes, what did you use to seat it. Epoxy, 5200 or 4200? The keel at the bottom of the bilge has a slightly concave surface. I am concerned about creating a good seal and seating the drain securely. Does anyone have thoughts about manufacturers and materials? There seem to be a few out there that produce the drain in bronze whilst the plug is brass. What about stainless would that be a reasonable choice? Your thoughts and experience would be appreciated.
>> Sincerely.
>> Greg Dawson #348
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