Draining the cup holders?

gpfishingdude

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
538
I installed the nice plastic console that the wife picked out and it has cup holders all across the top. Does anybody have any ideas on how to drain the water out of these stationary cup holders? There is a rectangular recess in the middle too that holds water. Just wondering what other people do to get the water out of these reservoirs? Maybe I am supposed to cover them to keep the water out?
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
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Jul 23, 2011
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47,306
all the cup holders on my boat have drain holes in the bottom. they drain onto the floor or into the bilge
 

HotTommy

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Mar 15, 2013
Messages
1,025
When I installed my new console, I noticed that the cupholders had drain holes with a nipple on the underside. I attached platic hose to the nipples so I could direct the drained water away from the electrical components inside my console. If your cupholder do not have drain holes, perhaps a well sized hole fitted with a drain hose sealed with silicone would do the same thing.
 

BigDfromTN

Petty Officer 1st Class
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May 16, 2013
Messages
268
Replace them with the ones that have holes and nipples on the bottom, then a drain line to keep stuff in the helm relatively dry.
 

gpfishingdude

Chief Petty Officer
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May 1, 2012
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538
I am thinking about running a gutter down and out the side of the console and then drilling a hole in the cup holders to drain the water away from my wiring and battery charger.
 

gpfishingdude

Chief Petty Officer
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May 1, 2012
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538
I googled { draining the cup holders} and one guy said that he cut a double barbed fitting in two just above the center collar and stuck them through a hole and glued those down to the bottom of the cup holders. I ordered some double barbed connectors a Tee and a four way connector. Some tubing to fit and I should be in business. Thanks for all of the ideas but sometimes it pays to just google the problem.
 

gm280

Supreme Mariner
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Jun 26, 2011
Messages
14,585
I have been play with this same issue for a while myself. I have stainless steel cup holders with the hole in the center and a plastic threaded connector. Problem is, I can't see anyway to connect any type drain tubing to the plastic threaded connectors. My cup drain holes are located in places that I really don't want water to get into and have bought plastic tubing to connect and direct the water to the exterior of the areas so the water would drain out on to the floor of the boat.

I did take some brass bolts, the type used to hole down a lot of toilet tanks to the base, and chucked them up in the lathe and turn them down and drill a hole through them to make drainage connections. That way you have drainage connectors with a nut to tighten them to the bottom of the cup holders and allow a tube to fasten on the brass protrusion.
SX-0060574_usn.jpg

I drilled a hole through the center of these bolts and even flattened the top some to make it flatter so water would drain. Just an idea.
 

lmuss53

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
1,227
Cup holders with drains are available at a reasonable price, quite possibly from our gracious hosts here a iboats. If not you can find them with a quick google search. I paid less than $10 for 4 last year.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,454
I googled { draining the cup holders** and one guy said that he cut a double barbed fitting in two just above the center collar and stuck them through a hole and glued those down to the bottom of the cup holders. I ordered some double barbed connectors a Tee and a four way connector. Some tubing to fit and I should be in business. Thanks for all of the ideas but sometimes it pays to just google the problem.
+++1

Good soulution.
 

ajgraz

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
1,858
There are these strange silicone tubes running to nipples in the side wall inside my CC, right under the cupholders. They weren't attached to anything at the other ends, I thought maybe some weird ventilation system I couldn't figure out the principle of, but now I know what they are supposed to be for...mystery solved! Thanks, iBoats!
 

lmuss53

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Sep 9, 2008
Messages
1,227
Good idea Hawker, do you remember the size of the hole? Those would pop right in and stay there, pull the valve stem out and put a hose on and you are good to go.

A little superglue will help to keep the hoses on these small nipples, that and a zip tie should hold the hose on forever.
 

gpfishingdude

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
538
If the 5"16" barbed fitting setup doesn't work out I might just go with the valve stems. Good idea.
 

MH Hawker

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Jul 13, 2011
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5,516
if you use the tire valves sit them as close as you can to the side, the can will rattle if you dont
 
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