relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

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dsujen

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I'm in the process of rebuilding the transom on my 1976 starcraft 18'. I had to weld on a new outer skin. My bilge plug hole is rotten. It is also about 2" from the lowest point and to the left of the knee brace. I'm thinking of relocating it to directly behind the knee brace by welding a piece of aluminum pipe the same diameter as the old one. This will allow the boat to drain completely when it sits out in the rain. Anyone ever do this?
 
Bondo

Bondo

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

dsujen said:
I'm in the process of rebuilding the transom on my 1976 starcraft 18'. I had to weld on a new outer skin. My bilge plug hole is rotten. It is also about 2" from the lowest point and to the left of the knee brace. I'm thinking of relocating it to directly behind the knee brace by welding a piece of aluminum pipe the same diameter as the old one. This will allow the boat to drain completely when it sits out in the rain. Anyone ever do this?
Click to expand...

Nope,.... But it sounds like a pretty good plan...
 
GA_Boater

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

Does the knee brace have drain holes in it? My SC knee braces (3 of them) are solidly against the hull and transom so water can't get to the bilge drain. You might consider drilling some holes in the brace because the drain behind the brace might be blocked,

You should think about keeping your posts together in the same thread since this is all related to the transom replacement.
 
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dsujen

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

If I keep my posts together will they be seen? Because sometimes it takes days or weeks for me to get back to working on the boat. How do you guys find my threads?
 
jasoutside

jasoutside

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

When you post an update to your project your thread moves to the top of the forum. When it moves to top, we find it.

When you post a bunch of threads on the same project we are seeing what you have/need out of context.
 
GA_Boater

GA_Boater

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

If you subscribe to your own thread and set up notification you will get an email when someone posts. If it seems that you haven't gotten any response after a while just post a "any ideas, guys" post and it bumps to the top of the post list under the stickies. That's why threads get moved around, Some members only look at certain forum areas, for example, An I/O guy might never look in an O/B area so a misplaced I/O post wouldn't get the views. (NO - I'm not picking on I/O guys. :rolleyes:) Hope this helps, DS.

On your bilge plug re-lo - will the drain end up under a knee brace?
 
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dsujen

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

yes it would be behind the knee. I decided not to re invent the wheel. I'm going to just leave it where it is. But I have to fix it. It has chunks missing out of it where the plug fits. A normal plug doesn't fit in the hole. It appears to be some kind of sleeve with an o ring in it. I might just cut it out and weld in the right diameter pipe for a normal plug. Some rivets pulled through the knee on the bottom of the hull. I was going to try welding it, but decided it will be too risky. How does drilling out the rivets and replacing them with s.s. bolts and 5200 caulk sound?
 
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iCam

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

I have the same situation in my boat, and I am going to relocate mine. It does not make sense to me to have it so high on the transom. With all the boat inspections we go through here, they look for a dry bilge. Any condensation or wash-down has got to get out of there somehow, either through the drain or towels. I am getting lazy the older I get and don't want to have to spend more time out of the water than necessary.
 
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dsujen

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Re: relocating bilge drain plug on starcraft

Any one know the hp rating and people carrying capacity of my 1976 18 foot starcraft? The plate on the boat is in bad shape.
 
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