Is there any reason for a drain plug to have a screen?

[chuser]

I was washing out the boat today. I pulled it up on the floating dock and unscrewed the drain plug. However it didn't work very well because it kept getting clogged with debris. I looked and the drain plug had a fine mesh screen. It's recessed 3/4 inch in the plug, not on the outside where it would be easily cleanable. I kept sticking my fingers in there and moving the debris around so it would drain.

Is there any reason to have this? Why wouldn't I want things to flow out, sticks, leaves and all? Should I just try to bash it in?

 

[Texasmark]

I'd think it is a mis-application to coin a popular politically correct word of the day. Not rocket science to know that bilges collect this and that. If you were talking about a fueling funnel, then as you are suspecting, yes, you want to trap foreign objects....but a bilge drain? I would.

 

[jbcurt00]

Sounds more like a livewell fill plug not a bilge plug...

What boat?

Any chance theres another plug?

 

[chuser]

I wish our boats showed up on our user badges. It's a 12' bare aluminum jonboat. No upholstery or anything inside. I just dumped water in, washed the sides, floors, and seats, and let it all drain to the back. It's not a bilge as there is no empty space under the floor, just bare aluminum everywhere. It unscrews from the inside not outside. Definitely no other plug, it's right where a drain plug should be at the lowest part of the dimple at the back of the boat. I wish I had taken a picture but I was so tired after finishing all the scrubbing I just shoved off the dock and left.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Take a stick, 'n knock it outa there,...... No reason for it,.....

 

[Captain Caveman]

I've never seen a bilge plug with a screen. It doesn't even make sense to me. Why can't you remove the plug to let everything drain out? Unless you are saying that there is a screen in the outlet, just replace the current bilge plug with a standard one without a screen.

If there is a screen in the outlet, I would just knock it out of there. On my 12' aluminum boat, I keep it on shore with the plug tied to the gunnel with a rope. When I turn the boat over to use it, I scoop a bucket of water out of the lake and send all of the pine needles and spiders down to the bottom of the boat and through the outlet. I then put in the plug and show the boat into the water. You should be able to do that too.

 

[Bondo]

If you were talking about a fueling funnel, then as you are suspecting, yes, you want to trap foreign objects....

Ayuh,....... That may well be where his screen started it's life,......... Bilge debris,.......

 

[Old Ironmaker]

Strange stuff one reads here occasionally. Can you take a photo? The plug should be nowhere near the hole when you remove it, like in your pocket. Do you mean there is a screen in the hole not the plug?

 

[chuser]

The stopper does not have a screen in it. The plug that it screws into has a screen.

 

[bkersh1]

If anyone happens to read this thread, I want to clear something up about some drain plugs. I have a 2018 Sea Ray 21' SPX outboard. I noticed that no water was coming ouy and would be pushed out by the bilge pump. I too saw a mesh screen when I unscrewed and took out the plug. I took out the 3 screws holing the garboard. It was a one piece safety drain plug, I showed this to my mechanic (of 40 years) who said he had never seen anything like it. It was approx 3" long with a protective screen on each end of inner chamber and part of the plug. I removed it and put it in a normal brass plug.

MODERATOR EDIT: Please review the forum rule about posting to old threads.