Leaving a 20' Seacraft with thru-hull scupper's on mooring/slip?

[zgonen]

Hey guys, I have a 1977 20' seacraft and I was wondering what are peoples thoughts on leaving it on my mooring or a slip at a boat club considering the scuppers go through the deck of the boat? I have been trailering the boat ever since I got it but am getting kind of sick of it... my neighbor down the street has his on a mooring and also has the thru-hull scuppers but I have heard that they can sink this way.

Thoughts? Thanks

[FLexpat]

There are 2 problems to address:
1 - The tubes are brass; they don't last forever due to corrosion. When they corrode they leak which also sets up rot in the wood behind the brass. Replace them every 10 years or so (mine started leaking at about 20) and check to make sure they don't start leaking. The most common leak here is very slow which slowly drains/kills battery as the bilge pump cycles and then leaks with no bilge pump working... A battery maintainer can be useful and so can a pump cycle monitor.
2 - Another thing commonly blamed on those tubes but isn't really related to the drain tubes; too much weight aft and/or waves breaking into motor well. Don't screw up the fore/aft balance and keep all the fittings (everywhere) well sealed.

[zgonen]

Thanks for those tips, I will look into replacing those tubes. Im not sure where to even start, do you know how I could find replacements for them? I've heard those things can leak before. I have no clue when the last owner replaced them so might as well do it for safe measure.

[capt chuck]

Grood Advice Flexpat

[rcoster38]

I still have not installed scuppers on my 20SF rebuild and I'm leaning towards not putting them in. I'm feeling better about two large bilge pumps wired to two large batteries than I am about putting two holes in my transom a inch above the waterline. I recently was out of town for 3 weeks and left my boat on a trailer with the plugs in to see how the pumps/batteries would fare. We got almost a foot of rain in that time (this summer has been absolutely outrageous for rain in the northeast). When I got back, the boat was dry and the batteries were completely unfazed.

and I question how much two 1.5" scuppers would help in clearing the deck in the event of a wave over the bow

obviously im curious about other peoples thoughts on this. I used to be firmly in the "no water into the bilge ever" camp, but I've been rethinking this on small boats where the deck is barely above waterline. and sorry for kinda hijacking your thread here OP, but i guess its somewhat related

[zgonen]

So without scuppers on the boat, how does large amounts of water on the deck access the bilge area? Although I don't love the scuppers on the deck, they do drain water pretty well. I washed my boat the other day and kept the hose on pumping water into my boat just to see how well it would flush, and it was draining no problem. My scuppers are less than 1 inch, maybe .75 inches and they drain through the deck and down through the bottom of the boat. Wish I had draining through the transom though but the 77 20' was set up that way.

[MA20]

I have a 73 seafari and a 76 master angler. Both on moorings for 6 months a year. They both have etec 115’s on them. If boat is balanced correctly they will drain fine if brass drain tubes are good. The boats are good on mooring with no gear or persons. When I go out I put the plugs in.

[zgonen]

Yeah with no one on board the water should drain right out those plugs. I tested it on the water, tried to fill up the deck with a hose and see how it drained, worked well

[zgonen]

Hi all, an update - my boats been on a slip for a month now and no issues whatsoever even with heavy rain events.

[Jorgeinmiami]

So I'm thinking of closing up the scuppers from my boat. Where have others routed the drains to? And how did it work?