Splashguard Adventures...

One of my buddies with a 2120 Parker (same hull as my 2100 but with a
small pilothouse cabin) removed the splashguard he ordered with his boat
a couple of years ago and asked me if I wanted to give it a try.

Well...

The Parker splashguard is fiberglass and is held in place via stainless
steel screws attached to the two side seats at the transom. I didn't
want to drill holes just for a "test," so I gorilla-taped the device in
place.

I've never had water come in over the transom notch (it is a 25"
transom), but for the test, I backed down over some decently sized
"whitecaps" thoughtfully left behind from the wakes of passing
dreadnought "cruisers." I backed straight into the wakes and at various
angles. I did manage to "capture" a cupful of spray, but it ran right
out the scuppers before it got to the splashguard.

I'm not sure about the physics, but it seemed to me the boat has a lot
of buoyancy at the transom, Most of the "wakes" raised the transom and
went under it, or slammed into the exterior of the transom. Nothing
measurable came over the notch.

Experiment over. I didn't like the splashguard. It would interfere with
the draining of the cockpit if a lot of water came in over the bow or
sides.

I'll be returning it to my buddy with the 2120, but I don't think he'll
be reinstalling it, because he was planning to epoxy fill the bolt
holes, and then gelcoat the results.