"roadburner" roadburner^at^comcast^dot^net wrote in message
...
On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:03:32 -0700, "Mr Wizzard"
wrote:


"Stanley Barthfarkle" wrote in message
m...

Need to remove that plug after every trip to drain any water left in
the
bilge. Leave it out if left outside, even if covered, since if you have
a
leak in your cover, or if it collapses, it will be able to drain.
Letting
even a little water sit in the bilge for days at a time will create big
problems down the road.

Well, for almost a month now, there hasn't
been one single drop of water down there,
so that is why I've been leaving the plug in.
I cover it each night, so it just doesn't get
any water down there. But yeah, I'm just
going to have to make that part of my
routine, thats all. So they make some
sort of automatic plug? I can't believe
that with all the modern advancements,
that a $15-$30K boat gets down to
remembering to screw in a 25 cent plug.


Pre-launch, make it a habit to install the plug when you remove the
rear
tiedowns. Remove the plug when you fasten the tiedowns after loading
the
boat onto the trailer.

yeah, its a routine that I'm going to have
to get used to. Gosh, something so
important is just "so" manual. sheese.

thanks





Curious, you don't get any water in the boat. Are you using a canvass or
plastic cover? Canvass I hope.

Not sure what it is. Some space-age, super light
silver thing I got at Wall Mart for $49. Its great.
Its like an ultra thin, and light mylon fabric that
water beads right off. Also got the adjustable
pole thing with snap together section with a
mushroom shoe at the top. Can't beat it. Don't
know how long it will last, but it seems perfect.




A plastic cover can be bad if used improperly. It traps in the moisture
that
is accumulated while boating from the wet footed swimmers to the normal
drops of spray. If a boat were left for an extended period with some
significant amount of water left in the bilge and covered with a plastic
cover so it couldn't breathe and dry out, it could lead to dry rot of
exposed wood.

Yeah, I wondered about that. When I feel/smell,
sence mosture after an outing, I open it up when I
get home from work to let it air out. Easy to handle.

Some of the less expensive boats (at least the older ones)
didn't have plywood decking coated with fiberglass. I have seen a couple
older boats ruined because the owners stored them wet and covered them
with
plastic.

Yeah, I already feared this, and trying to be carefull
to air that baby out when I can. Maybe a fan inside
on low speed would help ?



Regards,
roadburner