Notched transom questions

[Ben87]

I've had the 222 for almost 20 years now with no issues of water coming over the transom.  I have a notched transom along with the two scuppers which sit at or very close to the waterline.  

Now I'm only inshore and might see anything from 2-5 ft waves/chop, either from swell, current, boat wake or drifting in the rips, and I can only remember a few times that water ever made it past the transom-gate and after a quick power forward, all the agua is gone.  

Has anyone heard of any problems with water coming in over our transoms?  The reason why I ask is the "Grady White capsizes" thread on THT and I hope that never happens to me.

[Keith Knecht]

Hey Ben,

All the time.  I've owned 7 different AS from 17-28' and they all took water over the transom.  Of course they were all Ospreys and I have no experience with CCPs,  I've had water up past the console and know it's time to start the boat and run it till the water drains out through the scuppers.  Ive had some good success with a piece of 1/2" aluminum channel mounted with the open end of the channel facing up.  I've used a hack saw to make relief cuts in it and bend it to the contour of the transom.  Then cut 1/2" starboard to fit in with about a 1/2 clearence for your motor from lock to lock. In other words follow the contour of the engine hood.  It will stop about 90% of the water from coming in and it doesn't look bad at all.

[John Jones]

Yes, a few weeks ago we were anchored up and due to the wind and strong tide causing a weird lay on the anchor, I was taking quite a bit of water over the notch.  My 222 has the bulkhead built in front of the motor so no water was actually coming onto the deck.  However, my high water alarm came on and I looked in the rear hatch.  I had over a foot of water in the bilge, over the top of TWO 1500 gpm automatic bilge pumps.  The water sloshing back and forth from front to back of the hull washed out 27 years worth of crap, dirt, plastic bags, as well as chunks of foam, etc.  This junk had plugged the screens of both bilge pumps restricting the flow to almost nothing.  I found that the caulking around the rear edge of the hatch had seperated and was allowing the water to run into the bilge.  The caulking is not easily seen because this is where the fuel line and the trim tab lines lay.  I'm just glad that I installed the high water alarm.  I have since replaced all the sealant back there and added a third 3700 gph pump.  Hopefully that flushing of the hull got most of the crap out and I won't have a plugged pump again.