Scuppers? Ball? Duck Bill? Whats best?

[gran398]

These Murphy stories sometimes work out....sometimes not. About 28 years ago four guys left out of Masonboro grouper fishing. They were in a 21 foot Chris Craft Scorpion, cuddy model, 235 Evinrude. I know some of you remember them.

Actually a good running boat. No if any flotation. They're anchored up thirty miles offshore, not a nice day. Late fall, water cooling down...mid sixties if had to guess. All four are in the stern bottom fishing. Wave crashes over the stern. Bilge pump fails to come on, auto or manual. Captain opens the inspection plate....all are back there trying to help.

Another wave crashes over...bilge fills, another wave, etc.

Boat sinks like a rock, never even got a Mayday off. Coast Guard found one by helicopter the next day, hanging on the fishbox. The only reason they speculated he survived was that he was extremely obese, and his insulation saved him.

Glad you guys are all safety conscious, and believe in systems redundancy. BTW, always ran 2 VHF's on my offshore boats, and two antennas.

[Skoot]

Glad you guys are all safety conscious, and believe in systems redundancy. BTW, always ran 2 VHF's on my offshore boats, and two antennas.

Umm, aaahh, umm, What bilge pump??? My boat didn't come with one, nor access to one. I do have 1 switch on my boat for the running lights, but that doesn't work. And did you say something about a VHF Radio? ahh yea, umm yea how about a cell phone.  haahha Guess I need to jump on this safety conscious band waggon

Dam what a Smart Ass :twisted:

[MarshMarlowe196]

Skoot-

I can walk you through a bilge pump setup on your rig if you'd like.  I'd drive myself crazy with worry without them.

[Skoot]

I can walk you through a bilge pump setup on your rig if you'd like. I'd drive myself crazy with worry without them.

That would be great. I know I need one and I already ran the wires when I replaced my tank.  I also have a round access hatch just waiting for an install, after that I'll take you up on the bilge setup.

I'll tell you guys what though.  Every time I get back to the ramp I take the plug out and there is Never any water in the bilge.

[MarshMarlowe196]

Yeah mines usually pretty dry too.  But- you never know if you might hit something hard enough to start taking on water.  I know it's cliche' but, Better Safe Than Sorry  

I have some pics in my photobucket of the bilge setup.

[flounderpounder225]

They were in a 21 foot Chris Craft Scorpion, cuddy model, 235 Evinrude. I know some of you remember them.


That was the boat I had for 7 years before selling and buying the Osprey, Awesome cuddy, it had about the same hull as the wellcraft step V, big bow flare, mine orignially came with a gil bracket and 175 Yammie, my friend that I bought it from put a full width stern bracket on it, and a new 96' 225 Yamaha.  That boat never let me down once, the bilge was easy to get to because it had the full lift up hatch in the rear of the cockpit where the doghouse would normally sit.

[wingtime]

Those ball scupper work great, I couldn't be happier with them. i got a set of Seachoice ball scuppers from Cost Plus Marine.  There located in Madeira beach. Its a small place but crams in tons of products and great prices.

Yeah I think I know the place.  Is that the guy that is in the bright yellow building?  I bought some stuff from him before.  Your right he has some great stuff crammed in a small place at good prices.     BTW Scoot where did you catch the greenies near Johns Pass?  Haven't fished out of there before and I thought I would give it a try.

[gran398]

FP, one of my buddies had one way back when....I know you remember, they ran GREAT in a following sea. Fast and dry, too. If he still has it, make sure he addresses the floation issue, if he hasn't already.

Skoot, little story to relate. Many years ago I was running my old Simmons WOT in one of the bays behind Figure Eight. They had been doing some dredging back there, and were moving the sand thru pipes to the beach for beach renourishment. The way it was usually set up, most of the dredge pipe sections were on floats across the water, with one section fully submerged anchored to the bottom to allow for maritime passage.

Well guess what? Several of the sections closest to the sunk ones had come off their floats, and were floating slightly beneath the water. And, it was late afternoon, the sun was in my eyes. And maybe I had drank half a beer, and maybe I didn't inhale....anyway, WHAM....

I hit the damn thing so hard the ol' V4 Johnnirude slammed up through the well, completely busting it open. It was a wooden boat, but had it been glass, probably would've breached it.

And for sure, everyone knows folks who have struck old submerged dock pilings, etc.

Hey, bid on that honey-pie SB just posted....

[Capt. Bob]

So maligned but so cheap.

[Skoot]

Yep thats the place bright yellow building with truck to match. I think he's only open M-F, maybe half day on Saturday.  As for green backs I cast the edge of the flats between the South island and the center Island.  There is an unmarked channel that runs between them and on the backsides (east) of the island have some nice grass flats.  There was also lots of bait just off the beach

[seabob4]

Maybe it's the Sarasota Bay way, but one good throw under the overhanging Mangrove branches can net you a pretty good catch of greenbacks, white bait, and pinfish...and an occasional baby snook!

[Hi308]

Hey Wingtime,

 Be sure & post some pics when your done, OK.

[wingtime]

Well I called Rabud today and they said I have the wrong hatches installed in my boat.  I should have the offshore ones..  so I ordered up a set.  Then I motored on down to Cost Plus Marine after work and made it there 15 minutes before he closed.  I was overwhelmed by all the stock he has in there and 15 minutes was not even close to take it all in.  I looked at the Seachoice ball scuppers and they look good.  I want to get a look that the TH marine Flow-max scuppers before I buy a set since they can be opened up for cleaning.  I'll be sure to post pics of the mods.

[wingtime]

I ended up buying Rabud offshore hatches and Flo-max ball scuppers

As promised here are the pics of the hatch replacement and ball scuppers....

Leaky hatch notice the hinges...  the water just pour through the hinges:



I was lucky the hatch popped off the 5200.....  getting the 5200 off the deck took a while though!



It looked like the PO cut the openings in the deck with a chain saw...  So I had to buld up the edges so the new hatches would fit:


Installed offshore hatches:




Flow-max ball scupper:  Notice the little screw on the left side of the scupper.  If you want to clean the scupper just unscrew that screw 1/2 way and give the scupper a 1/4 turn.  It pops right off the base for easy cleaning without unbeding the base and mounting screws.  Cool!



I filled up the splash well with water with a hose while holding the ball scuppers closed. When I let the scuppers open they drained quickly with no apparent flow restriction.  Next I popped open the hatches to see how much water leaked into the bilge.  To my surprise not a single drop of water leaked!

[RickK]