Advice on drilling scuppers

[Fletch170]

Hey guys, got the deck in, and she is getting glassed this weekend. I will then need to drill the scuppers. Any advice for doing so? Drill from the deck side? Angle them? What is the best way to glass them? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,

-Fletch

[dirtwheelsfl]

I like rm perpendicular to the transom. To do that i use a drill press to get a perfect 90 degree hole in a piece of 2x4, the size of a pilot bit. Then hold that guide against the transom and itll keep your pilot holes from getting wonky. Id paint em with unthickened epoxy, then sand rough spots down, then glass a couple layers of light cloth/ mat in there. Someone showed me a trick once where you take a balloon and blow it up in the hole while the glass is still wet. Hard to get a hard roller in there ya know.

[Fletch170]

Using a 2x4 is a pilot is a brilliant idea. I will definately do that.

My main concern is that if I drill from the outside in, I might come in a bit high, or low, in relation to the deck. On the other hand.....if I go from the inside out, I wont be able to get a good 90 degree exit in relation to the deck, as the drill itself won't allow me to get to that angle......resulting in a slight downturn.

I think I may be over-complicating things.

[wingtime]

Using a 2x4 is a pilot is a brilliant idea. I will definately do that.

My main concern is that if I drill from the outside in, I might come in a bit high, or low, in relation to the deck. On the other hand.....if I go from the inside out, I wont be able to get a good 90 degree exit in relation to the deck, as the drill itself won't allow me to get to that angle......resulting in a slight downturn.

I think I may be over-complicating things.

I've used the block of wood trick for drill guides before.  Works good!   If you can get some hardwood that even better since 2x4s are kinda soft.  Also drill a smaller pilot hole first.  This will give you more control and room to fix any errors or if you don't like where the hole comes out.

[dburr]

Gotta ask, where do you want them to come out on deck and what size/ shape are you going for? Do you want to be able to plug them?  The wood block guide will allow you do do what you want for angle cause you can drill press dead 90 then push the block through the table saw to any angle you want.  Perpendicular to the transom is standard BUT this is YOUR boat so you can do what you want.  Ones on the Osprey are 1/4 inch above the deck and I can't wash out the sand and it makes me nuts....

I don't remember if you raised your deck but if you did then you could put nice big oval scuppers in then all the blood and fish guts just wash right out

[gman 82 aquasport]

My new floor has a small (trap) at the transom, I drilled mine from the inside out, as soon as the pilot bit cleared the outside about 1/2 inch, I drilled the rest from the outside,using the pilot hole as a angle guide, resulting in a very small amount of downward angle to the drains, but they also were at the level of the bottom of the trap area so everything drains out....I used brass drains, flaired the inside edge(1 end was done at factory) as shown on a post on here(homemade flair)...ran epoxy all around in the hole before the drains went in. Also had trial fit them to see how tight they would be, had to force them in, but thay was OK.. The epoxy sealed them in real nice and to make sure I ran a little 5200 around the ends just to be sure :pirat:

[seabob4]

Scuppers invariably allow some water to remain at the base of the scupper, as the room must be left on the bottom side of the hole for either a swage (brass scuppers), or a flange (molded T/hull type scuppers).  Obviously, you want to err on the high side, drilling to low and you can't seat rhe scupper as the cockpit sole gets in the way...

The bit of water that will eventually remain below the scupper?  Fact of boating life...

[Group W Bench]

If you are using 1" brass drain tubes for scuppers, here is a trick. I guess it is transferable to most any size if you use bigger coins/circles. Use a quarter and place it flat against the transom inside the cockpit where the bottom of the quarter is on the floor and trace the circle with a pencil. Draw a cross in the pencil drawn circle and drill a small pilot hole through center of cross from inside the cockpit through the transom with a long 1/8" or smaller bit. Now you have a pilot hole from which to start the centering bit of the 1" holesaw bit from the outside of the transom. When you flare the 1" brass drain, the bottom of the flare will flatten on the cockpit sole slightly creating very little gap in which water will stand before draining. For 1 1/8 just use a bigger coin or tube. If you are not using brass flared tubes, you will still have the bottom of the drain flush with the bottom of the cockpit.

[blindmullet]

These work well...cheap and you can use it on other projects like rod holder installs.

[seabob4]

OMG, pulled right off the HF website!   Yep, drill guides work VERY well...

[Fletch170]

Thanks guys, this all is very helpfull.

-Christian