Drilling A Drainage Hole in Sunfish Hull???

[Gabbyfire]

Has anyone ever drilled a permanent drainage hole and used a removable plug in one of these older sunfish ..........
So if it needs to be drained again you have easy accessability??? I have no idea how water is getting in the hull. I will try to find out and repair it ..but if I can't I just don't see drilling drainage holes in it every few weeks..(uses)

I aquired an older sunfish last week. Don't know how old. We took it out for a couple hours and found that we had aquired some water in the hull. We turned it upside down hoping the water would drain out of the bailer but it didn't. Our other Sunfish (age unknown) has a drain plug in the back and a circular opening on the deck at the back. I can open either one of these and drain water out of the hull.

(It was suggested on another thread submitted by LEWFOX that they drill some holes in the hull to drain the water and then patch them but I can't see doing this repeatedly if I can't find the leak). If anyone has any experience with this problem any suggestion (or detailed instructions) would be appreciated. Thanks.

[CharlieCobra]

My V-21 has a permanent drainplug but it's too high up the transom to be useful unless she's really flooded.

[Sailormann]

Our other Sunfish (age unknown) has a drain plug in the back and a circular opening on the deck at the back. I can open either one of these and drain water out of the hull.

You can buy both of these things for your 'newer' Sunfish and install them yourself fairly easily. Sailnet.com, Defender, West Marine all sell them.

[Gabbyfire]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't know the age of either of my two sunfish boats....but I think the newer one is the one that has a drain plug and the older one (one I just got) is the one with a water problem. It will be a little bit of a challenge to find out exactly where I'm taking water in from but it sounds like I won't do any harm by installing a drain plug if I get one of these kits.....so thanks so much. Will post my results to let you all know how it worked.l....thanks.

[dan2007]

Has anyone ever drilled a permanent drainage hole and used a removable plug in one of these older sunfish

All fiberglass Sunfish have a drain plug. It's located on the starboard side at the end of the coaming... some early years even had one to port... a few yeras had it in the bow near the handle. Older drain ports are a dime size bronze screw, newer boats have the familiar twist-out plastic plug.

I have no idea how water is getting in the hull. I will try to find out and repair it ..but if I can't I just don't see drilling drainage holes in it every few weeks..

Right, drilling your hull full of holes is not the wisest approach. The typical tactic is to first do a leak test, patch the holes, and then check the drain port after each day out to identify any new problems.

There's a great source for Sunfish and similar type beach craft information at an owner's support group: sunfish_sailor : Sunfish Sailor

Instructions for leak testing and photos & diagrams for keeping the innards dry and flotation buoyant.