I have just discovered that a fitting to one of my water tanks is leaking. This is easily fixable, but with this discovery I found that there is no drainage from the tank area to the bilge. On the older Cds access to the bilge is quite limited. I am extremely hesitant to start drilling so close to hull. Does anyone have any comments about this?
Many thanks,
Victoria
water tanks and bilge access
Moderator: bobdugan
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Victoria Y
- Posts: 5
- Joined: Mar 14th, '05, 12:59
- Location: Cape Dory 36 Malie Hull #83
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Steve Laume
- Posts: 4127
- Joined: Feb 13th, '05, 20:40
- Location: Raven1984 Cape Dory 30C Hull #309Noank, CT
- Contact:
Drill away
If drilling a few drain holes seems like a good idea and it does. Then you should not let fear of drilling right through your boat stand in the way. Our boats are pretty strong with thick hulls. You should be able to feel the drill push through the liner into at least a small void before you contact the hull. If you are really worried you can get stop collars that fit around the drill bit and lock in place. These can be set so you can only drill to the thickness of the material you are working with. another way to accomplish this is to cut a piece of pipe or tubing to slip over your bit leaving only the amount of drill protruding that you feel comfortable with. You can make minor adjustments by rechucking the bit in the drill. If I was drilling into the unknown I would be much more concerned about wires and plumbing than going into the hull. Just go slow, Steve.