Removing all the lead from the Keel

[Peter T]

Hi Ozzie, that's a great idea. Thank you for pointing that out, I didn't know that these were available. I will certainly do it this way and if I can get a plate with nuts attached glassed into the transom for the pintles without having to remove the cockpit sole, that would be even better.
All the best,
Peter T

[Peter T]

Hi Bill, one of the things I am thinking to change on my boat is to add rudder Pintle access through the rear wall of the cockpit or another idea that I have. There are several ways of doing this. Another thing I want to change is the tiny little drains from the cockpit. I am considering cutting out the cockpit floor to give great access to modify the drains. I reckon they should be no less that 1 1/2 to 2 inch dia. If you were at sea and got a large wave dumped into the cockpit, then a lot of it would enter the cabin even with the wash boards in place and it would take forever to drain out of those little drains that are there. With the floor removed, I reckon I could fix it as well as set up the pintle mounts so that there were captive nuts welded on to a plate and then that fibreglassed into the transom. If this was done, no access from inside would be needed to be able to change the pintles from the outside as the bolts would just then screw in from the outside as well. It’s a big job to remove the cockpit floor, fix the drains as well as the pintles and then glass the floor back in and I haven’t decided if this is the way I will go or not yet. I have had a lot of experience with fibreglass as I built my previous boat in glass. If I did go that way, it would really make a massive difference to the whole thing.
Anyway, food for thought.
Let me know if I can help you in any way. All the best.
Cheers
Peter T
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[Ozzie]

Just looking at caravan bits on eBay and this came up. Also noted as a boat scupper. It would need a suitable extension I assume to bridge the transom thickness but has a snap shut water tight seal when closed to prevent back wash. As long as the spring tension was not too much. No point having it only opening when there is a full cockpit. Anyway FYI for anyone tackling this issue.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Caravan-Air ... 2294707707

0C7FDDF7-6516-46EC-B880-EC14C39D6661.jpeg (16.28 KiB) Viewed 1815 times

I’m not sure at what size this would be too big to structurally weaken the transom. The cutout for this is 112x58 so not excessive I assume.