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Lancer 23' Fish Tub Drain or Not

If it's in the cockpit or in the cabin, post your questions and answers here.

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suesailor
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Lancer 23' Fish Tub Drain or Not

Post by suesailor » Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:14 am

We're having such fun putting our 1974 Lancer back into shape and this forum is a wealth of knowledge. So glad we found it.
The fish tub, or ice chest that is installed on the aft deck with the teak covered hatch is a bit of a problem. Rain water can enter this tub, but no drain was ever installed. How have others solved this problem? After the last rain, with 4 or 5 gallons of water in this tub, it was heavy and hard to pull out to empty (read: spilled water all over self, aft seat, cockpit etc.)
The hinged lid could be made to be watertight, I suppose, but that would probably involve installing a latch.
Should we just cut a drain in the tub, put a hose on it and lead it into the bilge? That seems contrary to the way we like to do things. Also, running the drain hose out a transom above water thru-hull spilling on our pretty teak swim platform, isn't the best idea either.
Any suggestions or solutions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Lon & Susie

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"Cheers"
1974 23' Lancer
Mercruiser 350 MPI Straight Inboard (1998)
Sausalito, CA

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Bill Basler
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Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

Post by Bill Basler » Sun Mar 27, 2011 3:37 pm

My early Corsair division boat is filled with water handling oddities. For example on this little 17 foot boat, the front and side deck are recessed with a lip around all sides of about 3 inches in height. In the case of rainfall or heavy spray while running, everything that hits th decks, rolls to the back of the boat where the side decks have recessed scupper that tie into a series of vinyl tubes that drain the water out and through the transom.

Yes, that's right. Water that was outside the boat is brought inside the boat, only to be channeled through to the outside of the boat through holes in the transom. Gravity makes this all work, as crazy of an idea as it seems. Why the water is channeled inside and through the transom I don't know.

I see an outlet on your transom now. Is that your bilge pump outlet?
Bill Basler

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Paul P
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Post by Paul P » Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:52 pm

I have the same issue on a 1973 23 Lancer inboard I am restoring. I am planning on using my fish tank as an ice chest, because I am a poor fisherman and much better at drinking cold beverages. It therefore makes every sense in the world to put a drain in the bottom and perhaps run it to a discharge port (like a bilge port). If you don't want to drill another hole in the boat, which I can fully understand, then this could be discharged into the bilge I guess, because fresh rain water or potable water never really hurt a fiberglass bilge. I suppose you could also hook to a small bilge pump to do the job, but I like the automatic function of gravity much better than having to rely on a mechanical device.

If you put a drain in, you could always use a ball valve too, so the fish tank could still be used as originally intended, and this would also be sure that water never came the wrong way in the port into the boat too. Just a couple thoughts now that you bring up an issue I have yet to solve on my own boat.

Lucky you.......yours is done and in the water!

Regards,

Paul
1956 17' CC Sportsman, 300-hp
1957 17' CC Sportsman, 95-hp
1966 20' CC fiberglass Sea Skiff, 210-hp+
1973 23' CC Lancer inboard project, 427/375-hp.
1966 38' CC Commander Express, 427/300-hp(2)

So many boats.........so little time.....but what a way to go!!

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Bill Basler
Posts: 1996
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2005 4:48 pm
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

Post by Bill Basler » Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:10 pm

My modern day fiberglass boat has a polyethylene cooler where a glove box would typically be. Who wears gloves on a boat anyways?

This glove box is big enough for about 6-10 of your favorite beverages with ice. It has a drain hole, which is plumbed to an outlet in the hull sides. Looks just like a bilge outlet. Inside the glove box, there is a drain plug...just like a bilge plug but smaller in diameter. At the end of the day you pull the plug, and let the water out...via gravity. Could not be easier. Rinse it out with some suds if it is dirty, and put the plug back in. This cooler is about 2-3 gallons in volume.

Your fish box will hold much more, and depending on how deep the box is, it may get too close to the waterline to gravity feed, but if so, it does work fine. If you don't want to introduce another hole, I would just drain into the bilge and pump it out. Just make sure your water does not contain little plastic wrappers and other junk that seems to accumulate in coolers.
Bill Basler

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57 chris
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Post by 57 chris » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:43 pm

Anybody out there have an older Lancer to compare? My '68 had a drain in the bottom of the box that drained into the bilge. My '72 was a 19' and didn't have the box.

Craig
1957 18' SeaSkiff #SK 18675 "Knot Sure!"
1958 18' SeaSkiff #SK18722 "Wreckreation"

Past projects: 1972 19' Lancer with 307 Volvo drive-Great Blue, 1968 23' Lancer Offshore with 283 Volvo drive-Narwahl
1988 FourWinns 245 Vista - Blue Ayes.

It's good to have wood!

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