Drain Plug

[ronin2024]

I have been worried about my drain plug on my Kingfisher 1825 Falcon. The first time that I got the boat I installed the compression plug and tightened it pretty tight. We launched the boat and while waiting for my buddy to park the truck I heard a gurgling sound. Oops I reach down and turn it a couple times and problem fixed. This year I made sure that I added Teflon tape to the plug and tightened the plug pretty tight so much I was worried that the plug might break. No issues all summer. Then it got cold. I have the boat dry docked at Milltown. I request a launch mid-Oct and when I got to the boat there was 3 - 4 inches of water in the boat. So much water that when I walked on the deck I saw water splashing of the side of the deck. I reached down and I was able to do two 1/4 a turns and it seemed to work. After I pumped out the water it didn't leak all day. Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[trophywife]

odd it is backing out? use gas tape (thicker) and more of it... and a whip of liquid teflon on the male and female threads, tighten firmly. the liquid teflon will harden up somewhat.

 

[noluck]

get rid of the compression and put a threaded plug in

 

[Lucky Streak]

Put an additional plug on the outside

 

[Bugs]

Bottom line: make sure it is right. I had one buddy have his newly outfitted (new electronics, new kicker, new wiring, newly restored main) welded aluminum fill with water and roll over on a mooring this summer because the plug came out. I also had a guy I was working with nearly sink his campion with an external plug. He had to jump overboard with the spare plug to put it in and if he had not had a dock to tie to while he bailed the boat would have sunk. Such a simple piece of equipment with such high potential cost for failure

 

[sir-vivor]

Replace the whole plug, time and time again I have seen half submerged boats, I replaced mine twice over the past 15 years on my Striper .... it only takes a weekend and your good for years .... Don't risk a quick fix, safety safety safety ! (PS I also keep a set of cork plugs on the boat just in case )

 

[trophywife]

get rid of the compression and put a threaded plug in

I missed that, GET A THREADED PLUG!

 

[Irishwolf]

Cold temps can cause shrinkage I usually reset mine each trip but a bit easier to do in a tinny. I was looking at an 18 foot Malibu the other day with a friend of mine and the guy had a threaded drain plug. I asked him about it because it looked like a big oil drain plug with a big washer. Needed a 1/2 inch wrench to adjust it from the outside.

 

[scott craven]

I missed that, GET A THREADED PLUG!

x3 you won'tr have to worry about it again

 

[pennel]

Never had a problem yet.
However I noticed that Lucky Streak said put an additional plug on the outside.
As I have only ever put my plug in from the outside am I doing this wrong?

 

[scott craven]

If your boat has a non-threaded thru hull fitting for the bilge drain,
you can plug it from the inside with an expandable rubber plug.

 

[donnie d]

Should be a threaded thru hull. Def get the threaded plug and Grease the threads of the thru hull

 

[ronin2024]

odd it is backing out? use gas tape (thicker) and more of it... and a whip of liquid teflon on the male and female threads, tighten firmly. the liquid teflon will harden up somewhat.

I don't this it backed out. I was thinking that maybe it got cold and the rubber shrank.

get rid of the compression and put a threaded plug in

I was looking at getting a threaded plug but I noticed that the drain tube comes out about 1/2" on the outside so I think I would have to mount from the inside.