I dont know WM, I'd put the drains back in but just put some rubber plugs in them. Easier to pull plugs to drain water out in case the OP likes to hose out his cockpit, gets caught in a down pour, or boat gets left out with no cover.......than to figure out how to get all the trapped water out now with no drains. My vote is retain them but make sure they are sealed

I've used 4200, 5200, Life Seal or Life Chaulk. Depends on what's available at the time and the application.

the wood i meant was where the exhausts and drain plug etc were removed. paint with polyester resin and let it harden to seal the wood itself up before reinstalling the parts. and 5200 is for a fitting you never plan on removing again. thru hull depth finders or water inlets below the waterline for generators and such. you need to be able to remove it? ever? not 5200...

Be careful about plugging it. The reason for that drain is to drain water that gets into the cabin. Yes, it does seem to work both ways where water from the bilge in the aft end of the boat can roll forward, but if you plug it, you may actually trap water up there.

What about a one-way valve? Much like an exhaust flapper. They have them for septic systems.

I think a compression plug you can put in and tighten would be the easiest, It won't fall out or plug up with debris, and takes seconds to remove if you do somehow get water there again.

That is true but later ones don't have it. They do have a small pump under the cabin step. I would be a little concerned if water goes in and gets trapped around the fuel tank.

Seems there is good reason for both ways, might try one of the flip style drain plugs. My old hydrostream used one rather then a screw in, push it in and flip it up to expand the rubber.

Scupper valve and wrong area for one. Should not any volume of water in those areas to begin with to need to "Pass through"

I had a pop up nav light in the bow that leaked and ultimately drained it the area under the v berth. I cut access panels out primarily to dry the compartments. When dry, I sealed them with resin and corrected the drain for the nav light. Never any water in that area again. In the entrance of the cabin of my 10 meter, the step was rotten from sitting water when in storage from prior owner. All of these older boats are suceptable to rot unless owners are meticulous.

Encapsulated in glass is not a guarantee either. In a boat whose cover leaked during the boating season, water pooled in the corner of the glassed floor. Enough leached through and rotted the deck. Found it when the owner stepped in that area, flexed the glassed and cracked. One square foot repair area. Rest of floor was solid.
Going to take some digging on your part. Remember, they all have secrets.

Good luck

Just catching up on this thread . . . bummer.

I had similar issues on my 2 Formula's . . . fixed them both myself. In general these high-end boats are a lot more vulnerable to rot than one might think.

As far as getting the back-end fixed, plan on the actual area of problem and repair being 2X or 3X what you see at the outset. Having moisture & rot in the main bulkhead is a real problem as it easily spreads to the engine room stringers and the main stringers along the fuel tank.

Also the water that you found in the forward area is concerning as it could indicate water retention all along the keel. So, that would warrant a look at the forward bulkhead and even the foam in the fuel tank bay and possibly the fuel tank itself.

Not a good situation, but it probably needs to get fixed either to keep or to sell. Just plan on the actual damage and repair being larger than you expect.

I think thats where the difference may lie between his and our boats. His being a '95 has drains thru the bottom of the boat, past/under the tank from the cabin to the bilge. Ours being newer, the tank compartment has no point of entry at either the front or rear, just the drains on the outside side of side stringers in front of the batteries for the cockpit drains. Don't know if his has this??? Since there is no way for cabin water to drain out of our boats, they put the small pump inside the step, thus why we have no finished bottom in the step compartment and he does as he has no forward pump. I just used a rubber tapered plug on my '94, A slight twist when pushed in, it was good to go and never an issue of coming loose.

Figure out where/why you are getting water in there in the 1st place and address that. You should be able to have it 100% dry.

My cockpit has drains in the rear corners I can see with little polished covers over them. I think? they dump into the bilge at a separate drain near the upper outer corners possibly near the batteries in the bilge. I checked my pictures but I don't have any of that area to know for sure. I guess I need to go look!

I think that would be a good idea for the tails to coat them. Can it be applied in a thin coat? It took a while to wiggle out the tails they were in there pretty tight...

I think? the lower drains in the bilge next to main stringer go directly forward and end in the little compartments under the bed in the cuddy, one on each side of a center stringer. What I'm unsure of is if they "stop" somewhere and "restart" somewhere in between? It would seem likely that this is the case since I found the access hole and the plug under the cuddy compartment I posted pictures of earlier and it is an "open" area. The only thing forward of this access hole that could drain into there is if I spilled something on the bed and it made it's way into the access compartments underneath it.



My bow light and the cleat are accessible from behind the mirror in the very front of the cuddy. I took it off to see if there was any drains that went into the "compartments" under the bed. There are no drains that go to the rear of the boat from that area. However iit has a little drain hole that goes to the outside of the boat...always wondered what that was for...

The weird thing is that in the compartments under the bed the drains have tubes that go to the rear as well as to the front. Where the front ones go I have no idea since there is no more places to access! ??



I'm starting to think that this boat was stored with the nose down and water collected in the forward compartments (as evident by the stains in the forward compartments under the bed) and under the cabin or whatever hot mess is under there then rotted out my bulkhead and stringer. This is my current "theory". And yes, I am in denial about my transom lol!




I don't think I will have any issues with water being anywhere except in the very back of the bilge storing it like this. The driveway is slightly sloped but it's for sure nose high and should drain everything in there. I reconfigured the blocks this weekend for a few more inches of lift on the jack. Theoretically I think on the trailer, on a level surface, this boat would be sitting nose down thus allowing bilge water to run forward and collect under the cabin or what ever is underneath there.

LOVE the comment "they all have secrets" LMAO!



I believe mine has these drains from the cockpit to the bilge by the batteries as well. I REALLY hope my tank is sealed somehow from these drains...I went and bought some screw in drain plugs but I only got two...with all the drains under the bed area I think I need more! Obviously I am leaving my ghetto fab fan hooked up for as long as possible to dry everything out under the hull before installing the plugs though. I'm no boat builder by any stretch of the imagination but this drain setup mine has is just retarded If you ask me allowing water to be in places it has no place to be. Why would you want a compartment under your bed that water can flow forward to and fill up from the bilge? The ONLY feasible explanation I can see is for insurance claims where you need to sink your boat and be 100% sure it will sink before it can be rescued! Anyways, that's my rant... Can anyone see a reason to leave the drains under the bed "open"?