After suffering the aggravation and damage of a flooded bilge over the 2006-07 winter, we decided that the addition of a garboard plug, or bilge drain plug was a good idea.

Simplicity Itself

Installing the bilge plug was a straightforward procedure. The first step was to prepare the hole for the plug. The unit we had chosen was a Buck Algonquin bronze garboard plug which needed a primary hole of a little less than 1-3/4 inches. I selected the nearest-sized hole saw that I had available, which was 44mm, and just slightly oversized. I then cut a "slot" for the plug's keyway by drilling a small hole at the edge of the main hole.

I dry-fit the plug body and drilled and tapped for number 10 bronze machine screws. I then cleaned away the bottom paint from the area and dried it thoroughly with acetone in preparation for final installation.

With the hole ready, I applied a heavy bead of 3M 5200 polyurethane adhesive to the plug body and flange, and installed it with the machine screws. I cleaned up the heavy squeeze-out, and left it to cure for the week that remained before launch.