Deck drain ports located at waterline...water coming into the cockpit

DennisG01

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I kept my boat in the water on a mooring buoy all last summer from basically early July to late September and I only had a few barnacles and other junk around the outside of the scuppers. Some brand new rubber scupper flappers kept the water from coming in and I didn't have any issues throughout the entire 3 months or so last year. I think lucky installed his halfway up underneath where the rear seats are so that he could gain access to them more easily and he hasn't had any issues with water intrusion.
Hard growth is VERY dependent on the waters. What's true in some areas will not be in other areas. In this case, the OP is in Florida and there will be a VAST difference in growth compared to colder, northern waters. Plus, his boat would be in the water 4 times as long than yours. Not exactly apples to apples. Not sure how long DnS keeps his in the water or where his is located - but the same principle applies.

However, as the OP said, he's on a lift so it's a moot point (for him, anyways).
 

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I'm sure luckydude will be along at some point to mention what he installed in his boat, but I believe it was a one way check or flapper valve? That way, you can have the water run out of the boat but not have it come back in, which would be nice, and you don't have to remember to turn the handle back into the open position every time. If I were to go about changing up my boat, something like what he did would be what I'd likely do as well.
Someone rang? I put in brass flap valves, similar to check valves but just use gravity to swing the flap closed. Which means they open very easily to let the water drain. I'm very happy with them.

valve.jpg
 

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Hard growth is VERY dependent on the waters. What's true in some areas will not be in other areas. In this case, the OP is in Florida and there will be a VAST difference in growth compared to colder, northern waters. Plus, his boat would be in the water 4 times as long than yours. Not exactly apples to apples. Not sure how long DnS keeps his in the water or where his is located - but the same principle applies.

However, as the OP said, he's on a lift so it's a moot point (for him, anyways).
That's why I quoted DarkNStormy's response and not the OP's. Also, just as a heads up would be the fact that Allentown, PA is over 1,100 miles away from Pensacola Beach, which would tend to generalize your "comment" to the idea of where it's not even worth mentioning. Also, growth on one's boat is rather subjective from person to person, just like any one of a million other things in life. Lastly yes, the OP mentioned that his boat "lives on a lift", so I'm not sure how that would mean that his boat lives in the water 4 times longer than mine does? And it also means that he has a bit of access to cleaning up said barnacles, if they were to ever present him with a problem. Considering his boat admittedly lives on a lift though, I'm thinking it's a water under the bridge type of situation, or maybe more like water under the lift?
 

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That's why I quoted DarkNStormy's response and not the OP's. Also, just as a heads up would be the fact that Allentown, PA is over 1,100 miles away from Pensacola Beach, which would tend to generalize your "comment" to the idea of where it's not even worth mentioning. Also, growth on one's boat is rather subjective from person to person, just like any one of a million other things in life. Lastly yes, the OP mentioned that his boat "lives on a lift", so I'm not sure how that would mean that his boat lives in the water 4 times longer than mine does? And it also means that he has a bit of access to cleaning up said barnacles, if they were to ever present him with a problem. Considering his boat admittedly lives on a lift though, I'm thinking it's a water under the bridge type of situation, or maybe more like water under the lift?
I believe the issue has been resolved, but I am curious why they put the scuppers so close to the waterline.
 

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I believe the issue has been resolved, but I am curious why they put the scuppers so close to the waterline.
My guess would be that the location where they put the scuppers wasn't much lower than where the level of the deck is in the cockpit area. I don't know a ton about boats or whatnot, especially their construction, but I'm assuming that GW and other boat companies want their boats to sit a little bit lower on the waterline as opposed to being several feet off the water. Depending on where the waterline is and where the deck level is, I'm guessing they couldn't put the scuppers much higher or else it might not drain out as well. And that if they raised the height of the floor up, it could cause other issues such as ride quality, comfort and safety issues as well, etc.
 
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Check valve is the way to go if you can get to the hoses to cut them in. I agree design flaw. If you beef up the transom for larger outboards, total weight and headroom for people, do homework and know where the waterline will be....
 

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problem with the check valves is clogs of bait and puked-up bait and fishing line and screws and green crab legs... Granted, alot of folks don't have that problem but ...

The check valves are not easy to clean. They are in the Hose. You have to take off hose clamps.
If the outer rubber flappers are working correctly you should not get water on deck unlees a lot of people are in one corner and ther are swells.
The flappers (and the ball scuppers in another post) are outside the boat. If there is a clog, you spray water in the deck drain and it clears the flapper.
Worse case , you lean overboard and clear it.
Problem with flappers is they get a curl and don't close. Often they need to be trimmed a little out of the package.

I do kind of like the idea of the outside ball scuppers and using a Stern Pad to make a mounting surface. I'll have to daydream about that one for a year or two:rolleyes:
 
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problem with the check valves is clogs of bait and puked-up bait and fishing line and screws and green crab legs... Granted, alot of folks don't have that problem but ...

The check valves are not easy to clean. They are in the Hose. You have to take off hose clamps.
If the outer rubber flappers are working correctly you should not get water on deck unlees a lot of people are in one corner and ther are swells.
The flappers (and the ball scuppers in another post) are outside the boat. If there is a clog, you spray water in the deck drain and it clears the flapper.
Worse case , you lean overboard and clear it.
Problem with flappers is they get a curl and don't close. Often they need to be trimmed a little out of the package.

I do kind of like the idea of the outside ball scuppers and using a Stern Pad to make a mounting surface. I'll have to daydream about that one for a year or two:rolleyes:
I have no desire to start cutting hoses on my brand new boat....
 
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problem with the check valves is clogs of bait and puked-up bait and fishing line and screws and green crab legs... Granted, alot of folks don't have that problem but ...

The check valves are not easy to clean. They are in the Hose. You have to take off hose clamps.
If the outer rubber flappers are working correctly you should not get water on deck unlees a lot of people are in one corner and ther are swells.
The flappers (and the ball scuppers in another post) are outside the boat. If there is a clog, you spray water in the deck drain and it clears the flapper.
Worse case , you lean overboard and clear it.
Problem with flappers is they get a curl and don't close. Often they need to be trimmed a little out of the package.

I do kind of like the idea of the outside ball scuppers and using a Stern Pad to make a mounting surface. I'll have to daydream about that one for a year or two:rolleyes:
Couldn't you just put a wire mesh screen underneath your cockpit drains, or use the smaller style, to keep all of the junk out of there? Such as something like this?

 

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For What it's Worth:

My last two Grady's, The Gulfstream and my current Marlin have maximum HP allowed. This means maximum weight...

F200 V6's on the Gulfstream, V8 350's on my Marlin.

On my 232 Gulfstream, the scuppers were (and still are) almost totally submerged. Water never entered the cockpit unless several passengers gathered astern. Then it would pool a little until the weight shifted forward.
I would oftentimes clean the deck with a hose and the water would always drain out, even though the scuppers were mostly submerged at rest dockside.
The Gulfstream was mostly trailered, but spent weeks in the water during summer months. I quit thinking about it-I never had a problem. My son owns it now and neither has he.

My Marlin apparently was constructed to compensate for the weight of my V8 350's as the suppers on it are above the waterline.
 
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I have no desire to start cutting hoses on my brand new boat....
I started a thread right before you about the same thing. Ball scuppers attached to the outside would solve you issue. https://www.greatgrady.com/threads/ping-pong-ball-flow-max-scuppers.36159/#post-252490

LIke others have said it's only an issue when the fuel is full and a person is fishing in back corner but I fish alot! And I put blood and guts down my scuppers all the time. That's why I bought a fishing boat! If I was cruising it wouldn't be an issue. So point is there a few different use cases.
 

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Check valve is the way to go if you can get to the hoses to cut them in. I agree design flaw. If you beef up the transom for larger outboards, total weight and headroom for people, do homework and know where the waterline will be....
Not trying to be a nit picker here but check valves require water pressure to drain. You want flap valves like what I put in. Probably what you want but I didn't want some casual reader to go "oh, ok, check valves it is". I'm probably over thinking it.
 

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I believe the issue has been resolved, but I am curious why they put the scuppers so close to the waterline.
I think that has been answered, maybe by Mustang? It's a question of where you put the deck in the hull. You could put it higher and have higher scuppers but then you have lower gunnels and a higher center of gravity.

It seems like everything about boat design is a tradeoff. Want it to slice through the waves, OK, but it won't be stable at rest. Etc. If there was an easy right answer for everything, all boats would be identical for a given size. Tradeoffs.
 

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For What it's Worth:

My last two Grady's, The Gulfstream and my current Marlin have maximum HP allowed. This means maximum weight...
if luckydude can nit-pick, i can too...

max hp doesnt ALWAYS mean max weight. the same hp motor can vary due to 2 or 4 stroke, and from one manufacturer to another, and from year to year of the same manufacturer. in your case, you may have had the heaviest motors on the marked with your max hp rating, but that wont always be the case
 

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Couldn't you just put a wire mesh screen underneath your cockpit drains, or use the smaller style, to keep all of the junk out of there? Such as something like this?

No, I want that shi going overboard. I don't want to be constantly clearing the deck drain of clam and scales and tuna blood clots
 

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No, I want that shi going overboard. I don't want to be constantly clearing the deck drain of clam and scales and tuna blood clots
I guess it depends then on what you want to do or how/what you want to clean. Personally, I'd rather clean the fish or whatever it is over the side of the boat or in the live well and then have everything flush out that way.
 

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No, I want that shi going overboard. I don't want to be constantly clearing the deck drain of clam and scales and tuna blood clots
With the flap valves, flushing crud out the scuppers works. I let chopped up squid, snails, whatever, go down there and when I get home and I'm cleaning the boat, I just put the hose over the outlet and everything goes through.
 
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Someone earlier mentioned something about replacing the scupper flaps. Is there an upgrade flap available?
 

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Someone earlier mentioned something about replacing the scupper flaps. Is there an upgrade flap available?
i took a quick look on amazon last night. the regular ones are little rubber flaps that can curl over time. there is another option that uses plastic instead of the rubber. they wont curl.