Grady Drive Drain Plug?

[yellowlab]

Can anyone provide a part number for the offshore bracket plastic plug that is located at the bottom of the Grady Drive?

 

[ROBERTH]

If you have plastic one's, they likely are just PVC threaded plugs. I forget the size, but it might be 3/4". Cheap enough to pick up one and try it out. If fits, good to go or get a 1" in case.

I tried the PVC plugs but didn't like them as I have to remove them every few trips to drain out the water and PVC is too soft and the head will not last long. I was able to find some Aluminum plugs on Ebay a few years ago and have been using them every since.

I am currently into resolving the small leakage into the bracket now. Thought that the issue was leaking around the access plates, but when I removed the Swim Platform, found that the seal at the top of the bracket is where it was leaking allowing in water.

I am doing some touchup painting and bought new access plates that I can bolt in and get a better seal since the screws were always stripping out. Will use 4000UV caulk to reseal everything and it should hold up better than the silicone that was on there from before. It was interesting that the top plate of the bracket where it meets the transom will flex, so likely that is why the seal had opened up.

Anyhow, once I get the Bracket repainted and am also doing the Swim Platform with Interlux Perfection, it should be really nice!

I don't think that the aluminum plugs leak as they seem to thread in as a tapered thread and are really tight. However, I will use some thread sealant once I get all this done to ensure that the plugs are not the cause.

 

[yellowlab]

Thanks, I was able to find the female and male parts, made by Gull when they were doing the off shore brackets for Grady, now Armstrong does them from what I understand. I went ahead and re-sealed the bracket to the transom gap, which was a bit suspect and will remove the swim step and re-do that with 5200.

 

[DennisG01]

Just out of curiosity, why did you use super glue to seal a gap? And, will the area you sealed see any UV (direct or reflected)? 5200 is not UV stable. For the swim step... same questions - are the mechanical fasteners not strong enough? 5200 is not a better "sealant" than other things - it's primary purpose is gluing... which can cause damage to the gelcoat if you should ever need to remove the things.

 

[ROBERTH]

My bracket was made by Springfield so maybe a bit different than yours.

Agree with Dennis. I am going to be using 3M 4000UV this time around instead of the GE Silicone caulk where the UV will hit.

For the area under the swim platform that will not see sun, I am going to be using the Sudbury Elastomeric Marine Sealant which is pretty tough stuff with a very strong bond, but removable more so than 5200.

 

[handinpalm]

Has anyone seen any improvements in water leaks by sealing the top of the Grady drive & transom? I just bought a 2005 228G Seafarer and the Grady drive was completely full of salt water when I pulled the plastic drain plug. Could not believe there was so much water in there. I sprayed fresh water between the swim platform and transom while the plug was removed and saw water come out of drain, meaning it was leaking at the Grady drive / transom interface. Looks like I will be pulling swim platform and sealing this interface. At least try to. Must be a design flaw from Grady. Any one have any sources or P/N for the aluminum drain plugs, the plastic is crap and chips. Thanks.

 

[DennisG01]

Has anyone seen any improvements in water leaks by sealing the top of the Grady drive & transom? I just bought a 2005 228G Seafarer and the Grady drive was completely full of salt water when I pulled the plastic drain plug. Could not believe there was so much water in there. I sprayed fresh water between the swim platform and transom while the plug was removed and saw water come out of drain, meaning it was leaking at the Grady drive / transom interface. Looks like I will be pulling swim platform and sealing this interface. At least try to. Must be a design flaw from Grady. Any one have any sources or P/N for the aluminum drain plugs, the plastic is crap and chips. Thanks.

Why is it a design flaw? Isn't the front edge of the bracket completely open? Resealing various parts/components on a boat is a normal thing to do every so often and is considered regular maintenance. Plus, who knows what previous owners have done.

Edit: Forgot to add... If your intent is to remove the bracket (at least partially) to reseal, I think you're on the right track. Just sealing from the outside is a partial job, at best. Remove... clean... reseal... reattach. Do it right and you'll have many years of leak-free boating.

 

[ROBERTH]

I have gone through working to reseal and got major improvements. Trying to find the leak was the hard part. As mentioned above in conversation, I think the last weak link was the top was resealed with the GE Silicone we use for the floor seams which is bathroom tub and tile caulk. That was not a good sealant for the top as the top can flex where it meets the transom. So this area will require a more rigid and stronger bonding type caulk which I will be using. I doubt the elastomeric sealant will break the bond.

Agree with the plastic plugs, they just aren't strong enough. If I recall, the aluminum plug was 3/4" NPT thread and brand was Fragola. The plugs I got are a bit long in threads, but they don't cause any issue as they are up high enough not to cause any drag issues. They do work perfectly. I carry a socket/ratchet in my door on the truck and always when removing the drain plug, I remove these plugs also.

From my initial sealing efforts, I am only getting about a quart of water out for each trip instead of the gallons before, so I knew I was making a difference. Once remove the swim platform and saw the seal broken at the top, then I knew where it was getting in. Will know once I get all this redone.

 

[handinpalm]

Why is it a design flaw? Isn't the front edge of the bracket completely open? Resealing various parts/components on a boat is a normal thing to do every so often and is considered regular maintenance. Plus, who knows what previous owners have done.

Edit: Forgot to add... If your intent is to remove the bracket (at least partially) to reseal, I think you're on the right track. Just sealing from the outside is a partial job, at best. Remove... clean... reseal... reattach. Do it right and you'll have many years of leak-free boating.

Well I certainly don't consider pulling the motor and bracket as routine maintenance. The boat and bracket are in excellent shape. A leaking bracket is like a hole in your boat, but it will only fill up so much. Do you consider a hole in your boat as routine? The purpose of the hollow bracket is to add bouncy, and it is not doing it. I will be using the Sudbury Elastomeric Marine Sealant around the top half as someone recommended. The bottom half of the bracket is not leaking, since it holds water very good. Thanks for everyone's ideas.

 

[Ky Grady]

Well I certainly don't consider pulling the motor and bracket as routine maintenance. The boat and bracket are in excellent shape. A leaking bracket is like a hole in your boat, but it will only fill up so much. Do you consider a hole in your boat as routine? The purpose of the hollow bracket is to add bouncy, and it is not doing it. I will be using the Sudbury Elastomeric Marine Sealant around the top half as someone recommended. The bottom half of the bracket is not leaking, since it holds water very good. Thanks for everyone's ideas.

When I got my '04 228 home(Kentucky), and was going through it flushing away as much salt residue that I could, I opened my inspection port and found that the previous owner had placed a Pilates ball in the bracket. I contacted him and asked the reason why. "If water gets in, it will only fill up so much as the ball takes up the space once filled with air. Made sense to me, cleaned the ball up and sprayed out the inside of the bracket, put ball back in and blew it back up with air compressor, stuck plug in and put inspection cover back on. Double buoyancy with the bracket and the ball.

 

[DennisG01]

Well I certainly don't consider pulling the motor and bracket as routine maintenance. The boat and bracket are in excellent shape. A leaking bracket is like a hole in your boat, but it will only fill up so much. Do you consider a hole in your boat as routine? The purpose of the hollow bracket is to add bouncy, and it is not doing it. I will be using the Sudbury Elastomeric Marine Sealant around the top half as someone recommended. The bottom half of the bracket is not leaking, since it holds water very good. Thanks for everyone's ideas.

The motor is held on with four nuts, the bracket with few more. Not exactly rocket science to do this. If it's out of your comfort level, that's fine. But resealing things is indeed considered maintenance. Sealant doesn't last forever. No, it is not a "hole in the boat" - that is a complete exaggeration. You also missed the part about it being used, so who knows what a previous owner has done. However, enough said as it seems like you are looking to blame someone for normal wear and tear so I'll back out of this conversation.

 

[DennisG01]

When I got my '04 228 home(Kentucky), and was going through it flushing away as much salt residue that I could, I opened my inspection port and found that the previous owner had placed a Pilates ball in the bracket. I contacted him and asked the reason why. "If water gets in, it will only fill up so much as the ball takes up the space once filled with air. Made sense to me, cleaned the ball up and sprayed out the inside of the bracket, put ball back in and blew it back up with air compressor, stuck plug in and put inspection cover back on. Double buoyancy with the bracket and the ball.

Interesting idea with the ball! And not a bad one, at that. People have done it with closed-cell foam - why not something that is inflatable.

You may just be making a joke, but just for reference, it's not "double the buoyancy". The buoyancy is still controlled by the size of the bracket - what is inside it makes no difference (other than weight). The ball DOES, however, add "redundancy" - and maybe that's what you were really getting at.

 

[Ky Grady]

Tongue in cheek on Double Buoyancy. The inflated ball just displaces the room for water to fill your bracket for guys that are leaking or like myself and leave the plug out from the last time I flushed/drained my bracket. :shock:

 

[DennisG01]

Tongue in cheek on Double Buoyancy. The inflated ball just displaces the room for water to fill your bracket for guys that are leaking or like myself and leave the plug out from the last time I flushed/drained my bracket. :shock:

It really is an ingenious idea. It makes sense as it will displace more of the free area inside than stuffing foam in there. I bet it lasts quite a while, too.
And... I can relate to leaving a plug out... the garboard drain plug!

 

[Curmudgeon]

Try this on a leaking bracket. Find a barbed fitting that fits the drain, add hose and a female garden hose fitting. Take out a couple of the screws on the inspection plate, turn on the hose gently and be patient. Any leak(s) should start to seep so you know where to start. If the bracket hasn't been sealed externally, clean the joint and run a bead of 4200UV paying particular attention to the leak(s). If it's been sealed externally, try to scrape it out at the site of leaks, then run a bead of 4200UV. I did mine and it didn't leak for the remaining 5 years I had her (~350 hrs, or so). Sure, taking the thing off is the thing to do, IF you have plenty of muscle to help, time, and patience. And if some fool used 5200 on it, take it to a shop before you tear up gel-coat.

The fitting and hose is also a good way to flush a bracket that has a slight leak ... :wink:

 

[chrisk]

So, I have a question about the Grady Drive. Mine is a '92 246G Explorer. I am the original owner and I have never opened the Grady Drive bracket - never pulled the plug or opened the top plate. Boat has always been kept on a trailer and I have never seen any water "leaking" from the bracket of the mounting area.

Is this something I should think about (pulling the plug) to see if there are any leaks? I always figured that because I had no reason to open it up, I would just leave it alone.

Chris

 

[ROBERTH]

I would highly recommend opening it up. 1st time I opened mine it must have drained over 50 gallons of water. It never showed any signs of leaking while on the trailer.

 

[handinpalm]

The drain on my Grady Drive, 228 Seafarer came in 2 plastic pieces (see pic). One piece is mounted inside the drive and the drain plug w/ washer, screws on the outside. This plug is NOT an NPT thread, it is 5/8 - 11 regular screw thread. It only can seal the drain with the rubber O ring on the plug. BTW, this drain plug is very cheap and susceptible to cracking if torqued too hard. You need to torque just a little past hand tight and that is it. Be careful. If you order this plug, make sure to order the O ring also. I bought an over sized (thicker) O ring from Ace hardware for a better seal. I also cleaned and caulked the outside of the Drive/Transom interface with 3M 4000UV. Was not about to pull the 600# motor off the drive. My Drive was leaking at the top of the bracket (see pic). Last time I went out there was not any leaking inside after caulking. Yea! If you have never opened the drain plug you better check. You can pretty much tap on the drive with a screw driver handle and tell if it has water inside. Should make a hollow sound when empty.

 

[ROBERTH]

Who would have thought?
Seems I have fixed the leaking now with the new evidence of pressuring inside the bracket just from the temperature moving from 66 degrees to over 80 today.

I had put in the new access hatches and sealed them, and then installed the aluminum drain plugs today, then I found this to my surprise!

I guess I had not let the caulk cure long enough. Now have to peel this off and reseal this area, but this is a good sign, but also one that might be why it has been blowing the seal using regular bathroom tub and tile caulk, thus the leaking. Going to have to give this stuff a good week to cure before I put the plugs back in! :mrgreen:

Also, when removing the drain plug, there was a considerable amount of pressure released.

Thinking that this might be the entire issue why these brackets leak! Pressure blows the caulk sealant.

Now, to engineer some type of vent that does not allow water to enter. Who has some ideas on that?

 

[ROBERTH]

I think I have an idea. Being a fish tank nut, I can use a air pump one way valve. This is the valve you put inline to an airstone, so if there is a power outage, the water can't siphon back into the air pump. These are very tiny one way valves with a silicone type flapper.

I can drill a small hole in the top of the screw in deck plate, pull through a piece of silicone airline tubing and just connect one of these valves. This will prevent water from entering in, but allow air pressure to escape.

This is of course, a poor mans engineering effort, but think it will work perfectly. It will be under the swim platform, so hidden from all weather. Should last a long time.

What do ya think?