Holes in the boat

Last time I took the boat to the lake, there was just too much standing water in it. That's just the reality of storing a boat outside — especially a boat with no drain holes.

That's just too much standing water.

So, I decided to install some drain tubes. The first step, of course, is to drill holes through the bottom of the transom. 

With my patron saint, Clark Griswold, looking over me... I took my new 1-inch hole saw, and things went very, very wrong.

"Dive! Dive! Dive!" No, I'm not building a replica U-boat. Ugh. What a mess!

Let's back up a little.

The obvious place to start was a cutout I'd made on what was originally intended as a sole support. I had left this gap for the very purpose of adding a drain tube if I ever chose to. So, I placed the flared end of my Moeller brass drain tube in position, and marked the area to be drilled.

Here, you can see the brass drain tube, the 1" hole saw, and the space for the hole.

Marking the location for the hole.

The initial cut.

I placed the drill bit at the center of my mark, and started drilling away. Once the hole saw made contact with the wood, I tried to make sure the saw was perpendicular to the transom, and began cutting.

The hole got deeper, and deeper, and I kept waiting for the drill bit to exit the other side of the transom. Then, I began to think: "What if this doesn't come out where I want it to?"

Amazed at my own wisdom, I stopped cutting, took the saw part off of the drill bit, and drilled all the way through — just to make sure it came out in the right spot. Guess what?

The first exit wound.

I reassembled the hole saw, and held it in position at the back of the transom. I immediately realized that if I continued with this cut, I would actually drill through the bottom edge. This would not only mean a hole in the bottom of the boat, but no place for the drain tube to be flanged on the outer side.

There was NO WAY this was going to work. So, I relocated the hole saw where the hole should be, and began drilling inward from the outside.

Relocated pilot hole.

Almost through.

Once the hole was all the way through the transom, it looked like this:

The center of the NEW hole, relative to the position of the first one.

Here's the drain tube placed into the NEW hole. Not pretty... but workable.

The next step was to cut away a portion of the sole support on the other side of the transom knee. I was thankful that I'd made a removable base for the bilge pump. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to reach where I needed to cut.

Bilge pump out of the way, and initial vertical cut made.

Cautiously cutting the notch with my Porter Cable multi tool.

Now that experience had taught me the wisdom of drilling from the outside in, I started the second hole (okay.. third... whatever!).

I measured and marked the spot for the pilot hole, giving myself a little added room to clear the transom knee on the inside of the hull. This time, the pilot hole was in the perfect location.

What could possibly go wrong?

Yep.

I ran the hole saw right into the starboard transom knee, scalloping away a portion of it.

Although the hole was in a technically functional position, there was absolutely zero clearance for the flared end of the drain tube.

— Now, in retrospect, I could've made this work. How? By simply not flaring the inner end of the drain tube. I could've made the seal with copious amounts of thickened epoxy. Sure, it wouldn't match the look of the port-side hole, but this side is hidden behind the bilge pump, so it wouldn't really matter. I wish this had occurred to me at the time. But, to quote the classic Asia song... "It was the heat of the moment." —

"No problem," I thought. "I'll simply widen the hole from the inside outward, and fill in the gap as needed later."

But there was a problem. The width of my drill would let me get the hole saw nowhere near the center of the original hole to make an "adjustment". So, I placed it as close as I could, and started drilling. What I wound up with was:

One elongated mess of a hole on the inside...

...and almost two completely separate holes on the outside.

Naturally, this would have to be fixed before I could proceed with my "adjustment."

I've actually seen other boatbuilders fix problems far worse than this one. So, I knew I could fix this. But how?

For starters, I took a slightly larger hole saw (1-1/4" diameter), and cut a plug out of some 2" thick mahogany scrap.

Then I packed the pilot hole with some heavily-thickened epoxy. I liberally coated the inner diameter of my transom mess with the same mixture, as well as the outside of the plug.

Then I tapped it into place with a hammer.

Don't say it. I know what it looks like.

Once all that mess cures up, good & solid, I'll find a way to finish "adjusting" the hole. The boat's name is Perseverance, after all. I don't give up.