Arima floor hatch draining out through the transom?

[Yachter Yat]

  Yeah!  Wouldn't it be nice if these Arimas had been designed to accommodate such a drain?  I mean, a tube/hose (incorporating a ball valve), going from the inside of the floor hatch, exiting out a thru-hull fitting in the lower part of the transom.  Just think, this would have eliminated having to dump bloody "refuse" into the bilge when cleaning. Not to mention how that valve could have been opened while underway.  I'm convinced......carpenters should not be allowed to design houses, and boat builders should not be allowed to..........well.....you know.

Yat 
   

[Barnaclebob]

How about a mascerator pump mod?

For me, fish get bled in the motor well after I know they aren't flopping anymore.  Then rinsed with a bucket of water or now my raw water washdown.  Then into a kill bag or the rubbermaid tubs that fit in the fish box.  Very little goop into the bilge.

[croaker stroker]

I love the smell of fish guts in the morning. 

[JDB]

Square bucket with raw water is the bleeder bucket, then (if the action is hot) right in to the cooler bag.  When to e allows, clean the fish on the cutting board cut to fit in the motor well cover, with the guts over this side.  Most of the time it's just a little blood from the deck to the bleed bucket, I've taken to using the center compartment and tray for bumper and extra bow/stern line storage.

But there is nothing quite like fish guts in the bilge marinating in summer heat... Fresh.

[Terrace]

I go from the gaff to kayak stringer  cut a gill and drag along side  Gut over the water to the kill bag

[Nanserbe]

I go from the gaff to kayak stringer  cut a gill and drag along side  Gut over the water to the kill bag

You must not have many seals around you. That wouldn't fly here where they get nabbed at the edge of the boat right before you net the fish.

[Yachter Yat]

  Yeah, I'm sure many of you have figured out how to handle your catches, in order to minimize the waste.  I don't know, maybe just me, but if I were designing a non-self-bailing small fishing boat with a floor hatch, I'd be looking at a way to get it to drain overboard. Additionally, I think doing so without having to deal with a pump would have to be a top priority. 

  Having such a drain in the 'floor' of the hatch almost seems to be the most attractive.  Of course, this might only be possible if there's enough space between the bottom side of the floor hatch and bilge floor. What I'm picturing is a 90 degree PVC elbow, fitted into the hatch floor with a flush strainer.....(like a bathtub).  The hose going aft could be something flexible; say, similar to fuel fill hose, but perhaps a bit smaller in diameter. Only problem I see is accessing the in-line ball shutoff valve. That might be a problem with these Arimas.

Yat

[davidsea]

   Same old problem.....the drain will be below the waterline, so a ball valve shutoff needs to be ON the transom at the outlet, not somewhere else.  It's going to be a pull the tank project, plus design/build a reliable linkage to operate the valve remotely.
   Not a solution really, but I did a 'bilge vac' when I rebuilt my boat.  Lots of stuff  that's too big to go through the stock drain collects back at the transom under the tank. I ran some 1 1/2" PVC pipe with a flattened end from right next to the drain hole up to the access port for the bilge pump.  I made an adaptor that couples the pipe to my wet-or-dry shop vac.  With the drain plug in place, dump a bucket of hot, soapy water into the bilge, vac it out, pull the plug and rinse with fresh water, and done.  If you're really lazy, dump the water/soap in BEFORE you go out for a day on the water, and vac it out when you get home.  ( The pipe is the 'black hole' just left of the bilge pump seen below, and the shopvac adaptor.)

[Yachter Yat]

Same old problem.....the drain will be below the waterline, so a ball valve shutoff needs to be ON the transom at the outlet, not somewhere else.  It's going to be a pull the tank project, plus design/build a reliable linkage to operate the valve remotely.

  David:  Clever idea you pictured there. Also, good point about what you wrote.....as highlighted above.  In fact, this crossed my mind as well. That valve would have to be "solidly mounted and plumbed" against the inside wall of the transom. The flexible drain line would then go from there, and connect to that 90 degree elbow, under the floor hatch. I suggest "flexible drain line" because I don't believe we would want a "totally solid" connection between the inner liner and outer hull. Seems obvious, there has to be a certain amount of movement between the two.

  Yes, a project such as this might indeed involve removing the tank, and (of course) cutting a hole in order to access that area.  That said, a better alternative might be to cut and install a watertight plastic access plate in the floor of the transom. You mentioned something about a "reliable linkage to operate the valve remotely". This leads me to wonder if a simple "extension".....coming vertically off the valve, and up through the transom, would work, for this purpose??  Hard to picture.....without a picture, I guess. (ha)

   
Yat

 

[Old No7]

I did a 'bilge vac' when I rebuilt my boat.  Lots of stuff  that's too big to go through the stock drain collects back at the transom under the tank. I ran some 1 1/2" PVC pipe with a flattened end from right next to the drain hole up to the access port for the bilge pump.  I made an adaptor that couples the pipe to my wet-or-dry shop vac.  With the drain plug in place, dump a bucket of hot, soapy water into the bilge, vac it out, pull the plug and rinse with fresh water, and done.

Not a solution really...

I disagree -- I think that's a brilliant idea!!!

And I agree about the trick of dumping detergent or bilge cleaner in with some water letting it slosh around down there all day -- just don't drain it into a lake.

Old No7

[KEM KAI]

I'm happy to deal with a bunch of fish blood and guts.  It means I caught something that day, better than white wash, hah-hah!

[disposable]

bloody decks are surely a thing to celebrate, but inaccessible bilge is a nightmare for so many reasons. for me, slippery sneaky baits, leaves from my parking spot, fish scales, and miscellaneous trash would accumulate under the "tank well" and I could try to shop vac/enlist children/use bent coat hangers and every other type of nonsense... but it was always an inaccessible bilge and that's just a stupid feature of arimas. in my case, I also wanted to get serious about rigging (bait tank and wash down pick up, upgrade bilge pumps, raise the "bilge floor" so water would fully drain on my driveway, through-hull light and sonar...), so my primary reason to make the belly tank was bilge access (other benefits were noted but not central beforehand). now that I have that bilge access, and all these matters are resolved and I can fiddle with my bilge anytime anywhere, I have to recommend to others: assuming most won't adopt the belly tank, at the very list, I think all arima owners should consider sacrificing a section of your fish box, perhaps just the rear half?, so you can really get down to the hull (after all, a small kill bag will do better for keeping your fish, cleaner and colder, elsewhere). a clean dry boat is a real wonder, and the access to make upgraded plumbing makes a WORLD of difference in your overall usability.

[KEM KAI]

As I posted on rerouting fuel line-I removed my main tank and replaced with 4/6 gal. portables and a 12 under the port seat.  I didn't like not having access to the transom drain area.  I used a 3-way selector valve and have 3 fuel lines to be able to connect to any of the 4 tanks and one permanent to the 12. 2 tanks in the middle and one on each side where the batteries were.  Moved the batteries to the bait wells. Series 24 will fit nicely except you have to change the cover to starboard to give the height clearance.  Found out when a small fish fell behind the main, didn't realize until started rotting and smelling. Worked out well cause now installed a 1500gph bilge pump next to the transom drain. Easy to clean leaves and whatever else collects by the transom drain plug.

[Yachter Yat]

  I'm sure most of us would agree that bilge access might be considered one of the major flaws in the overall design of these boats.  I always thought the simplest solution to this problem would be to simply install a fairly good size round watertight access plate under the floor of the transom.  It would seem to me, a fixture allowing even somewhere around an 8" access could make life a lot easier. 
Like this:
https://www.westmarine.com/west-marine-8inch-screw-in-deck-plate-11743069.html?&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=%5BADL%5D%5BPLA%5D%20Bury&utm_content=autoag0000x21227124701x11743069&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwudexBhDKARIsAI-GWYVJ1CHQS4Pb4LbRe3VwGjNJjbSJ0RNwqFyB-eK-4THuoCvRUvbSGrAaAtggEALw_wcB.

Yat 

P.S.   Don't forget to seal it with LifeSeal..........not "sillycone".

[christianbrat]

I mean it already does... replace ball valve with plug and it's a match. Never been a problem for me. My habit is while cleaning the boat, after the initial cleanup, I flood the bilge, and pop the plug when I'm ready to leave.  All the soapy water sloshes around and cleans up the inside. Its dry by the time I'm home. Plus I store the boat with hatches open and plug out.

Ari gave me a tip and once a year I put a bunch of ice in the bilge, add some simple green, plug the transom, and go for a drive. It knocks the rest of the gunk out and once the ice is melted everything drains out.

[HalfCaff]

I mean it already does... replace ball valve with plug and it's a match. Never been a problem for me. My habit is while cleaning the boat, after the initial cleanup, I flood the bilge, and pop the plug when I'm ready to leave.  All the soapy water sloshes around and cleans up the inside. Its dry by the time I'm home. Plus I store the boat with hatches open and plug out.

Ari gave me a tip and once a year I put a bunch of ice in the bilge, add some simple green, plug the transom, and go for a drive. It knocks the rest of the gunk out and once the ice is melted everything drains out.

How do you get the ice in the bilge in the first place?  Just by hand through the access hatch in the fish box?

[Fisherdv]

I either use the Arima floor box container or a big cooler for the fish. So much easier cleanup and no funky smelling bilge.

[Yachter Yat]

  Back to the bilge access for a moment:  As you will see from this video, there are some rather "large" access panel alternatives. While certainly allowing for plenty of working room, (IMO) removing too much glass from that motor well might give some concern relating to structural integrity.  Of course, needless to say, a motor well access hatch would certainly facilitate being able to make use of that ball valve; that is, with respect to my original proposal.  Anyway, take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEd6OU3N74Q

Yat

[AJFishin]

Ari gave me a tip and once a year I put a bunch of ice in the bilge, add some simple green, plug the transom, and go for a drive. It knocks the rest of the gunk out and once the ice is melted everything drains out.

That's how I clean the black tank on my travel trailer, works well to get the "gunk" out. The only difference I put about 3 to 5 gallons of water in the tank so it can swirl around in the there, but probably unnecessary in the Arima bilge.

[KEM KAI]

Yachter, thought of enlarging the round hole a little in the tank area for better access .  How much larger would you recommend I cut it out to. Is it structural?

[Yachter Yat]

  Hi KEM KAI:  I'm assuming you're referring to the round plastic bilge access plate in the fish well.....is that correct?  If so, then this post from davidsea might help, as I believe it pictures how he managed to get a slightly larger opening by clipping the sides of a larger round access plate, in order to get it to fit.
  You might want to check with him to see exactly what size access plate he used. And yes, pretty much all of the glass in these (and most similar small craft) may be considered structural, but I wouldn't worry about such a minor modification.  That said, the only thing you might want to avoid is cutting "sharp square corners" in fiberglass.

  See here:  https://www.arimaowners.com/index.php?msg=291061  (takes a few seconds to link)

Yat

[Yachter Yat]

   Looking again at the YouTube vid in my post #17, I heard that fellow say that 12x26 hatch was strong enough to stand on.  If that's the case, doesn't seem there would be a concern with it being able to support a full fuel tank.   Just not sure if there's enough width in that well to accommodate it. On second thought, it just may be too elaborate, and something as simple as a 12" round access plate would be more than adequate. That's it...I'm sold! (ha) 

Yat

[KEM KAI]

Yachter, I was referring to the round hole above the transom drain underneath the factory fuel tank, or for me where the main tank was. Thought of enlarging it to get better access to the transom drain area. Make it easier to clean out the drain area of leaves and whatever I wash out of the fish well.Thanks for your thoughts.

[KEM KAI]

Sorry pictures are better than my bad description.  This is the round hole under motor well. thanks

[Yachter Yat]

  Ooookay, now I see!  What year and model is your Arima? It has one hole in the center, whereas (unless my memory has failed me) I recall mine (1994 SC) having two slightly smaller holes in that well......one favoring port and one starboard. As such, drilling and installing something like a 12" plastic access plate (in the center) under my tank would have been the logical approach.

  I've now come to see your concern regarding removing glass, as it could compromise the structural integrity necessary to support fuel tanks of almost any size. With that in mind, there may be a couple of alternatives; the first being to simply enlarge that opening, just enough to allow a bit more access and calling it a "compromise".  Another might be to enlarge that opening big enough to accommodate that 12" round watertight access plate I mentioned. I believe installing that access plate should help restore at least some of the lost structural integrity.

  Under that scenario, you would (obviously) have to replace the drainage. That could then be restored with two "smaller holes" that could be drilled to port and starboard. Each of those wouldn't be as large as the existing hole so this is what you'd have to consider:  The formula "Pi x the radius squared" of that existing hole will give you the area. ("Pi", as a decimal, is 3.14).  Divide that answer by two and come close in area with the two smaller holes. Doing that should put you back in "safe territory"; at least in terms of maintaining adequate drainage.  So, for example, if that existing hole is 6" in diameter, it would be like this:  3.14 times 9 (which is 3"x"3) equals 28.26 square inches. The two new holes should at least come close.  I think two 4" holes would be close enough.

   I don't know if the holes in my well were specific to my particular boat, but being such, made routing things like hoses, wiring and transducer cable much easier. I could actually route a cable up and out of the bilge without having to remove the tank.  Just one of the benefits of considering this as an option, I suppose.  Hope this helps.

Yat