Covered dinghy, full of rainwater...

[Greenheart]

Yes, very irritating. My cover isn't perfect, but it's sound enough to capture deep puddles in recesses over the cockpit, without the underside of the same part of the cloth being even damp. So oughtn't it be proof against the deluge that seems to have parked in the bottom of the boat each week?

I'm guessing that the rain hits the mast and lines leading down inside the mast-collar, and drips accumulate at the mast base...

...and after a wet & windy night like Saturday's, there were at least a couple of gallons sloshing about under the carefully-attached cover.

Exasperatingly, the position of the boat on the trolley means I can't leave the bailers down, and anyway, there'd probably be fifty litres (50 unwelcome kgs) of rain in there before the level reached the bailers...

...ah. Lightbulb moment...prop up the front of the trolley till the bailers are at the hull's lowest point. And, move the boat so I can open them...

Just the same, I'm surprised cover-manufacturers don't offer a tight neoprene-collared 'mastbrella' above the cover, to shed drips onto the cloth instead...

 

[Billjratt]

don't know where you keep your boat, but if you go to any sailing club you will see the arrangements other owners make to utilise the self drainers.
If it's impractical, just fit another and remember to bung it before you sail. There's not much worse than putting your foot through a bottom weakened by prolonged rain - and don't ask me how I know...

 

[Greenheart]

There's not much worse than putting your foot through a bottom weakened by prolonged rain - and don't ask me how I know...

I believe you! I was getting silly yesterday, more than usual I mean...I dreamt of a motorbike battery and a bilge pump on a timer, set to run for 90 seconds every six hours...no great ampage used if the pump is running dry...

...or even one of those little solar pond-pumps...just enough grunt to evacuate water from the bilge to the coaming. Hopefully works under dark clouds...

Most of the dinghies at my club don't seem to have transoms...smug minimalist devils...

 

[Bobobolinsky]

What about one of those pumps they sell at the boat show that fit in mooring lines. I don't suppose it would be too difficult to make something wind driven from one

 

[Cloven]

...ah. Lightbulb moment...prop up the front of the trolley till the bailers are at the hull's lowest point. And, move the boat so I can open them...

On larger dinghies (Wayfarer size) I have always jacked up the front so that it either drains through the open bailers or through the stern drains.

Smaller plywood hulled dinghy I have at the moment doesn't have a bailer & when I got it as a giveaway, the water lying in the hull had caused major damage. Having repaired & renovated the boat, I now remove the mast and turn it upside down on the trolley & then cover the upturned hull with a tarp. Been like that all winter & bone dry. Yes it takes a few minutes at the end of the days sailing but at least it stays dry.

 

[Greenheart]

What about one of those pumps they sell at the boat show that fit in mooring lines. I don't suppose it would be too difficult to make something wind driven from one

Thanks, but I don't share your optimism! I thought those mooring-line pumps utilised the considerable weight of the hull pulling hard on the cable...

...and if I bought, borrowed or stole a Rutland wind-gen, mounted it on my mast and went cropping leaves off the surrounding trees for a steadier breeze, I might be regarded as a tad eccentric, even assuming it worked!

I think the solar pump might have some mileage in...

Regarding the mast as a horizontal tent-pole under the cover, I already use the boom as such, with an assembly of bungees holding it up...although the bungees themselves must act as things for rain to trickle down.

I can't stomach lowering the pretty heavy, thoroughly awkward 7-meter mast each time I sail. I'd feel as frustrated as I imagine trailer-sailers do, for whom every sailing day means quite a proportion of the time by the sea just spent prepping/de-rigging the boat.

I wouldn't feel unnerved about drilling port and starboard drain-holes clean through the hull at the lowest points either side of the centreboard case, providing the plugs wouldn't leave a nasty bump proud of the underside. Are flush-mounted drain plugs a possibility?

 

[Cloven]

I wouldn't feel unnerved about drilling port and starboard drain-holes clean through the hull at the lowest points either side of the centreboard case, providing the plugs wouldn't leave a nasty bump proud of the underside. Are flush-mounted drain plugs a possibility?

If you can raise the front of the boat so the lowest part is the base of the transom, could you fit a couple of these, one each side of the centreline at the base of the transom so any water could drain out.

View attachment 30759

 

[Greenheart]

If you can raise the front of the boat so the lowest part is the base of the transom, could you fit a couple of these, one each side of the centreline at the base of the transom so any water could drain out.

Nice thought, but in fact I already have ruddy great transom flaps...the trouble is, it'd be awkward leaving the boat at such an angle that would allow rain to run downhill to the transom. At least, I'm reluctant to support the boat in a way that wasn't imagined by the trolley/trailer's designers - she's no lightweight, and might do herself some harm, what with eight or nine feet of hull overhanging the trolley...

...I'm already supporting her mid-stern section on one of SWMBO's exercise balls...surprisingly rugged, it didn't deflate at all after a week under pressure...a lot more exercise than SWMBO ever gave it...

View attachment 30760

...although looking at the photo, tilting her back looks like an obvious answer. Am I over-sensitive to what care a tough old GRP boat needs?

 

[prv]

...although looking at the photo, tilting her back looks like an obvious answer. Am I over-sensitive to what care a tough old GRP boat needs?

Back when I used to spend any time in dinghy parks, it certainly seemed to be common to prop the front end of the trolley up on blocks of wood, old beer crates, etc so that the transom bungs drained properly.

Pete

 

[alahol2]

I left a dinghy with part of its hull sitting in grass like that. At the end of the winter the hull was covered in osmosis blisters. Tilt it up off the ground.