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Old 08-09-2011, 11:08   #16
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

Let's poke a hole in a boat and try to stop the water.....


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Old 08-09-2011, 11:23   #17
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

I work on large wooden schooners. In the event of a hull breach I have access to misc wood plugs and plywood etc. I also have a bunch of cordless power tools. I have always wondered what would happen if I used an 18v cordless drill with all that water rushing in.

Anyone ever try it?
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Old 08-09-2011, 11:31   #18
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

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Originally Posted by CharlesFCook View Post
I work on large wooden schooners. In the event of a hull breach I have access to misc wood plugs and plywood etc. I also have a bunch of cordless power tools. I have always wondered what would happen if I used an 18v cordless drill with all that water rushing in.

Anyone ever try it?
havent tried that but i do carry on my boat certain hand tools, such as drill, etc, JUST IN CASE
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Old 08-09-2011, 11:36   #19
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

Air tools--underwater, if necessary.
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Old 08-09-2011, 11:42   #20
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

wooden plugs are still the best way to fill a through-hull in the event of failure, IMO. As an earlier poster directed, keep one tied to each fitting. Use a mallet, takes just a few seconds to stop the leak. An important characteristic not yet mentioned is that the wooden plug will expand once in contact with water and quickly makes a very strong & totally watertight seal.
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Old 08-09-2011, 16:46   #21
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Re: Wooden plugs?

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Originally Posted by sailorchic34 View Post
I have heard of a thru hull fitting failing a time or two locally. It does happen once in a blue moon. I have the tapper wood plugs attached near to each thru hull just in case. I'm still looking for a nerf football, which works well too so I hear.

When the water is rising, is no time to think about where the plugs or footballs are.
It has happened to me, actually, a split hose beneath the waterline in the head sink (the split was 180 degrees from my field of view) and the seacock did not seat properly. Off came the hose and in went the bung, until I could obtain a new seacock, get the new hose precut, arrange for new doubled clamps and purchase a lunch-hour haulout and needed time to gather my wits (I only had a Whale Gusher of indeterminate age aboard...now I have a Whale 600 gph in my shallow bilges.)

Another time, I had to replace an old gate-valve seacock to (as I recall) the starboard cockpit scupper. I hammered some cloth and a tapered plug into which I had cut grooves to accommodate the thru-hull's "ears". I pounded this into the thru-hull with a rubber mallet, and then disassembled the cockpit drain hose with the seacock closed off. A couple of twists with the Very Big Wrench and off it came, leaking a considerable amount (like three inches of water doing a little Trevi Fountain display), but also a lot less than it would had it been unplugged. I got cracking with the teflon tape and the new ball valve seacock and I would estimate maybe six gallons/30 litres came aboard, which was easily pumped out.

I got the plug out by putting some threaded rod down the seacock when open and giving it a shot with the rubber mallet. POP went the plug, and I shut the valve closed and started to dog down the hose clamps.

So yes, I like tapered plugs and they are tied to every thru-hull aboard.
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Old 08-09-2011, 16:56   #22
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

My son and his friend were at the marina when a local law enforcement officer put his patrol boat in the water, drove it to the marina, and then went back to the boat ramp.

The boat slowly settled down in the water and after about half an hour water could be seen coming up over the floorboards. (Plug? Drain plug? What plug? Oh, the one that was probably in the ranger's patrol vehicle now a few miles away?)

My son and his friends bailed and a couple who were having dinner under the marina pavilion donated a wine cork as a replacement drain plug. The ranger was called and appeared, much chastened.
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Old 08-09-2011, 18:24   #23
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Re: Wooden plugs?

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This stuff looks interesting, and they say the shelf life is indefinate. Check out there video.
stayafloatmarine.com
Actually, that stuff is very ingenious new application of a very old producct. And priced twice as much as it costs at Home Depot. If you were ever a plumber you would recognize it immediately. And it does what they say it does.
- - Great idea. However, how well it would work on a seacock or through-hull say 6 ft (1.8m) below the waterline is questionable.
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Old 08-09-2011, 18:36   #24
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

the price of the home depot one is such i can keep more than 4 as spares.. goood stuff-ing.
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Old 09-09-2011, 23:00   #25
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

"and a 20”x20” piece of plywood with a hole in the center and closed cell neoprene (like wetsuit mat’l but thicker) glued to one side" ==> OK, my home village is currently without its resident idiot since I am now here in the Philippines - so why have you gone to all that trouble and then put a hole in the center?
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Old 10-09-2011, 00:19   #26
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

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"and a 20”x20” piece of plywood with a hole in the center and closed cell neoprene (like wetsuit mat’l but thicker) glued to one side" ==> OK, my home village is currently without its resident idiot since I am now here in the Philippines - so why have you gone to all that trouble and then put a hole in the center?
As demonstrated by YM, you push a piece of cord out of the hole tie a rope to it, chuck the plywood over the side and pull it up tight against the outside of the hole from inside. You have now gone from a big hole to a little hole which gives you time , simples

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Old 10-09-2011, 00:29   #27
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Stop leak stuff...

If that stop leak gunk is something that may be available from my local hardware store then does anyone know the generic name for it?
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Old 10-09-2011, 00:52   #28
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

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Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy View Post
So yes, I like tapered plugs and they are tied to every thru-hull aboard.
Good to hear a success story with these things... since we have them tied to every thru fitting but never had to use them yet. I'd always imagined that to counteract the water pressure, someone'd have to jump overboard and hammer it in from the outside!

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Actually, that stuff is very ingenious new application of a very old producct. And priced twice as much as it costs at Home Depot. If you were ever a plumber you would recognize it immediately. And it does what they say it does.
Not being a plumber, i'd have no idea how to tell one pot of gunk from another. What's this gunk called?
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Old 10-09-2011, 01:38   #29
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

Thru hulls snapping off is one thing but a jagged hole in fibreglass needs a different fix.

A few years ago a Royal Navy ice breaker was holed in Antarctica, I think that was a damaged thru hull, but they sent a diver over the side with a magnetic plate which had a rubber seal round the edges and he stuck it over the hole.
So much easier as the water pressure is working with, not against it. Easy too if the surface is flat, not curved
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Old 10-09-2011, 02:17   #30
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Re: Wooden Plugs ?

This is the type of thread that makes these forums progressive! And, uh, I've got nuthin'. For steel hulls, I've come up with a couple of different solutions, both utilizing magnets, but for glass...

After watching the videos, I like the cushion attempt the best. Consider if hitting a submerged container; trying to hang over the lifelines in a swell & hook a line doesn't seem like an easy task & keeping a sail, or anything, in position on the outer hull side when trying to sail to the nearest port, would, I think, be difficult. So, the 2 main weaknesses with the cushion are water penetration & keeping it in position, right? What about waterproof gear bags or flotation cushions, to address the water absorption? As for keeping it in position, that's pretty tough when one considers hull angles & water ingress pressure. Something spring-loaded & long enough to wedge against the deckhead would probably give the necessary force - although a smaller version of "it" for confined spaces would also have a value - but then there is the "footprint" which would need to be adjustable for circumference & angle, no? Maybe we should have a contest for best design. Beats the heck out of arguing about keel types & tiller vs. wheel.
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