plug for livewell in 36C

[jim rosenthal]

So today I went over to my boat, which is still wrapped in her winter cover, and cleaned all the leaves off the aft deck, which have been there drying out since last fall, when she was put away for the winter. She's dry and snug inside the cover....except for the water in the livewell, which looks like it's been there for months (because it has been there for months). This is rainwater that's been there forever. The thread on bilge paint got me thinking- I ought to dry out the livewell and paint the inside of it. I tried to do this years ago, with Interlux two-part bilge paint, and it was a miserable failure. The stuff flaked off, etc- overpriced crap. I haven't done anything about it since then, but I think I am ready to now.

I think the livewell (which doesn't get used for anything other than to help hold the aft deck up and stiffen it- I hardly ever fish and I don't need a livewell if I do) needs a drain. It would be fairly easy to install one that would drain aft, to an area where there is already a functioning bilge pump. Getting a plug and drain in there low enough down to let all the water out may be a challenge, but if I take the plug out and run the boat to planing, it should drain out. And of course the wall of the livewell, which is about two feet wide at the bottom, is curved. Does anyone have any suggestions for what hardware to use for this? I need to get it as low in the well as I can so it will drain as it ought to.

[Hatt-Trick]

Does it have a Macerator Pump System?

[yachtsmanbill]

A cheap used macerator would suction the water out, but wait, cut a big hole in the front and build a floor with a shelf.
A simple drain tube with an expandable rubber plug and a few small louvered vents should keep it dry. ws

[jim rosenthal]

It doesn't have a pump or macerator or anything. Hatteras built all these boats with livewells, because it stiffens and supports the aft deck. It has never been plumbed in, in all the time I've had the boat, and none of the previous owners did either. The only thing it does is hold the deck up. And because it's always got a few pints of old water swilling around in it, it isn't usable for storage, either. That's what I would like to fix. If it were dry in there, I could keep docklines, or a small anchor, or whatever, in there. Right now the space is useless- or unused, might be a better term.

OK, so I need a rubber plug and fitting for it. If anyone sees anything they particularly like, having used it, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. The vents are a good idea, I hadn't thought of those.