Are these inherent problems 18' footer

[aaron]

I'm the new owner of an 1976 18 footer. It seems water on the deck in these boats is a problem. You take a wave in the boat and it's got 2 large scuppers in the splashwell for water to go out and then 2 tiny holes in the transom, 1 inch, for water to get out the transom, or it has to go over the top of transom about 8 or 10 inches high. This splashwell has a couple of stainless steel hinged wooden flappers on the scuppers. How are you supposed to get the water out of the boat and not keep it from coming back in? And how are you supposed to keep it out of the live well? Is there something I'm missing here? The other problem is bilge pump access while you're using the boat. There is none. I was thinking of cutting the live well out and building some kind of hatch cover to access the bilge pump. Has anyone else had these problems? Enclosed are some pictures.