Self baililng cockpit

[flatoutcharters]

I'm having my 72' potter built 20sf transom redone and replacing it with a full transom. I'm going to install a porta bracket and keep it at 17" set back. I need anyone's intput in installing the cockpit drains and where to install the thru hull outlets on the transom. I have no idea where it will sit in the water although i am sure I going to get some squat out of it.

Do I need to put in self bailing cockpit drains at all?

[Bushwacker]

Originally Posted by flatoutcharters

I'm having my 72' potter built 20sf transom redone and replacing it with a full transom. I'm going to install a porta bracket and keep it at 17" set back. I need anyone's intput in installing the cockpit drains and where to install the thru hull outlets on the transom. I have no idea where it will sit in the water although i am sure I going to get some squat out of it.

Do I need to put in self bailing cockpit drains at all?

From your last question, I suspect you may have already concluded that it WON'T self bail ( unless you raise the deck several inches!) and you may be right, but it depends on many variables you need to share with us if you want credible advice!

As you've probably figured out, brackets create a potentially significant shift in a boat's CG, so think that through before you go screwing up the boat's balance! Self-bailing might be the least of your problems; unless you do something to compensate, figure on an increase in min planing speed of roughly 10 mph and a worse ride in rough seas, although you may pick up a couple mph on the top end. Key variables, in approximate order of importance, are: Engine weight, setback (less is better, so you're on the right track there), bracket flotation, console/battery/gas tank location and boat configuration. The Porta bracket has zilch flotation, so that's a bad choice imho, although it might work with a real light motor (under 300 lbs). Do a search of Capt. Lloyd's posts for brackets - he put a stainless marine bracket (which also has minimal flotation) on his 20 sf with a 140 Zuke on it and had so many problems with stern squat that he ended up building a big fg flotation tank around it! I think he'd tell you that if you want a bracket, do it right and get the one that Bill Potter designed for the SeaCraft hull, the Hermco bracket. Yea, it'll probably cost more than the Porta, but sometimes you actually get what you pay for! It has the most flotation of any bracket on the market, zero corrosion problems, and Don says he can build them with setbacks of 30, 24 or 18".

Now, having listed all the bad things about a bracket, would I do it again? Absolutely, because of the safety issue of a closed transom, and it creates a roomier boat that's great for diving and is a little less sensitive to stern weight at rest with the big flotation tank, but there are some potential issues you need to consider. If you minimize motor weight and setback, you can largely correct the min planning speed and ride issues with a good stern lifting 4 blade prop, a Doelfin or equivalent, and trim tabs. As for self-bailing, my waterline at the transom is within about 1" of what it was originally, and the boat is still self-bailing at the dock with no one aboard, but just barely! Wash down water will drain off the deck with Fellowship's "Vortex" scupper plug/check valves once I get off the boat, and I use them when diving when there's a lot of water on the deck anyway. If leaving it in the water overnight, I normally leave the regular plugs in and depend on the bilge pump to handle any rain water; this would be unacceptable for a boat left in the water all the time. I went from a 300 lb motor on the transom to a 429 lb motor shifted aft 30" on a bracket with maximum flotation. The Seafari also has more weight forward than the cc models and it's easy to put a lot of gear in the cabin so it can handle the CG shift a little better. Balance on the cc models can be improved by moving consoles, batteries, gas tanks, etc.