Bailers

Posted By: Jay Levy - Indianapolis, IN 5.2 #35
Date: 9/12/06 2:17p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: The can work right ... but . (Gene Bragalone - #485)

The bailers are not supposed to be open UNLESS you are moving quickly. Their purpose is to REMOVE water that has gotten into the boat over the sides not to keep water out or to drain standing water while still. You can buy complete bailer replacement kits from Annapolis Performance Sailing, for example. There have been countless posts on this forum concerning bailers. Check the archives. The key to getting them to work properly and not leak WHEN CLOSED is proper boat prep around them. Mine have never leaked (Thank heavens!) and my boat is an '82. So leaking/not leaking is a matter of luck and keeping this area sealed. My bailers are kept closed all the time when I'm sailing, unless I need to drain the boat while moving. On the trailer between sailings, I keep them open so that rainwater drains out of the boat and doesn't sit over them.