Stabi-Craft (Downunder) Drainage Design.......modification

[calstabi]

I have a 2004 Stabi-Craft 659HT......made in New Zealand

About every third trip out my boat turns into a slug....why?
I'm carrying a ton of water that doesn't get drained from my boat!

Come to find out I have no sump pump.........here is the drainage design of my boat...
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The sealed deck has a different drainage system to some other models. Instead of a sump, water drains through a grill in the transom wall into the outboard bracket and is pumped out by a 500-gph-bilge pump. In addition, the cabin step-down, if flooded (there is no sump to prevent this), can only be drained when the boat is out of the water. And finally the larger anchor well has no hatch.

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So I have water getting through my 'sealed' deck and there is NO sump
pump to pump it out............I have Drain plugs on my transom to unplug
and drain the water out! These guys need some real head bangin over there on this design

Any Boat Engineers here want to tell me a simple(best) modification to correct this?

Here is a pic showing my drain plugs....that I manually have to use to releive myself of Water

[peterbo3]

G'Day calstabi,
This is not good at all. Sealed decks are supposed to be just that. Sealed.

http://www.stabicraft.com

This is their NZ site. I would be contacting them direct. ASAP. :shock: :shock: :shock:

[JETTYWOLF]

why and how the heck does water get in the engine bracket in the 1st place.

Unfortunately, since it's exotic I'dlike to look at WAY more pics, instead of the outlet pics, we need the "inlet"......where's water get in?

Or is that the deal, "you don't know either". HMMMMMM

Deck water goes into the bracket? And then gets pumped out?????
And so does blood and guts? The floor needs to drain direct and overboard, not into anything. WHOA.

Sealed decks with "proper drains" don't need bilge pumps, I don't.

[IN2DEEP]

Their website says that the anchor locker drains overboard.
It takes around three trips to become sluggish?
Have you been pulling the plug after every trip or is the water coming from when you wash down your deck with freshwater and not pulling the plug every trip?

Gonna need more pictures looking from the top.

Scott

[calstabi]

Jettywolf,

why and how the heck does water get in the engine bracket in the 1st place?

That is the design of this boat, water drains off the deck, through a grill
and into the engine bracket............the engine bracket contains the pump out.

Here is a pic of the deck and notice just to the right of the tire is where the grill is backed up against the transom wall opening into the engine bracket. Fish parts get stopped by the grill.......blood gets pumped out....



Simply put.........The safest feature would be to have a bilge pump in the bottom of the boat......not only in the damn engine bracket.

I contacted the US Stabi Rep..........no luck and was sent undersized
drain plugs.....
I've contacted Stabi directly.............time to have a BEER......

[S L Dave]

Frustrating! I would like to see that deck drain overboard
rather than into the engine bracket. Can scuppers and drain tubes be welded in anywhere? I also wonder how you can
find the source of entry into the bilge? Because if the deck
is not sealed, then a bilge pump or two is a must.

[peterbo3]

What Dave said. That sucks...........................BIGTIME!!!!!

:x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x

[S L Dave]

Any response from the folks at StabiCraft?
I am very curious to hear what they think.

best,
Dave

[JETTYWOLF]

Let's take a look at the worst set up ever. I owned a 19' Aeroglass, and for a long time too. Used it as my first guiding boat....for about a year only, cause it was dangerous. I thought.

It was not self bailing, had a "GRILL" in the floor and then all deck water went into a bilge. The bilge pump wasn't even elevated. So everything got stuck in the pump.

Fishing line snippets, blood, plastic bags, chewing gum wrappers, used to make it thru the grill, if I didn't catch it first.

Then to make life really hard, getting to the bilge pump was a real LITTLE GIRL, I had to take myself and do contortions to get to it.
Very unsafe.

More than once I was in huge seas, taking them over the bow, turned on the bilge (went Rule auto-matic after this) it ran and then popped the fuse.
Now I'm in huge seas, and have a lumbering, heavy, unsafe boat with passengers on board. And the bilge pump is siezed up with fishing line in the pump.

That boat was outa here.....to never not own a self bailer again.

Good thing about aluminum, is a good welder/fab man, can fix about anything.

[S L Dave]

I remember a really cool Gravois center console for sale on
another website that was not self bailing. I never understood
why.

[calstabi]

Hey Dave..............The solutions you suggested are what I am lookin for....I will be fixing this design, not just fixing the water getting past the sealed deck system.

Stabi........does not respond....I've emailed through there website.
Stabi maybe in touch with there West Coast Rep on this but they are not
talkin to me.

The Stabi West Coast Rep is in Washington, he is good guy just that I can
tell Stabi's are not his bread and butter(this is a very low volume boat stateside). He has ordered 4 new drain plugs for me and was to call me back yesterday about the drainage design.....but no call.

The good news..... sounds like Stabi has dropped this sealed deck design....around 2005-2006. I bet the Kiwi's were kickin there butt on this one....

Jettywolf........that 19' sounded FUN......it is great to be in the Aluminum
world......this Stabi will just get some new welds......

The Stabi is a kick a@@ boat and I have no fear of going down......if I get
totally swamped, my knees might get a little wet.

Peter.....I followed your boat build.......very well thought out ....NICE boat!
if you know any good downunder boat forums let me know......I'm tryin to find out how other Stabi owners best fixed this problem...

Scott......I'll just be pulling those drain plugs after every trip for now....
You is the Fishin King, Scott!.......so far I've just become a Tackle HO......

I need to get back to the business of fishin now

[Bullshipper]

If the deck is higher than the surrounding water level, then I would install some rear or sidewall scuppers, and probably put a cover with a handle on the deck grill to force the water out by gravity. Scuppers cost about $4-7 each plus shipping, and you don't need to weld.

I would also go to a 800 gph bilge pump as your backup for a couple of dollars more.

Hope I understood your post correctly.

[mojomizer]

Craig get ahold of Don/Calloy (PM him) he was at the meet and greet. I am sure he could help. Ask for a AAB discount :lol: :lol:

Mark

[JETTYWOLF]

I remember a really cool Gravois center console for sale on
another website that was not self bailing. I never understood
why.

SL DAVE......Being a watcher of the Gravios boys myself I remember that boat. It was the MAIN conceren of most everyone.
You and I are on the same wave length, brother!

[peterbo3]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/

Calstabi,
The link will take you to Ausfish. It is a Queensland based forum with plenty of alloy boat owners including some Stabi guys.

[BMac]

Calstabi,

I read a review on a Stabi in an Australian magazine called "Trailer Boat" the other day. The reviewer wrote that the boat had a set up with water taken onboard drained into an area below the transom and was expelled by a bilge pump (same as yours?), however a fully sealed self draining deck was also an option when ordering the boat.

That suggests Stabicraft do a couple of different deck designs.

[JETTYWOLF]

Thing that make ya go Hmmmmm...

Very interesting. I guess that solves the mystery of why. Sort of!
My big Q would be Why? at all?

Who wins?

[calstabi]

BMac,

You are correct, the Sealed Deck was a Stabi option and I think they
wised up and don't not offer it any longer.....

Here is review off there website..

http://www.stabicraft.com/index.cfm/Boat_Tests/595HT

'The sealed deck has a different drainage system to some other models. Instead of a sump, water drains through a grill in the transom wall into the outboard bracket and is pumped out by a 500-gph-bilge pump. In addition, the cabin step-down, if flooded (there is no sump to prevent this), can only be drained when the boat is out of the water. And finally the larger anchor well has no hatch.

Call me a Luddite, but I am not sure that this is a good drainage set-up for heavy conditions. If facing any bar or surf work in this boat I would be looking at upgrading the pump to 2000gph, fitting a hatch to the anchor well, a lip on the cabin entry, and maybe scuppers in the stern (manual insurance against bilge pump failure) as well. All of this could, no doubt be done on request.'

Thanks for all the good advise here. I will fix.....redesign this system
in the offseason. Stabi rep says that my fuel tank goes all the way to the
transom and that I can't get a Bilge pump down to the sump area.....
He suggests replacing the drain plugs and re sealing the deck.

One way or another I will not let water accumulate on my boat while I'm on the water!

[wayno]

Hi
I have a feeling that the floor of the Stabi is at or below water line level which makes fitting normal scuppers difficult because they are prone to leaking when the boat is stationary.

You might consider "ducks bills" as fitted to RIBs but for some, they are not a good look, but in my experience they are most effective and not that expensive.

As an Australian developer of a range of rBBs ( rigid buoyancy boats) I spent a good deal of time looking at Stabis along with other Kiwi manufactures of pontoon boats.
These are a number of fundamental changes that we incorporated into the Typhoon range
1. Flat floors from side to side bow to stern.
2. Toe recess in the pontoon wall. So a fisherman can lean against the gunwale comfortably when fishing.
3. Floor level above water line level.
4. Scuppers in transom.
5. High lift bow pontoons ( to avoid nose dive in heavy seas.)
6. 19 degree dead rise.
7. All boats over 6 meters (20ft) have an internal beam of 1.96meters (6ft 4in) which is the widest internal beam of any rBBs in Australasia.
If there is a US or Canadian boat builder who might be interested in building under licence or interested in flat pack kits please contact me.

Kind Regards Wayne: www.typhoonboats.com.au

[JETTYWOLF]

Wayno, I'm just an observer to Calstabi's deck water problem, but know exactly what you are talking about.

My last boat need a scupper way better than it was equiped with. Tried the "ping-pong" ball ones......drained too slow when deck was flooded.

Changed brands and found ones made by an American company to perform the best, called T&H.


But I know the Stabi needs some different from your regular scupper.

These duck bills I found are really bad!

Takes too much pressure to force water out.....been there tried that!

You are probably talking about scuppers such as this that I have seen on various RIB boats:
http://www.tenob.co.nz/shop/Hull+Fittin ... Tenob.html
Can water go back in these?

The key for him is alot of possible water "out" easily, absolutely no water in. Would the the TENOB scuppers above work in his motor bracket, along side a large RULE automatic pump as back up...the kind of pump that comes on every few minutes and if senses Amp drawl continues to run till no water is left?

Workin for ya Calstabi

[Ironwoodtuna]

Pull them deck plates up and take some close up pictures of the way the plates fit down into the deck, give us an idea on how the water is getting down into the lower hold. it doesn t make since, but the photos will tell it all.mty

[wayno]

Hi.
I have posted a photo of an early 15ft prototype rBB which shows the "Ducks Bills" (Socks may be a better discription) I was referring to....they are made out of Vinyl or Hypolan. Many Rbbs have a rope attached to the end of the sock, so that when the boat is under way the sock is lowered. when the boat is stationary and the water begins to trickle into the boat, the sock is pulled up and the rope cleated off.
Socks are uncommon on conventional boats, but are common on RIBs where the floor is often below water line level. My own experience is that they might look a bit agricultural but they are effective.

During the R&D program large scuppers were added to the transom (above floor level) to speed up the empting of a completely swamped boat.
Regards Wayne.

[JETTYWOLF]

Wayno,

These should have been familiar with, right?

TENOB's - from NZ ???
discription says: "Self bailer/Scupper with non return valve action."
Which procludes, no use for strings and all that.

I'm only taking an interest in this subject because I fought a wet floor in the stern on a boat with a cut transom and really bad scuppers for 10 years of my fishing life.

And am now a tad bit smarter about the subject, so I feel.

[wayno]

Hi

I am familar with the drainers on your thread.

On the photo shown there is a small "ducks bill" on the outlet of the external bilge pump. This set up was an after market fix, to drain the boat which took on water whilst stationary. The floor is on the water line.
Regards Wayne.