re: Removing Boat Plug While on Plane

Once on plane, go ahead and pull the plug to drain the hull. Been doing this for more then 40 years.

When I first got my bay boat, John at Avengers bay boats told me my boat was self-bailing, what he forget to tell me was it a self bailing deck and you need to have the drain plug in.

Also one can buy a automatic bilge pump for $50 now. They are great.

Fished Chandeleur Islands from a small flat, satellite boat off an old, converted crew boat on a charter with novices, 2 men per boat.

Wade fished the surf until we caught a man sized bull. After that we stayed in the boat. Let my guard down and took one over the back.

Wish I had video of that guy's face when I cranked, pulled the plug, and headed south. Lol

Made me an instant legend back at the crew boat. I was shocked at how naive those guys were.

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caught a lot of fish out of a boat that had to do that every 20 minutes.

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The flounder hole?

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caught a lot of fish out of a boat that had to do that every 20 minutes.


The flounder hole?

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yes indeed..... CW tells that story to his son and mine... makes it seem like we were in danger of drowning at the launch..

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makes it seem like we were in danger of drowning at the launch..


We were

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only when we had to wait a long time to trailer the boat...

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tried this on a leaky kayak---just let even more water in. the technique has its limitations.

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Has ONE limitation. You have to be able to plane the boat.

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That's an old trick, but with a little bit of preparation you can keep it from getting to that point. We always kept one of these rolling around back by the transom and plug and stayed on top of the situation. Only a dumb arse would let it fill so much you needed to get it on plane and pull the plug.

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"dumb arse"? Er. Um. OK. Maybe so.

Maybe you are still inexperienced and do not know all the possibilities that you could encounter on the water.

If I have treaded on strictly an aluminum boat thread, ignore my comments.

The OP's advice is still sound. His advice is not limited to boats built of aluminum, wood, or other materials (fiberglass, carbon fiber, metals other than aluminum, etc.). The topic principle applies whether your boat is large or small. It is not necessary to be up "on plane" - forward momentum is all that is necessary to force water out of your boat's rear (transom) plug hole.

One of my experiences: While fishing Toledo Bend in about 1990 with my wife and 3 children (one teenage son, 2 much younger daughters) in my 16' large bass boat with 150 Merc in about 20 feet of water mid lake we had an incident. Slowly motoring (5 mph) to the next spot my boat "rode up" onto an underwater 18' tree "stump". Boat immediately stopped forward movement and went up into the air at about a 30 degree angle. I stayed at my station behind the steering wheel, but the other 4 people in the boat rushed from their seats to the front of the fiberglass boat to (I guess) instinctively get to the higher part of the boat. Before I could speak. This happened very fast...

What this succeded in doing was to put much more weight on the hull at the point where the hull was on top of the tall tree "stump". Yep, it punctured the fiberglass hull.

In quick fashion, much (yes, much) water came streaming into the boat. People panicked further. I must admit, even I was worried at this point.

I put motor in reverse and (thankfully) was successful in backing off the "stump". I then went forward with the boat at about mid-range rpm. This put the front of the boat up out of the water (at about a 30 to 40 degree angle). This also kept the large hull puncture up and out of the water. I then drove off at this same angle back toward the boat launch. It was 5 miles away.

Thankfully everyone settled down at this point. We still had about 500 gallons of water (my estimate) onboard at that moment. I called my teenage son over and explained that I would like for him to go to the back of the boat, lift the full width battery/gas tank compartment cover and remove the "inside" boat plug so we could drain the water.

Yes, I had a bilge pump. No, I don't think that was the answer.

After about 1 to 2 minutes, the water had all been drained. I then had my son put the plug back in and proceeded to get the bass boat up "on plane" for a slow 30 mph cruise back to the boat launch.

Yes, my boat "sank" on the concrete launch ramp before I could back my trailer down the ramp. We still managed to trailer the boat and pull it out while it drained a boat full of water. Wow. What an experience.

Removing the plug (while on plane or even before getting up on plane) is a good trick to know. Make it a part of your knowledge arsenal. IMO.