Self-Bailing Topper Sailboat Design Ideas

[dylantorquerol]

I own a Topper Sailboat and I surf/sail it a lot outside my house in Hawaii(big breaking waves). The Topper has a pretty big cockpit, and it gets filled pretty quickly, and I don't have the little fail of an "autobailer" that goes in the starbord part of the cockpit, partially because it gets clogged w/sand easily and is very slow. I am looking for a way to make a real self-bailing cockpit, like the Laser Pico or even an I14/49er ect.
I was thinking of making two big tubes in the back of the cockpit that lead from the cockpit through the stern deck and out the back, like the conternder dinghy. I would make the tubes from PVC and weld it to the indside of the beck by where the cleats are. Will this work? Any comments or ideas are welcome. Thanks,
Dylan

[gggGuest]

> Will this work.
Almost certainly not. Its not a good material to modify. You're not likely to get structurally sound joins, and in any case you'd also need to raise the cockpit floor somehow. There's more than one brand of bailer that fits that pocket for the bailer: it might be worth investigating if an alternate would work in your environment better.

[dylantorquerol]

Thanks, I talked w/my sailing coach this morning at training and he said this area has too much stress and would be hard to make it work. Thanks!

[CutOnce]

Hi.

Problematic bailers can make bad situations worse. Perhaps just closing off the bailer permanently via a full width rubber gasket or whatever may work better. If your bailer is letting in more than it lets out, closing it off may be a net benefit.

I know a young Opti sailor who had a bailer that was shaped to let the handle fit over his bootie - and he'd kick-bail on reaches. Got so good at it he gained advantages in races.

There are many ways to solve problems!

--
CutOnce

[Herman]

Hand bailing is a part of the training scheme for optis. Even sailing upwind and hiking out.

As for the Topper: Do not touch the plastic of the boat with anything, unless you know exactly what you are doing. These boats are made from PE, and can only be welded. Hearing what you do with the boat, I would opt not to modify it (for safety reasons), and get a bailer that works.