Would it work?

[roger]

I think people remove them because they leak.....they are annoying and if you sail on a lake in lowish winds, tend to let more water in than out. And of course good ones are damn expensive.


eib

If the weather is light and you do have leaky bailers a few minutes under the boat with a little silicon sealant works wonders. If you need to use them you can easily break the seal but it does save the tedious sponging when you should be concentrating on sailing

[jpa_wfsc]

My flat deck phantom came up from capsize with not too much water in even if I was standing on the board (I was about 13 1/2 stone then) and the self bailers cleared it very quickly (if there was enough wind to have capsized in the first place that is). The transom flaps were permanently taped shut.

Don't fit them too far forward - if you do, they will be useless because when planing (i.e. most of the time in a F4 or higher) the bow lifts, and the water will run back to the rear 1/2 oft he centerboard case. Also, theoreticaly at elast, you do not want a stream of air bubbles running down past the centerboard as it would stop it working much! And not too near the centerboard case either you don't want to weaken the floor there. Mine were where you could reach them by learning forward over the traveler bar.

Definitely fit two, big ones! Little ones are a waste of space. Mine were about 2" wide, orange plastic affairs, I have never seen them on any other boat so can not advise of the make. They did not leak at all when shut.

Enjoy sailing her - the phantom is so direct isn't it! Keep it very (very) flat all the time! And like all mono-sail single handers, don't pull the main into the centreline - the end of the boom needs to be at least in line with the inside wall of the tank when 'close hauled'. Your phantom will then pick up and zoom to windward in a very rewarding way!

john./

[Brookesy]

I will take a couple of pictures of my Phantom for you over the weekend as it is stripped in the garage. Mine does not have a double bottom but has large flaps and one large single elvestrom bailer on the port side quite well aft. It should be a well sorted boat as it originally was 'Mr Vandercrafts'.

[Nessa]

That would be phenomenally helpful! Thank you!

[Rupert]

I think I might have a spare bailer somewhere in the shed - would you like me to have a look, or do you have that side of things sorted?