outboard well plug....

[ebb]

Very rough guesstimate....?
4 feet - one foot wide - across side to side at the transom....
add another 4 feet - one foot wide - across at the bulkhead....
make them one foot deep = 8 cubic feet.
Add another odd shaped 4 feet across UNDER the bulkhead ones....
Total 12 cubic feet volume.... ballpark.
12 X 64 (weight of saltwater per cube) = 768lbs, give or take.

Now add the pounds of water you might have in the cockpit in a storm?

What might the stability of the little ship be..... with a TON of water in it?
This... in more or less the OPEN end of the Ariel? Always possible, Right??
If the boat is down in the back end, what's going to keep the water out?
A bucket?
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It occured to me, what with modern reverse transoms with no rear bulkhead
that are completely open for drainage....."Martha, have you seen little Billy....?"
that if you open the access hatch just behind the rudder post in the Ariel, leave it open.
Take the lid/plug off the OB well and leave it open too. BIG scupper, goodbye water.

You'd have to seal that area (and the cockpit) with epoxy or rubber paint so no water
can find its way below into the cabin thru the stern* or cockpit locker lids.

Have yourself a huge exit for anything that comes on board....including a tuna fish.
littlgull has a version of this.....the cockpit and OB well are open and connected together.
Water can't stay in unless the plug is in the hole.
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It's another kettle of fish to keep the stern locker sweet smelling and dry.
Pearson didn't design it to be dry.
BUT, You have to have a working, tightly fastened, gasketed lid for the OB well. You are going
to need it when sailing....because water comes right in the well when the boat is squatting.
So it has to go on & come off in a second - if you have an OB.
Hence, the wingnuts! Must be something better than wingnuts?
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*Some owners have found that the bulkhead of their well (that's also the cockpit blkhd.) often has a leak.
Some have also found that the foam filled deck around the OB hole is filled with water and
probably gasoline. Water leaking in ends up in the sump or bilge.