Here is a weird question: When it rains, or when I wash the deck, water pools around the aft-most mooring cleats on both sides at the very stern of my Ariel (hull #330). I have a hefty Honda 7.5 hp motor in my lazarette weighing about 80 lbs and a fuel can, but still the water pools. Even if I stand on the stern and lean over the transom with the motor in place, the water does not flow through the gap (scupper) in the toe rail provided on both starboard and post sides of the transom. The water does not flow forward to the through-deck drains beside the cockpit either, even when my motor has been removed from the boat. So I wonder whether some OB model Ariels might not have had extra ballast installed in the bilge to compensate for the absence of the Atomic 4 inboard. I do have a plow anchor, a small amount of chain, and some braded line in the anchor locker, but I presume that an appropriate anchor would be factored into the original plan.
There does appear to be a slight upwards curvature of the deck as it flows backwards to the aforementioned gaps (scuppers), so this could be the problem, Unless this upward curvature resulted from a very well executed repair by a previous owner, it must have been as built by the manufacturer. I cannot imagine why the manufacturer would build the boat that way. Is my boat unique in this regard? Maybe I just got lucky.
This is not a major problem, but is a bit irritating, since algae do grow where water stands unless the water is sponged away after each cleaning or rain. Anyone have any relevant thoughts?