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John,
I do not believe the two of us are "Spring Chickens" either. All in all I am OK with the results. I did the weighing of the boat (hair heavy) and the transom itself was solid (my biggest fear with the slight bow it has). I needed some direction as to how far I should take the water intrusion with my results. My boat has been dry for a year with the new rigging and jack plate reinforcement. I figured "what the heck....what's another year if the bang for the buck was worth it". From all the previous water issues I read on this site I felt mine were within tolerance but you never know. I am more frustrated for myself for having the boat slipped in salt water for six months which added to the issue. MY VISUAL OF THE DRAINS HAD THEM INTACT BUT THEY WERE NOT. Like Weatherly stated in one of his posts "....the O ring is one cheapest way to seal the tube....". My replacements are getting loaded with "Boat Life" in addition to the rubber gasket. I know you are tackling all the drains but I hope any member with one of these older hulls takes notice and do a drain replacement.

I may very well do the drains over again in the areas of the worst results when in dry dock.. Let air get to that portion of the hull. Also very interesting to me is the water moved laterally through osmosis. not straight down. It was in the mid portion of the hull.

I now ask!!!!!! What is the life expectancy of the new brass tubing installed? It looks like I may be doing the replacement again in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years? Or maybe sooner if I somehow decide to tent with calcium chloride and cook the hull for one winter because of my anal tendencies.

Garris