Bailers

Any thoughts on the relative merits of the various bailers available? I want to replace the single venturi drain on my ski with something that drains faster when I need it and resists less when I don't.
deBrito - Standard or Race
Epic
Nelo
Andersen Super Mini

I have used all 5 that you mention. I like the epic best. If you really want the anti-backflow valve, then andersen super mini is the only one with that feature. But it is hard to operate on the fly and is best used as a “set and forget” bailer. If you prefer a binary bailer that is either 100% open or 0% open, the nelo is the for you. It works very well, but the nature of it is that it requires lots of opening and closing. Personally that disrupts my focus a bit. The debritos and epic are similar in that they have multiple positions between full open and full close. In my experience epic is easier to operate accurately than the debrito and is less prone to leaking. With the epic it is easier to select an intermediate state between full open and closed than it is with the debrito.

As an aside, I see a lot of people downwind with their deBirito or epic bailer all the way open all the time. I don’t think it is necessary to have a bailer fully open if the goal is a dry footwell, and having one fully open does slow the ski down substantially (about 1 km/h according to oscar). I think the better strategy is just to leave it half open for the whole run, or to kick it full open or full close as needed.

Thanks.
I will start psyching myself up to cut that hole in the hull.

How do I fix a Fenn bailer? Exactly where the white (gel coat) meets the tan (through hull tube), is where water is getting into hull. It could also be on bottom, but there is a cone shaped cover (bullet) over it. I sprayed soapy water on it and gently blew into hull and bubbles are coming out right at the color change. Learned that trick from Ranga. I think I also recall putting a watery adhesive around the area and sucking air out of hull is one way to seal it. If so, what product is best? Do I put only a small amount around the seem, or do I seal the whole circle, including some of the tube? Thanks.

@MCImes can you give some advice? I believe you had the same problem.

I think I will tape off a circle around the scupper hole, creating an apron around it of ~1cm, then use JB Weld inside the tape and about half way down into the hole as best I can (toothpick or similar). I will suck some air out in hopes of getting the solution to enter into the cause of the leak. Even if I cannot pull any weld inside the crack, it should be sealed off. Thanks

From MCImes

“ I sanded out the fairing putty around the circumference of the bailer to expose the putty between the top and bottom hull. You can see it was highly cracked and water was easily penetrating.

I first rinsed and dried the boat thoroughly by baking it in summer sun for a couple days.

Removed the existing venturis.

Taped over the bottom of the hull

Masked around the holes in the bucket with masking tape

used aluminum tape to build up a chimney around the bailer holes

Filled the chimney with epoxy and sucked on the bung until I saw some drop in the epoxy level

Let cure

When partially cured, cut off the chimney flush with the bucket

Drill out the epoxy plug close to size

Use dremel to semi-finish the hole diameter

Hand sand to finish the hole to size

Epoxy on new Stellar venturis and bullets”

How do you remove venturi covers/cones? Will prying off damage gelcoat? Can you reuse them? Any specific bonding product best to reattach?
After using JB Weld on top of bailer cylinder, which closed off that leak, it is still taking on water from the bottom of the bailer cylinder, thus the need to attack it from the bottom. Cones are in my way.
Thanks.