Boatwise Safety Drain Plug

I have had this drain system on my boat for about 2 years now (install in August 2019).The best feature of this system is the o-ring on the actual plug. I can now easily screw the plug in until the O-ring contacts the drain housing and give it a 1/8 - 1/4 turn by hand and that seals the drain and holds the plug in. No wrenches needed to insert or remove the plug. That feature (and great support) is why I gave it 4 stars.The drain system is well made and the check ball assembly is a great idea, but it has a serious flaw. There are screens on both sides of the check ball assembly to keep debris out of the check ball which seems like a good idea. Unfortunately, the inner screen can get clogged fairly easily with fine debris such as lint, fuzz, or fiberglass dust from the bilge to the point water will not drain out of the bilge when the plug is removed. This happened to me. So Boatwise recommends removing the inner check ball assembly as well as the plug when the boat is out of the water to avoid the clogging issue (in case it rains), but that seems to defeat the whole purpose of the check value saving me if I forget to put the plug (and check ball assembly) back in before launching.In addition over time the O-ring that seals the inner check ball assembly to the drain housing swells and makes taking the inner assembly out (and putting it back in) difficult. So difficult in fact that the other day the inner check ball assembly broke when I tried to remove it (see picture). I had to pull the rest of the assembly out with needle nose pliers.Boatwise is sending me a couple of spare check ball assemblies for free so 6 stars for support, but I am disappointed with the performance of the inner check ball assembly.Boatwise also recommends using grease on the inner check ball assembly O-ring, so I have ordered some silicon based, waterproof O-ring grease. Do not use petroleum based grease as that may not be compatible with the O-ring.All-in-all this drain system is worth it for the ease of inserting and removing the plug even if you choose not to use the inner check ball assembly.Update Oct 2021:The new checkball assembly O-ring swelled again over a period of a month or so and when I went to remove it to check for debris on the inner screen the the assembly broke again like before. When I first put it in, I had installed and removed it several times to make sure I would be able to remove it without issue. I had no issue at that time.My solution was to remove the O-Ring. This does not make a perfect seal and if the plug in not inserted it will drip water into the bilge, but it is not a problem unless the boat is left in the water for extremely long period of time and the bilge pump doesn't work.Update Nov 24, 2022:Several months back I got an email from Boatwise that they had determined that the wrong material was used in the O-Rings and they sent me new O-Rings and a new inner chamber. This seems to have fixed the issue with O-Ring swelling after a few months. So the procedure I use now is to remove the inner chamber after pulling the boat and cleaning any debris off the screens and then reinserting the inner chamber and leave the plug out.Still the best feature of this system is the plug that can be hand tightened so no tools are required. Not sure why boat manufactures don't at least use a plug like that used in the Boatwise system.

This plug required a boat tech to weld it into the transom of my john boat. Plug works great and easy to use. Screen removal and cleaning made easy by adapter on plug end that allows easy removal and re installation.

Great product and an awesome design.

don't know about the product yet. But don't buy from this add it shows two plugs in all displays, but when you buy them you don't get a pair you get one, misleading.

Nicely done innovative solution to an age-old problem. Check valve works well. No more wondering if you put your "cork in the hole!"

I have not tested the drain plug, it feels solid, good material.

Plug was used for a cooler that did not have a drain plug.

The new super coolers have thicker walls, and regular drain plugs will not work. This one is long enough and working well.