What is this hole above my rudder attachments?

[Russ]

It might be worth noting that this steep angle occurs during launch/retrieval also. So it might be wise to not leave it in that position too long.

I've found (nasty launch) water getting in the motor well during launch as the transom dips down at first.

[ULLR]

They are actually mounting holes for the optional henway - a rare bird indeed.

Yes...the optional henway is a great feature although I lose about an 1/8th of a knot from that extra weight hanging off the stern.

[ULLR]

I had a really close look inside the stern of my boat when I purchased it and the 2 holes above the rudder do not go through to the inside of the boat that I can see. I would think the most likely leak you could have in the stern of the boat would be a cracked sink or motor well drain line near the through hull fitting at the back. The through hull drain is barely above water at the best of times so any angle that puts it below water would cause water to flow back into the lines inside the boat causing a leak if there were any cracked lines or poor connections

[Mac26Mpaul]

My sink/motor well drain is often under water and doesn't leak.

Look inside your boat and you will see where the rudder downhaul rope exits your rudder posts. I believe the dam holes are drains so that water going up your rudder posts will run back out those holes, rather than overflowing the top of the rudder posts into the boat,,, but in my case, the drain holes were underwater and the water just backed right up and overflowed.

I guess that means plugging the holes would have made no difference and it would still overflow the rudder posts,,, but,, once we plugged the holes that day with foam rubber, we were able to get all the water out and no more came in,, ..

[Highlander]

Yep, you need not worry about those drain holes if lake sailing, and in fact, I have dried out at least a hundred or more times over the years in tidal waters on some pretty steep beaches without issue. This was the one and only time I had this problem. Unfortunately the boat had already taken the ground before I realized just how bad the angle was..

Very Interesting hard top that the guy put on his sail boat X T Sea !!

J