I have always thought that the inspection hatches, being larger than the drain plugs, are a more likely source of water entry. But having owned or been on many different boats over the years, power and sail, large and small, I firmly believe that even if the entire boat is sealed in a vacuum bag, somehow water will find a way to get in.

We have only owned two boats of any kind that did not leak, and both of those were Nacras. Every time we looked into the hulls, there was nothing there but a little bit of dust.

Recent models of the Hobie Wave do not have inspection ports at the aft end of the hulls like the earlier models. Normally, I open the inspection port and use a sponge to get out any water. But if there is no way to see whether there is water in there, I have to decide whether to remove the drain plugs and lift the bows to drain the boat (just in case) or say, "Ignorance is bliss."

This brings up another question, and I am going to start a new post right now entitled "Kinetics possible on catamarans?"