Anchor Locker Does Not Drain

[sail sfbay]

The anchor locker on my 2005 Hunter 46 leaves standing water below the through hull drains on each side of the boat. The photo on the left shows no standing water (the floor slopes to the bow) whereas the photo on the right show standing water below the through hull drain, located 1" above the floor. As a result, the anchor locker does not free drain. A few questions for the forum:

1. Is there any risk with standing water on the anchor locker floor near the bow?
2. Are the drains correctly located 1" above the floor and, therefore, standing water is to be expected?
3. If you were to mitigate standing water and provide free draining what option(s) would you recommend, e.g., raise the floor to make it flush with the through hull drain with say King StarBoard HDPE Marine Building Material sealed to the floor and sides, install a new through hull drain that is flush with the floor, etc.?

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Had similar issues on different boats. To state the obvious, the drain is too high and should be moved lower.

 

[Rich Stidger]

As Don posted above, this issue is common with many Hunter models. I think the negative is that the anchor chain or rode sits in water all of the time. Chain rusts and rope rots, so I am not happy with either situation.
I considered raising the floor to be even with the existing drain but I couldn't think of a suitable way of accomplishing that. It is a difficult spot to measure, cut , and fit anything. I didn't think pouring epoxy into the spot was a good idea either since as the block of epoxy would cure it would produce a tremendous amount of heat and I didn't think that would be good for the Fiberglas hull.
So what I did was to cut, by trial & error, a plastic support that would fit snugly around the bottom of the locker and would also have a couple "feet" that would extend to the bottom to take the weight load of the chain.
I used a regular plastic milk carton that I bought for a buck. I made so measurements as best I could and cut a cardboard template that roughly fit around the edges. I then used a portable Ryobi 18V circular saw to cut the plastic carton. I cut it so that a vertical portion of the carton side would reach to the bottom and cut bottom of the carton to fit the shape of the locker.
Attached are some pictures- Empty locker, Plastic milk carton support, chain stowed.

 

[Terry Cox]

Our boat has two anchor locker drains that seem to work just fine. One is located about one inch above the bottom and the other is about a foot above. No worries here if a small amount of water remains at the bottom. That is where sludge gathers from washing the chain. When it appears the lower drain shows no water coming out after a rinse at the end of a cruise, about every two to three years, it is time to remove all the rode and clean out the sludge. If it were my boat, I would leave it at one inch above the bottom.

 

[sail sfbay]

Don and Rich, you guys are on to viable solutions. Thanks.

Rich, I like your idea of cutting out a cardboard template. Before I install a new thru hull I will try that.

 

[sail sfbay]

Terry, Excellent suggestion. I can easily do that as I have a cordless wet ship vac to clean it out.

 

[Terry Cox]

Anchored hundreds of times over the years in some very muddy places. My wash down system consists of a two gallon plastic bucket with a lanyard. Once I’ve stowed the anchor all the rode gets rinsed with sea water in the well. Upon returning to base it all gets a thorough fresh water wash down ready for the next cruise. Only once since 2002 has the drain clogged with sludge and that was maybe five years ago. I suspect it will clog again in a few years at which time removing the sludge will be the order of the day.

 

[NYSail]

On my boat the lowest hole is about a half inch above floor. I bought a plastic grid and cut to form to keep rose and chain high and dry......

greg

 

[sail sfbay]

NYSail..........that is a good idea.

 

[FastOlson]

Dri-Dek ® The Official Site

Dri-Dek is a flexible self-draining modular surface for Wet Floors, Boats, Kennels, Bars, Trucks, Gyms, Home & Patio and Anti-Fatigue Matting.

www.dri-dek.com

I have these, cut to fit, in our anchor well, the bottom of the fridge, and also a section in our stern lazaretto. Probably for about 20 years. Works great to keep all 'stuff' above the moisture. I put some squares, cut to fit, under the settee storage areas also, same reason.

 

[sail sfbay]

Thanks FastOlson and NYSail, great suggestion!!.............I used them those on my previous boats.

 

[smokey73]

On my boat its about 2 to 3 inches from the bottom of the locker to the bottom of the lowest drain hole. I already posted about improving the drain sealing since it was just a 1 inch PVC pipe gooped in with some sealer with no collar or anything to give a lip to seal the 4200 or whatever they used. Until you fix the leak in the drain if you have one, you will get water in between the anchor locker and hull which eventually ends up in the bilge. After you fix that you can get to solving the residual water that sets in the bottom of the anchor locker.

Hunter 40.5 anchor locker drain leak fix

I think I have isolated the leak I am getting into the bilge to the lower anchor locker drain. It seems to be sealed well on the inside of the locker but when I dump water into the locker, there is leakage from between the anchor locker liner and the outer hull. Then this eventually drains into...

forums.sailboatowners.com

I think they just installed the liner and then drilled the hole from the inside or outside and "you got what you got" which explains the different distances on our Hunters. With 2-3 inches or so here is my plan. I"ll use crunched up aluminum foil to make a rough mold of the bottom (i've done this kind of thing before). Then I'll pour a fiberglass resin (with some scrap filler since its not structural) into a clay or sand depression to avoid the heat buildup that might be a problem with such a glob of resin placed insitu. When it's set, I'll fit it and grind as necessary to have it just at the height of the bottom of the drain with good slope to the drain. Then I'll use a thickened resin to fix the molded piece into the bottom. That way I don't have to worry about rode laying in the mud or water or a smell that might accumulate from a 2 inch deep pool of mixed mud and water.

 

[PJL]

Had the same problem on my Passage 42. Having standing water is not good for either the rope or the chain. My solution was to have the yard fill the area with glass and reinforcement. Has been working well. Someone had mentioned potential problems w/ pressure from curing glass. My experience did not encounter any trouble; amongst other things the glass can expand upwards if necessary it to expand. If one wants to be worried about expansion, the filler can always be built up in layers.

 

[sail sfbay]

.............My solution was to have the yard fill the area with glass and reinforcement..............

smokey73 and PJL good to hear!! That was my first option.

 

[Al in Seattle]

I had the same problem. I made a grid to raise it up from treated 2 x 4 and the plastic locker room flooring that has holes. Has worked great for 12 years.

 

[Cruising Spirit]

I agree the chain and rode, general cleanliness and cosmetic condition suffer from the situation. On the 460 it’s a well designed actual (isolated by a watertight bulkhead top to bottom anchor locker) that seems to suffer from whoever did the lay up and drilling that day. In my case, the chain deck was also slightly angled down at the aft end. So there was always water there. But we sailed the Caribbean so muddy bottoms wasn’t a big problem for us. And I have a salt water wash down and also always fresh water spritz everything with (I plumbed a spigot from fresh water system windlass area) after anchor up. Wasn’t worried—until one day!

On the 460 there is a second bulkhead about 18” aft of the anchor locker bulkhead ( this has two large openings so you can access the area). Between the two bulkheads is where a thruster would be...I don’t have one and so use the area for storage. Mostly hurricane lines. On cleaning the area one day, I noticed moisture in the paint on the anchor locker bulkhead about 5” above the keel (that’s about 5 inches below the deck the chain sits on forward of the bulkhead). Couldn’t help but give it a little poke.

So, over the next two months (working 2-3 hours per day) I rebuilt the anchor locker approaching the job from inside the v berth through two bulkheads. Reason was because water had wicked up the forward bulkhead to a couple of feet below deck. So, I had to piece in a new forward bulkhead as well. Having this access (from the v berth rather than from above) was great! I placed a box fan in the anchor locker hatch opening sucking air (plus a shop vac on the sander) out the deck with the companionway open and both air conds blasting away in summer heat. Result...rebuilt bulkhead and anchor locker properly sloping and slightly above the drain holes.

So, if you find you have water below the chain deck, cutting through the forward bulkhead and using a saws all to extract the rotted wood will really speed the process.

We still love our 460 and are planning a return to Caribbean. But it was a big job fixing that. The sad thing is back to whoever laid it up at factory or the employed construction technique. The void between chain deck and hull is filled with foam. It appears they filled the void through two 3 or 4 inch round holes drilled through the chain deck either side (symmetrically) of the fore and aft support strut. But only one layer of glass was laid to seal up these holes—no plug to back it. On a deck that takes abuse from anchors and chain. I have lots of photos showing demo and rebuild but I’m away from the pc they are on. Will post them if anybody interested.

 

[ScottySailor]

How about just installing an extra through hull at the bottom of anchor locker seems like a fairly easy job and would solve the problem?
Can’t see why having 2 wouldn’t be a good thing?
Did someone say this already?

 

[smokey73]

How about just installing an extra through hull at the bottom of anchor locker seems like a fairly easy job and would solve the problem?
Can’t see why having 2 wouldn’t be a good thing?
Did someone say this already?

Kind of hard to do and get it right at the bottom since there isn't much room for a drill at the bottom of the anchor locker. Possible but no necessarily easier.

 

[ScottySailor]

Right angled plumber’s drill will help. Or if your feeling courageous drill from outside.

 

[sail sfbay]

Cruising Spirit, thanks for the post!!

Fortunately, my Hunter 46 anchor locker floor slopes to the bow and the thru hull drains are located 1" above the floor relatively close the bow on both sides of the boat and, as a result, there is minimal standing water below the drain so I am leaning to install some plastic grating OR a 1/2" plastic platform from Taps Plastic (unfortunately they are closed since they are deemed non-essential; I beg to differ) to keep the anchor warp and chain dry and like Terry recommends wet vac that small area annually. If I get obsessed with the small of water there then will build up the area with fiberglass glass as that will avoid drilling a hole through the hull.