anchor locker drain tube leak question

[CaptDon01]

On my MK-II the factory installed a mushroom headed fitting for the drain in the anchor locker. The problem is that it doesn't allow the locker to drain completely, and leaves about 1/4" of water in the bottom. This just promotes mold and makes the rode nasty, and so I have to occasionally rinse it out with some bleach water and leave the hatch open to let everything dry out. I thought the anchor locker with the drain in the front on my 1988 C-22 was a better design, and down the road, when I have leaking problems, I'll find a length of fiberglass tubing and epoxy it in place.

By the way Gene, that's a pretty boat!

Don

 

[Gene Neill]

Yeah it is! But it's not mine, it's CCrane2299's! And that trailer makes me jealous too!

I was wondering about that puddling issue, in the bottom of the locker. But there have been at least two if not three failed attempts made by PO's to fix this drain hole, which makes me reluctant to attempt it again.

This makes me wonder about the structural feasiblity of joining the bottom of the locker to the chine of the hull by a small tunnel, and then making that tunnel permanently watertight, given the stress (and perhaps flexing) that happens in the area? My guess is, the folks at Catalina looked at it pretty hard and determined it was just a bad design, plain and simple, before coming up with the through-hull idea ... which would have been a GREAT idea, if they had built in a little slope to help with that last 1/4" of water. Maybe I could build some in myself?

Here is how one PO found a way to access the area under the locker ...

And some kind of hard, white epoxy-like substance they tried to do something with ...

... and a sample of the two types of silicone I spent the morning trying to dig out of the drain hole:

 

[CloudDiver]

F me Running!!! What a HACK job!!!!

 

[CCrane2299]

Ccrane's boat is probably a little lonely right now. I need to go and love on her a little. Thanks for the compliments. If I ever make it back to the boat, I'll take some pictures of how it looks behind the plywood.

 

[allen-deckard]

At this point I'd be thrilled to death with a little puddle in the anchor locker.

Ok thought I fixed the issue and was jumping for joy.

Took off the wood panel. Found the fiberglass behind that and wasn't to thrilled.

Cut the bottom 3 inches of the panel off since that's as much as you can take without getting into the anchor locker.

it's tight and hard to see.

Got my big ol kitchen rubber glove on and squirt 5200 into my hand (glove hand) pushing the 5200 up into the cavity of where the drain comes out of the locker trust me it's a tight shitty little spot to do anything........well after an entire tube of 5200 and half of that I swear up to my elbow seems the glove wasn't enough I finished.

Looking now down the tube from the top in the anchor locker what do I see? A little bit of 5200 showing in the tube inside........Now I'm doing the fancy dance put the entire thing back together and it all looks great......Me figuring that since a little came UP from where I was working underneath I'm thinking that the hole must have gotten fixed otherwise why would the 5200 made it up into the hole.

Well take it out the other day thinking that things are going to be dry as a bone. NOOOOOOOOOOO we got water. It's not a lot seems a lot less than before but after about 8 hours on the water in fairly heavy seas I still got maybe 2 glasses of water under the floor. DAMN!!!!

Today I bought ANOTHER tube of 5200 this time approaching the issue again from under but this time thinking that the remainder might be coming from the bottom side of the tube.

When I was out on the water the water coming in wasn't coming from the original location but a second place down lower....Most likely it was coming from both locations in the first place just couldn't see the bottom location since water ran down over top the second if that makes since.

At this point I'm so disgusted with the entire situation and how they put that together it amazes me they ever thought it was a good idea to have a HARD drain tube that is connected to two surfaces that move independently of each other being the anchor locker and the hull now it's not much they move separately but they do move separately why not use a flexable line is beyond me.


I haven't takin the boat out since todays last ditch effort of a simple (or what was supposed to be simple) fix. If it's fixed then super I'm done. If it leaks then I'm giving up on the original drain tube and gonna seal it off on both ends and install something similar to what you had showing in the link.

Only think I believe that might do differently is I was wondering why
1. they put the drain so low on the water line on the outside it appears to be nearly at the waterline or very close to it guess I don't see the need for that much drop.

2. The drain hose looks crazy big to me since it's such a small amount of water that drains out there in the first place.

3. kind of related to number one believe that I'll run the whole thing out the side putting the tube and everything behind the wood panel.


Anyway never in my wildest dreams did I think this was going to turn into such a major ordeal seeing as I was thrilled that had found where this little leak was coming from and thinking it was going to be a quick fix......Yah at times I believe nothing is quick and easy.

 

[CCrane2299]

My thoughts...
When it rains, every drop that hits the anchor locker door and a little from the deck, goes in the locker? Right?

The lower it is, the less likely it will be that water will come up the drain, into the Locker from the lake/ocean?

 

[Gene Neill]

Sorry it didn't work out for you yet, Allen. I'd rather take a pretty severe beating (or get wrapped up in jellyfish!) than go up to my elbows in 5200 all for nothing. Go with #3, we'll whup this thing together!

I ordered two through-hulls from Jamestown Distributors. I elected to go with stainless steel for both of them, rather than plastic like Catalina used, and I went with 3/4". I know that's kinda big, but personally I want that locker to drain FAST, whether I'm righting from a knockdown or just flushing it out with a hose. I also don't want it to clog easily, like it does right now. I considered 5/8", but the flange diameter and the hole cutout diameter were the same as the 3/4", soooo ....

I agree that it looks like that drain is kinda low. I intend to put mine a little higher if possible, and further forward if possible.

I opened up that rat-hole in the fiberglass panel as much as I could, using a Dremel and a cutoff wheel. I wanted to keep the lower part of the panel intact so the teak board would still have something to screw into. I wish the opening were prettier, but soon it will be covered again and hopefully no one will EVER be the wiser.

 

[CCrane2299]

Well, mine looks much different than the pics above....


Looking down into the anchor locker.

Directly under the locker

Everything under the locker

Thru hull

 

[CCrane2299]

Wow, looking at the posted pictures, I just noticed the cracking on that hose. I could not see it until I zoomed in. Here I was thinking everything was fine and now y'all have added to my "to do" list. All I intended to do was take a picture...

I should have backed up and taken a picture with more of the whole area. My plywood only has three screws one in each top corner and one about three inches lower and in the center.
I'd say it's all factory because there is a recessed areas for the thru hull in the bottom of the locker which would be prevent the puddling mentioned earlier. Also, the plywood I took out had the same screw pattern as the one in the boat now.

 

[Gene Neill]

Excellent pics, Crane!

My through-hulls probably won't be here until Monday, and I'll be sailing for three days after that ... so I probably won't start drilling holes until next weekend.

 

[CCrane2299]

The hard hole is going to be the one the hose runs through in the middle. It looks like it was drilled before the top was put on. I guess it doesn't have to be right in the point of the bow like that...as long as the trim board covers it.

 

[hawk232]

can I ask a silly question gene? why does a hole need to be drilled down through the center? why couldn't you just come out the bottom of the anchor locker then put a 90* barb fitting and like a 1" piece of hose and just go straight out of the side right there (in the area shown in pics 2 & 3?

 

[CCrane2299]

That actually sounds like a good idea. You might have to put the hose on first and the install the through hull from the outside. It would be hard to install such a short piece of hose between two fixed thru hulls. It might be possible to turn the drain 90 to the stern then arc the hose to a through hull that is as low as possible and rearward as possible? One thing is certain, the shorter the hose and the higher up it is, the more likely you will be to have water flowing in while sailing through a wave. Probably not a big deal since it would just run right back out.

 

[Gene Neill]

The hard hole is going to be the one the hose runs through in the middle. It looks like it was drilled before the top was put on. I guess it doesn't have to be right in the point of the bow like that...as long as the trim board covers it.

Yeah, there's no law that says where it has to be. My plan is to drill the first hole in the center of the locker, or maybe a little toward the aft starboard corner, to make the hose bend more gently toward the port side through-hull. Definitely not up in the forward corner. Then I'll just use a long extension, and drill the second hole straight down through the first one.

can I ask a silly question gene? why does a hole need to be drilled down through the center? why couldn't you just come out the bottom of the anchor locker then put a 90* barb fitting and like a 1" piece of hose and just go straight out of the side right there (in the area shown in pics 2 & 3?

No real reason. I'm just a little averse to 90's, as they clog more easily than a straight tube. Also, I don't want the through-hull TOO far forward, both for looks and because it seems like there might possibly be a tendency for a lot of water to get pushed up the drain at times. Mostly just looks though, I think the fitting would look odd only 6" or less from bow.

On the other hand, now that we're sailing cushion-less in the V berth, I plan to actually USE that forwardmost locker, to store an extra 2.5 gallon water jug. So I want that fitting to be high and forward enough for the jug not to bash into it in rough conditions.

 

[Gene Neill]

Okay I finally got my drain done. Nothing to it really. I had to open up the access hole a bit more, but still left something for the teak panel to screw onto at the bottom. And I had to cut the second hole with a 90 degree dremel attachment rather than a drill extension (turned out I didn't have the right extension). No biggie, just another way to skin the same cat.

And, did you ever wonder how thick your hull was in that area? The answer is 0.14" inches thick, just slightly over 1/8".

 

[CaptDon01]

Nice job, and nice looking "new Design". GOSH! they are pretty boats! :dance:

Don

 

[CCrane2299]

That looks nice. Did you decide that the turn would be too sharp if you exited above the cabin liner? I don't think you'll ever regret coming out lower as you did. Those nice smooth curves should help to prevent clogs.

 

[Gene Neill]

Yep, it should drain about ten times faster than it did before (literally), and not get clogged by a single little rock or seaweed leaf. And yes, the placement was largely determined by where the fitting could go without the hose kinking or creating a "trap".

My plan now is to use butyl tape to make a little dam around the through-hull in the locker (just in case it ever needs to be removed) and then pour about 1/4" of epoxy around it, to prevent the puddling CaptDon mentioned. I still need to plug the old drain, too.

Speaking of which: while I was waiting for the right time to do this, I had some spare thickened epoxy mixed up, which I injected into the old drain, plugging it securely, then drilled it back out afterward. This at least temporarily fixed the leaking problem, and is something someone could easily try doing as an easy fix. Personally, I doubt it would last forever, but it would only cost about a dollar's worth of epoxy to try.

 

[caguy]

Not to mention the siphoning action you will get by the low placement of the through haul. I wish they made through hauls with a slight lip/spout so they would not dribble down the side of the hull.

 

[whycantIfindaname]

I repaired mine with some 3/8" brass tube. The existing drain was about 3/8",so I reamed it out with a 3/8" bit.
I used a tubing flare, flared one end of the tube.
I then cut a short (about 1") piece of the same tube and flared one end of it. The other end of the short piece, I swaged it out with a tool for the purpose. It made a slip-fit coupling to the other tube.
Then I coated everything up with 4300, installed the long piece inside the locker and the short piece coupled up from the bow by the bow eye.
I will take some pics if there is interest.