Cockpit Drain Safety Question

[Bill Ebling]

I finally crawled, twisted, turned over my fuel tank to inspect the hose-hull connections of the starboard cockpit drain and the exhaust hose. Everything looks fine but the inaccessibility and contorted maneuvering to get back there got me thinking and maybe panicking a bit.1. No seacocks2. Although these hull openings are above the water line (in the boot stripe), it appears that they would not be on a slight heel or on a following sea. If the hoses/connection broke here flooding would ensue before you noticed.3. These are so close to the water line that any flooding would pull these hull openings down below the water line even if not heeled.4. It appears to me that these hull openings are so inaccessible behind the fuel tank that it would almost be impossible to repair or stop flooding while at sea. Glunk.. Glunk.. Glunk Besides making sure that these connections are in absolutely pristine conditioned, double clamped, and the hoses showing absolutely no sign of deterioration can anything be done to prevent a potential disaster given this apparent design flaw.

 

[David]

Cockpit Scuppers

I think in the archives you will find that John Cherubini II wrote a good article addressing this issue.

 

[Bill Ebling]

David..Lack of Access

David: I looked in the archives under J Cherubini and drains or scuppers, found discussions about the integretity of the tubes. I seems that the tubes may be as sound as a thru-hull. That may be true... I am not an engeener. BTW John also correctly considers these "above" water line penetrations to be "below" waterline. Concerning my original post...I am not concerned about "tube-hull" failure per say..... Its the lack of access to these critical tube-hose joints with no shutoff that has me concerned. I thought every hull penertration below the water line should be accessable and equiped with quick way of securing it in case of failure. Connections right up against and below the after end of the fuel tank (there is only ~1 foot of access above tank, above and about 4" to starboard by reaching around blind) doesn't fit my idea crisis accessable in a flooding lazerette. It certianly won't facilitate inspection. I was thinking as I was making my inspection that full access for hose replacement could require removal of fuel tank! Has anyone moved these hull penetrations to a more accesable location when uppgrading the undersize cockpit drains?  I will get some soft wood plugs for these hull penetrations and keep them near by.

 

[Scott]

Plug from the outside

I have had the same concern with our 83-H34. Often when sailing at a certian angle

 

[Ed Schenck]

Just the other day. . .

I was musing about this very topic. The wind quit and we went over the back for a swim. As I was checking the rudder and hull for growth I noticed that those scupper outlets go under water with hardly any wave action. I have not undertaken this project on my H37C because I know that I need much larger cockpit drains. Large seacocks would be a possibility as I have the room. But that's one very expensive option. Gene Greunder built a watertight bulkhead forward of the scupper outlets(link below).

 

[Scott B]

Persistent Leak

A couple of years ago I had a persistent leak which resulted in the bilge pump going off every two to three minutes and puking out a good stream of water. After spending a frustrating summer tracing the leak I finally traced it to THIS THROUGH HULL!! A crack in the pipe just above water line was enough to let lots of water in. When at rest... no problem. Put four or five people in the cockpit and katy man the pumps. Definately a source of concern, but I think the best solution is to be prepared to plug it from the outside. It is easily accessible from the swim ladder.