Drain from Cockpit seat

[jssailem]

I have a CAL 35 C 1974 boat. The starboard cockpit seat drain is plumbed to the sink drain. The sink drain is plumbed to a thru hull fitting. Appeared great until I closed the through hull when I left the boat. Came back to rain water that had backed up into the sink and across the counter... what a mess. Looking for ideas on replumbing the seat drain out of the boat.

Has anyone put a hole in the side of their boat to drain cockpit water over board?

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I put holes above the water line for the deck drains on mine. With ball valves. Should work fine for cockpit seats also

 

[centerline]

is there NOT other drains for the cockpit?... I can clearly see the problem of having a cockpit scupper plumbed into the sink drain, but the solution would be to plumb it to one of the other scupper drains...

my 34-III has 4 cockpit scuppers, plumbed in pairs to 2 separate above-the-waterline seacocks... (out the bottom of the overhang behind the rudder)
it routes out of the front 90degree scupper fitting, and into abs hard pipe which runs to the rear scupper, which drops down and connects into the abs pipe with a "T".... then to the seacock. the same on each side of the boat.

the ABS pipe is used because its light, rigid and it doesnt need additional support...

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

He's talking seat drains, not cockpit drains

 

[woodster]

Has anyone put a hole in the side of their boat to drain cockpit water over board?

that is your answer

 

[deltaten]

as to the OPs ??

Yes, tho not the seats; but the side decks. I couldn';t find thru-hulls flush enuff , so I made fittings from FRP/epoxy. Bored holes thru the deck and in the hulljust below the rub rail. Glued and schmutz';d the fittings to inside of hull and added 5/8 hose. A bit of white marine-te to finish off and......
Wallah!~ decks dry now!

Could probably do the same w/your seating??

 

[Ken Cross]

San Juan 28 is also plumbed cockpit to sink drain. I hadn't considered changing that when we had one. It needs fixed.
I also feel there should always be more than one cockpit drain on boats with combing higher than the companionway.

Think of it this way:
If the drain(s) get plugged by debris, snow, or even a single leaf; water can fill the cockpit until it floods the cabin. This can happen rather quickly depending on how much precipitation comes down. I once had a tiny hole in that drain line on our San Juan 28. Here's how I found it leaked: When I returned after 7 days there was about 2 1/2 inches of water in the entire cabin. (no electric bilge pump on that one) I'm glad I hadn't been gone longer.

Ken

 

[centerline]

He's talking seat drains, not cockpit drains

I didnt realize the Cal boat had "seat" drains...but as it is the "cockpit seat drain", why couldnt there be another thruhull installed into the side of the footwell, so the seat drain could be connected to it, so the water could run into the cockpit so it can run out the scuppers?

 

[Jackdaw]

I forget there was a day where sailboat designers didn't have the common sense to allow water to simply drain off the boat without the need for plumbing. Having your boat flood due to RAIN has got to be a total drag.