Drainage in so called liferaft locker on new Oceanis 41-45

[TropicalSeattle]

I Find the design of that locker behind the folding transom questionable. That storage always gets wet, because any water from the cockpit ends up there. This is true when we are washing the decks, or anything else, so a lot of debris and dirt goes that way. The drainage is supposedly gravity fed to the sea, but I have never observed that actually work without a lot of help from me. At first I thought it was plugged or the thru hull closed. Turns out it has a siphon effect, and it never drains because the thru hull is not right below the drainage hole and the hose has to make an odd curve.

Have any other oceanis owners run into the same problem, and what is your solution? I end up having to open that up every time the boat is washed, put a hose with some water pressure through the drain to get the flow started, then wait for the water and all the crap washed off the boat for the last couple of weeks to drain through, and repeat a couple of times.

Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks!

 

[Captain Ag]

Re: Drainage in so called liferaft locker on new Oceanis 41-

Unfortunately, I have the same problem. I hope someone has a creative drain hose adjustment/rerouting to create some additional motivation to the drainage.

 

[Gunni]

Re: Drainage in so called liferaft locker on new Oceanis 41-

The solution is to sail more. The drain leads to a scoop fitting on the bottom of the boat - water flowing over the fitting creates a venturi effect and and that sucks down the locker water.

 

[Captain Ag]

Re: Drainage in so called liferaft locker on new Oceanis 41-

I like that idea. So, just before you go out sailing, rinse down the liferaft area...and drain away.

 

[artdogwd]

I've got the same problem,I wish Beneteau would come up with a better option,I don't like the way it collects water and is really hard to get rid of it.

 

[TropicalSeattle]

I wish sailing solved that problem, we were sailing for a couple of hours this weekend making 6-7 knots, beating and running. Then I still had to manually drain that locker. Sailing solves other problems though! ;-)

I wonder if I some kind of pump there to get it started would be possible. This is a thru hull that is below the waterline, maybe a shower sump pump? I would prefer something simpler, manual, just to easily prime it without opening everything up, and let the siphon do the rest?

I also wonder why they didn't let that drain straight down vertically, perhaps for access and a close able thru hull? Seems that if they didn't use a hose, clamps, etc. and instead had that be a fiberglass straight through it might even just be permanently open to the ocean.

 

[TropicalSeattle]

Ok, it seems that one solution would be to reroute that to a gray water pump that would have to discharge above the water line tying into one of the bilge pump discharges for example. The old thru hull below the waterline would go unused, and sit closed (is that safe?). Having a pump discharge below the waterline sounds like a bad idea if not against some rule. With the pump, the locker would never dry by itself. Which it doesn't anyway, and with a pump on auto it could very well stay dry like my shower pan.