No Through-Hull for Sink?

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Rosalie

The guy I bought my Catalina 27 from was very thorough in making the boat water tight. I have no fear of leaks whatsoever. HOWEVER, I do have some concerns on how some of the water is going to get out! I recently bottom painted the boat (he had done the prep work of a barrier coat) and the through hull for the galley was conspicuously absent... Where will the water go? I've run the sink a couple of times and the water "went away", but now it won't drain anymore... I'm perplexed. Do I just wait until I pull it out of the water again and re-make the hole? What else needs to happen? Thanks for any pointers!
 
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Garry

Thru Hull

Did you find a thru hull for the ice box? In the Catalina 27 the sink and ice box share a thru hull. The two drains meet at a tee above the valve. There is usually another valve on the icebox drain above the tee. You could drain the sink for a while because, although your drain valve (or thru hull) is probably closed, whatever ran out of the sink ran into the drain pipe and came up in the ice box. If you have the two settee cabin like TASHTEGO's you can get to the thru hull and valve by removing the port side settee cushion, pulling up the after hatch board and crawling head first into the cubby hole under the stove. Looking forward and down you should see the two valves and the thru hull. Take a flashlight. If you have the dinette cabin you will need to look in the same place by some other means. Open it up and everything should drain. The icebox is low enough and far enough outboard that seawater may flow up the drain and into the bottom of the ice box on starboard tack. Best to leave it closed while sailing. In the unlikely event that the thru hull has been sealed up try the forum archives for detailed instructions on installing one.
 
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Harry Ottey

No sink through hull.

Gary, your answer was very interesting. The ice box in my 27'('72) fills all the time while sailing. I thought all these years "something" was wrong. I just don't store anything that can't get wet. Is there any solution to this problem? The shut off valve is very difficult to get to. I'd hate to have to do it each time I go sailing. Then, how do you empty the melted ice? (I don't store ice there now)
 
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Rosalie

Pretty sure it's sealed up.

Hi Garry, I do have the dinette layout, and the galley set-up is forward, or along the port side as opposed to aft. There hasn't been water coming up into the ice box yet... I have reached down under the sink through that little door opening and felt the "T" joint and how it connects to the hull, but I'm 99.99999999999% sure that thru hull is sealed completely because there was NO trace of it on the outside when I bottom painted. Guess I'll have to get creative or make a new one next time it goes up in the yard. Thanks!!
 
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Rosalie

Captain Thirsty

Harry, In my Catalina 22 I emptied the ice box of melted ice using the manual plastic bilge pump you can buy at West Marine called "Thirsty Mate" and a bucket. We affectionately refer to him as "Captain Thirsty" or "Mr. Sucko". He's a vital part of our crew :)
 
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Garry

For Harry

Well, its a pain but no worse than the creep and crawl to open/shut the engine cooling water valve. (Why Frank Butler couldn't have put that one just inside the engine compartment hatch is beyond me but of course this is the guy who gave us "volcano" thru hulls.) I leave the icebox drain closed when sailing and open it on the hook if it needs draining. I'm going to (i.e., I haven't gotten around to it yet) make a starboard grate for the bottom of the icebox so that it will stand a couple of inches above the melt water and not soak the chow. I almost never use the sink underway so I generally leave both valves shut until I'm done for the day. I gather that the dinette layout has a door that can be opened to reveal the valve. Mine is covered o'er by the electrical panel which I have rebuilt and put on hinges so that I can flop it down and reach in to turn the valve. I have replaced the "volcano" with a proper bronze thru hull and seacock and plumbed the tee (bronze) to the icebox with a bronze ball valve. A little expensive but comforting at night when sleeping out on the hook.
 
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Garry

For Rosalie

Five will get you ten that the thing started leaking and the PO sealed it up. The volcano thru hulls are dangerous as are the gate valves. When you have it out of the water next put a proper thruhull and seacock in it. If you need some instructions on how to do it have a look in the archives or send me an e-mail at rmpb@juno.com and I'll send back a copy of the full instructions.
 
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Tim

Water in ice box

I put in a Whale one way valve in the line from the icebox to the tee connecting the icebox and sink to the through hull. This stops the water from flowing into the icebox. The reason this happens is the bottom of the icebox is just about at the waterline. Heel the boat or go through waves and it floods. I a have also replaced all of the gate valves. All seemed ok when I looked at them but after I got them out found that only 1 of 4 would actually close, The rest just spun.
 
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