Syphoning head sink

[Chris Hyland]

Saturday on Narragansett Bay got a little spirited.We were healed over to port and running hard surfing down the face of some four footers. My wife went below. She looked like someone in one of those weightless space training sessions, kind of floating sideways down there...She came to the companionway and said "We've got a lot of water on the floor" We heaved to, and a wave came out from under the head door. We closed the seacocks and headed for home.Has anyone had this problem on a C36 before?Chris HylandC-36“Beau Jouet”Hull #1971

 

[Walt]

Yea

The sink drains directly overboard - at least it does on my 36. I don't think it's siphon effect as much as just pressure head from the heeling and wave action. Water is forced up the sink drain thru-hull and into the sink where it just sloshes out. Just close the thru-hull when you're underway.

 

[gary jensen]

sink drain

On 3-31-01 we did an offshore race on a Catalina 36. We had a 152% mylar jib is terrible conditions. The waves were steep at twelve feet and very close together ( off the Golden Gate). The boat was heeled over so far that the life lines were submerged. Rounding the buoy was VEREY difficult, since we had taken on enough water to fill the bildge and cover the floor 12 inches deep. We did not realize that we had any water below until we started to run with the wind and be upright. All the water had been camoflaged by the heeling. It was deep enough that we had to manually pump it out. The source of the problem was the sink seacock that had been left open combined with the excessive heeling and pressure on it.We took on at least 120 gallons and at 8.35 per pounds, it added up.The owner did wash everything with fresh water at the dock.Normally we would have been ok but we were so far over it created the problem. I have sailed my 36 heeled over 20 plus degrees with the sink thru hull open without any water coming in. The only redeeming factor was the fact we took first place!!!!!!

 

[Chris Hyland]

Lifelines in the water

We were healed over far in excess of 20 degrees. We had the lifelines underwater. We did shut the seacock and were fine. We washed her down inside to get the salt off when we got back...Thanks for the input.Chris

 

[John Visser]

Which sink?

I assume you are referrign to the head sink. On my C-36, both head and galley sinks drain overboard.

 

[Ernie April]

As it gets boistrous, close unnecessary thruhulls

Northing wrong, Chris-When heeling well over or in rough conditions, you gotta close the sink drain, shower drain, and the head intake seacocks. While all are potential sources for seawater backing up into the boat, the sink drains are usually the worse because they drain by gravity and therefore can not have antisyphon valves.Even so, I forget too.Ernie April

 

[Peggie Hall/Head Mistress]

Now you know why...

I keep preaching: keep all seacocks closed except when in use! If a seacock is in an inaccessible place that makes doing that just about impossible within reason, install shutoff valves in the lines that ARE accessible. And btw...when people complain that it's "too much trouble" to do what I keep preaching, would you please tell 'em your stories of overflowed sinks and toilets? First hand "been there, done that" will do more to convince people than all the preaching I can ever do!