Who plumbs water into a boat?

[jssailem]

I have a new to me Cal 35 Cruiser built in 1974. Like many of you I am discovering things done by Previous Owners and wondering, "What were they thinking?" I left the boat for a couple of weeks after working on the engine. (Never ending projects of mercy trying to solve past non maintenance issues). Since I was to be gone for 3 weeks I closed all through hulls. Felt like a reasonable course of action. 'Keep all water outside the boat while not there'.
We had a rainstorm forecast in the area the boat is moored, and my gut was uncomfortable about the boat. I told my wife I was heading up to the boat for the weekend. She said Go! Your just restless here. I thought it would be a good time to start the prep work on installing the heater and other tasks.
Got to the boat an the sink was full of water. There was water on the counter top and in the pantry that is behind the counter. What could of happened. Is there a leak from the deck above the counter? Are the chain plates somehow dripping? Is the deck seam failing? No. None of the above. Some fool plumbed the drain from the cockpit into the sink drain line. So when the rain hit, the water from outside the boat flowed inside. With the through hull shut to keep water from filling the boat in my absence, the cockpit water backed up into the sink and made a mess.

Have any of you plumbed cockpit drain lines? Do you use PVC or tubing?
Thanks for your help.
John S/V Hadley
Sailing the Pacific Northwest.

 

[THECUSCUS]

I think you have it backwards.......the PO connected the sink drain to the cockpit drain to save from installing a seperate thru hull. Only problem (as you found out) is you have to keep those cockpit thru hulls open all the time. Just make sure the hoses are in real good shape and double clamp them and leave those cockpit drains open all the time. They only have seacocks on them in case the hose breaks, or nasty seas are forcing water up the hose into the cockpit.

 

[jssailem]

Thanks Thecucus.
I think I understand your thought. I have 4 drains in the cockpit. Two in the floor and two for the seats. The seat drain on the port side connects to the floor drain on the port side. This drain line runs aft to the transom and out in a pvc pipe. The starboard side has the same set up for the floor drain, but the seat drain is plumbed into the boat and connected to the sink drain line using a T connection in the wet locker. There are double clamps on the sea cock but only single clamps on the T connector.

If I get rain water or a wave fills the cockpit most of the water will be drained out of the boat via the 3 lines. The seat drain on the starboard side will direct water into the boat. If I shut the through hull ( which is out the bottom of the boat) then I have the risk of water coming into the boat in the event of a failure in that drain line.

Hope I'm not over thinking this.
John

 

[Calif. Ted]

The most common way is for the cockpit drains to be plumbed to a thru hull (or 2, one on each side to drain low side while heeled) in the transom above the waterline usually with reinforced nylon tube.

 

[jssailem]

Ok. Thanks Ted. I have what looks to be 1.5 inch ID pvc pipe running from the floor drains to the transom. They are through hulled there and are above the water line in normal conditions. If I crank up the engine the hull does sit about 12 inches and the through hulls dip below the surface. I usually back off because I'm uncomfortable with them being below the surface and I'm not moving any faster through the water.

Is there any issues with PVC pipe as drain lines?

 

[Stu Jackson]

PVC is OK, but we use wire reinforced hose to our cockpit drain lines in the hull above the waterline just forward of where the transom meets the hull. I think you have pretty much the same boat "lines" aft there in profile.

 

[jssailem]

Yes Stu. The aft lines are similar. (photos attached). I guess it is just important that the connections are secure and the plumbing drains down and away from the drains. Anything I'm missing?

 

[Calif. Ted]

Seems like you got it wired now John. It's a gravity fed above waterline system that will mostly drain rainwater.