Where should the cockpit drains route to?

[Minnesota_Slick]

Hi all,

On our 1977 E-29, we get a lot of water into the bilge when it rains, due to the fact that the forward cockpit drains all route into the bilge. According to the E29 plumbing guide that I downloaded from here(huge thanks to Sean Engle!), the scuppers are supposed to drain out the thru-hulls in the keel. Is that really correct? How's it going to drain out when the boat's in the water, as I *think* those thru-hulls are below the waterline.

Thanks!

 

[Macgyro]

Drains

On my E-32 they route straight down to two thru-hulls. There's an aft "bath-tub" helmsman area with two drains that route forward to these same thru-hulls along with the galley sink to the starboard one. I'd rather see them drain out the transom, but that's how it's set up. The 1 1/2" hose is expensive, but otherwise, as long as you have a downhill run and a route in mind for the hose, it should work. I used exhaust hose for the one next to the exhaust manifold and an extra piece of sanitation hose for the other.

Others will have better info.

 

[JPS27]

drain to bilge???

This site is my salvation as I'm learning constantly and have way more to learn than to teach. But what would be the purpose of having scuppers drain to the bilge? That seems like a good way to sink a boat at the slip. No?

 

[Macgyro]

Thru-hull drains

The water level is above the top of the thru-hulls when the boat sits in the water, so it's important to have good hoses, double clamps, etc. In my opinion, a hose that bursts or cracks at the point just above the thru-hull can sink the boat faster than having rain water from the cockpit drain into the bilge (unless your bilge pump stops working).

But that being said, the way it works is the water drains from the cockpit into the hose and that water equalizes in height to the water outside the boat so it should always be below the level of the drain.

I'd prefer to have transom drains, and may switch to that once I finish fixing my water tank and head.

-Dean

 

[Loren Beach]

Hi all,

On our 1977 E-29, we get a lot of water into the bilge when it rains, due to the fact that the forward cockpit drains all route into the bilge. According to the E29 plumbing guide that I downloaded from here(huge thanks to Sean Engle!), the scuppers are supposed to drain out the thru-hulls in the keel. Is that really correct? How's it going to drain out when the boat's in the water, as I *think* those thru-hulls are below the waterline.

Thanks!

Something is drastically wrong, if the cockpit drains really drain into your bilge. (Yikes)
Originally some of the models in your size range did have the forward drains lead to a sink drain, and thereby out of the boat.
There should be no thru hulls for drains "in the keel."

Can you post up some pictures of the area under the cockpit?

Thanks,
Loren

 

[Minnesota_Slick]

Something is drastically wrong, if the cockpit drains really drain into your bilge. (Yikes)
Originally some of the models in your size range did have the forward drains lead to a sink drain, and thereby out of the boat.
There should be no thru hulls for drains "in the keel."

Can you post up some pictures of the area under the cockpit?

Thanks,
Loren

Hi Loren,

Yes, I agree that something is drastically wrong. Obviously, some previous owner to myself had changed the routing of the scupper drains. This really surprised me because the guy we purchased her from did an amazing job redoing all the wiring and exhaust, stuffing box, etc. I'm having a difficult time believing that he purposely routed the scuppers into the bilge. Nonetheless, it is true, as we found out last fall upon close investigation.

There is not a lot of room to get to the under-cockpit area, so I'm going to have to figure out how to do that. It's still up on the hard for now, so I've got about another month before launching.

As to the thru-hulls "on the keel"...this may just be a misunderstanding on my part. I tend to call the part of the boat that's painted with VC-17 "The keel", when according to you it sounds like part of the hull is painted with the VC-17. Please forgive my ignorance.

I will have to do some more investigation to really figure out what I'm dealing with. I will take pics and post back here the next time I'm up at the boat. It will probably be a couple of weeks, though.

Here's a nice shot of her up on the hard, and now that I look at it, I now get that the "fin keel" is actually just the fin! Duh. Well, I never claimed to be the brightest bulb on the tree.

 

[toddster]

My 1971 tiller model has only one cockpit drain - in a well at the aft end of the cockpit. It drains to a through-hull on the center-line, behind the rudder, but above the water line. Reach under the center of the transom and it's just there. You can reach it, barely, by laying down in the sail locker and reaching around behind the cockpit.

The one drain has always seemed a little inadequate. I've seen pictures of other boats that had drains added forward. This requires the addition of hoses and through- hulls. I haven't seen it done very gracefully. I suppose routing it through the sail locker to a new through hull above the waterline on the starboard side would be the least obtrusive way. I hate to drill a big hole in the side of the boat though...

One that I saw routed the hose back to the transom, avoiding heeling issues, but leaving a long ugly hose in the quarter berth.