E-38 Cockpit Drain Question

I got an interesting call from a friend with an E-38-200, today.

Here in Portland we are just today thawing out from almost a week of 20 degree weather and snow accumulation. Lots of rain today with the 40 degree temps. Streets and docks -- and boats -- are giving up their coats of ice and a foot of snow.

So, on to the problem... he had to pump out several inches of melt water from the cockpit. The drains seem to lead downward and their hoses then go back upward a ways to reach the thru hulls. So the water in the low hose loops froze, and then the melt water could not flow thru. The effect appears to be kind of like a "P trap."

Any of you with this model have (or fixed) this sort of problem?

(Our model has a 90 screwed onto each Marelon drain fitting, and then those hoses go slightly downward to the transom exits.)

Thanks,
Loren

Of my four cockpit drains, two go to a seacock under the sink. No possible standing water. Perhaps your friend keeps that seacock closed.

My aft-led drain hoses are sized fairly taut, and don't droop enough to hold water.

I don't know if the 200 is set up like the 381.

I must say that when I lived with winter, just a few leaves would clog the drains. Once they froze, then it rained for weeks, the cockpit filled and overflowed the bridge deck, and then it got cold again and the whole bilge froze up to the floorboards. I am here to report that kneeling with a hair dryer has very little effect on a 25-foot-long ice cube.

That was Annapolis, one of those years that the bay froze all the way across.

I would be (am) worried about those hoses splitting from the freeze. No thaw here yet. Arcturus is frozen in three inches of ice. Oddly, mine seems to be the only boat with icicles hanging from the toerail. I can't believe it's the only boat with a heater on... And with a liner I wouldn't think it would be the worst insulated... Anyway, I shoveled off the snow, but there's an inch of ice on the cockpit sole. So that will be the first drainage problem.
But not today's problem... no sign of a thaw in the ten-day forecast.

On my 1989 E38-300 IIRC there were only two cockpit drains, located in the aft corners of the cockpit, each with a short hose leading to a nearby thru-hull that was above the waterline, without seacocks. I remember looking at these hoses, and worrying about them needing service, but dreading the work involved. So I kept several feet of wire reinforced hose aboard in case one of the short hoses split and began to leak and needed to be replaced. But mine were short with no loops in them, just a straight run downhill. So I would wonder if someone on your friend's 38 had maybe replaced the hoses but used too great a hose length, causing it to form a low spot?

According to my manual (from 1984) in earlier versions of the 38 the port and starboard cockpit drains were crossed to opposite thru-hulls with valves, which could certainly lead to low spots too.

Thanks Loren for posting this, sorry its taken so long to respond, just a crazy week. As Steve mentioned my drains do crisscross to thru-hulls therefore creating the low spot trapped water that did freeze. this left me with several inches maybe 6" of standing water in the well. l think the best solution would be to plumb them as Rag Doll is plumbed provided there is enough room, I have seacocks,(not sure why since thru-hulls are above the waterline) that limit the drop from cockpit drain to the thru-hull. this project is definitely a late spring time job, since we still have lots of rain coming hopefully the deep freeze is over, and access stinks.
Loren perhaps you can assist with tool handing once I enter the (aft lazarette )for this project, also making sure its not a one-way trip (very difficult space to get out of).
Thanks
Jim

Check out the photo of the starboard cockpit drain fitting (left side of photo in reply #6, http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoex...p-on-Yacht-specialties-pedestal&referrerid=28 )

Note the factory 90 degree fitting that the cockpit drain hose is attached to. Is the stock hose attachment on the E-38, a straight up connection? If so, that would put quite a low point in the loop before it can turn and go aft to a hull fitting, seems like.

Loren

I keep my boat in the water and in a winter area. This year lots of snow and cold
I do the following
Close seacock below waterline fill with anti freeze or vacuum and plug the top
The above the waterline seacocks cause the problem described above. In fact if they freeze the weight can pull them of where they connect to the deck and the water will run into the cabin.

It is a double edged sword of whether to leave a thru hull open that if it breaks the boat goes down or to deal with the above the waterline drains

I always cover the boat with a dark cover for the winter. Thus less water solves 90% of the problem and a dark cover will heat up the boat even on a 20 degree day. My cover is getting older but the top is dark blue and the side are white.

During the winter if I keep the boat in the water I have used gutter heat tape. It can be run inside the hose and will stop the freeze issue. My boat is kept in fresh water with a bubbler. I have warped the same tape around the thru hulls thru the bilge and around the shaft.

I replaced both hoses last year from the cockpit. They were quite brittle have 35 years. Should have done sooner. One cracked last year while was working on the steering in very cold weather. The cover on the boat did its job and kept most of the water and snow out of the cockpit

jimk said:

Thanks Loren for posting this, sorry its taken so long to respond, just a crazy week. As Steve mentioned my drains do crisscross to thru-hulls therefore creating the low spot trapped water that did freeze. this left me with several inches maybe 6" of standing water in the well. l think the best solution would be to plumb them as Rag Doll is plumbed provided there is enough room, I have seacocks,(not sure why since thru-hulls are above the waterline) that limit the drop from cockpit drain to the thru-hull. this project is definitely a late spring time job, since we still have lots of rain coming hopefully the deep freeze is over, and access stinks.
Loren perhaps you can assist with tool handing once I enter the (aft lazarette

)for this project, also making sure its not a one-way trip (very difficult space to get out of).
Thanks
Jim

Click to expand...

Best of luck if you want to try replacing those hoses. Again all I can comment on is my 1989 set up, which did give good access to the starboard drain hose. But the port hose was all but inaccessible. I figured I either had to hire a skinny teenager to wiggle across and do the work, or first remove the propane locker insert on the port side, which would have been a real pain. Which is why I never got around to doing anything about it.

"381" or not a 38-200

Criss-crossed inboards and the outboards drain below the waterline through the T. I have pretty old but very functional valves on the above waterline drains that I think are original. Large following seas and all that I suppose. I have low areas in the two inboard hoses but we don't get enough cold weather here, fortunately, to freeze them. If I expect such weather I can open the below waterline sea cock for a few days to prevent accumulation. These hoses were installed in 2014 while the water heater was out.

I think this is the best picture I've got of the hoses.