Cockpit Drains - Seacocks?

[Cheechako]

I agree they are seldom closed, but you want to be able to do so if you have a hose failure etc.
They were likely crossed so you dont have water sloshing around in the cockpit floor when heeled.

[sy_gilana]

The hoses are crossed for a reason. It is to prevent the lower one filling the cockpit when heeled. It is standard practice. On all Lloyds vessels, all pipes open to the sea must be solid steel to 1' above waterline. All must have a means of closing (seacock) at the hull fitting. I know a boat that sunk because a fire melted the rubber hose, and it fell over, filling the boat. (it put out the fire too)

Holding tank inlet pipes should also be internally piped to the opposite side for heeling.

Sometimes the crossing of cockpit drains is not well done, resulting in an uphill situation. They should go almost directly from cockpit floor to opposite hull.

As part of your planned maintenance you should be exercising those seacocks once a month.

[zeehag]

if you didnt cross em over to other side when you installed em, yes it IS hard to move around in your small area, then you will find out why exactly they were crossed when you sail your boat. put them back to being crossed over , and deal with it. good luck. dont sink your boat unwittingly.

[sailorchic34]

Hum, my cockpit drains are not crossed and I've not yet had water in the cockpit, well not from the hoses and with the cap rail touching the water. On my little boat, the cockpit would not drain on a heel with the hoses crossed.

But then my boat is OLD, has an over hung tail and the hull is shallow at the aft end.

[crazyoldboatguy]

There is no way to cross the hoses on my current vessel (the recently beached Pearson Triton) without them going uphill, making proper draining while heeled a non-starter. Folks have tried to put seacocks on the hull but the angle of the hull at that point makes attaching a hose to the cockpit scupper virtually impossible.

I inspect the hoses regularly. I replaced them most recently with the highest quality sanitary hose money could buy. May not be optimal in the minds of many here but it is the best I can do.

[sailr69]

Originally Posted by bletso

Does one really need seacocks on cockpit drains above the waterline? After all they are never closed. I am redoing my hoses and they had crossed the drains in the cockpit as the height of the 2 in seacocks would not allow hose to bend the short radius. Two things there, 1. Made it nigh on impossible to move in the engine compartment and 2. Water doesn't drain uphill. I am thinking I should be OK with double hose clamps to the thru-hulls (with the correct hose barbs.) Am I missing something?

first thing, your drain hoses should never sag down, creates a air lock. to prevent this install them in a PVC tube, they should always be in a downwards attitude. second, no need for seacocks if they exit above the waterline. seacocks are just more joints to start leaking. use proper
hoses and not the vinyl corrugated stuff used on bilge pumps. any through hull opening below waterline needs a proper seacock. water in the cockpit is no worry, it does rain where you are right? never close cockpit drains if you leave the boat. where do you expect the rain water to go.

[zeehag]

some boats require crossed. mine does not, nor did any i owned. i have seen some do.
i HAVE seen boats sunk by rain water collecting in cockpit with seacocks closed.
longer ye stay aboard, more fun stuff ye see...and not so fun....

[sy_gilana]

OH, I should have clarified that. SOME boats require crossed drains, others do not. It all depends how wide the cockpit is at the drain. IF its a narrow cockpit there probably is no chance of entry even well heeled. A wide cockpit is more likely to flood if heeled and the hoses are straight down.

[Doug Brown]

Sea cocks are very handy to have when you have to change out a hose. Assuming that the seacock can be easily closed/opened that is.

The above is not taking into account any other safety issue, which is up to you.

I use non-wire reinforced marine exhaust hose on all my thru hull drains (cockpit, sink, raw water filter) with double clamps.

Wire reinforced hose will eventually fail when the wire wears thru the rubber covering. I have seen this happen many times, usually as the result of no inspection or replacement of the hoses. Use a mirror to inspect all sides of a hose where ever there is even the slightest bend as this is where the wire will come thru.

For short term repairs to get you to a safe harbor, instead of cutting and plugging the hose you can just tape the hole/tear in the hose. Use a super aggressive type of "duct tape" and while it may not completely stop all water ingress, you can slow it down to a less than 10% leak and still have the use of the drain hose.

You can pump out what water the tape can not hold back.

Personally, I would rather spent just a couple of minutes taping the hose than slashing around with a sharp knife under the cockpit in rough weather trying to cut thru a rock hard rubber hose and then be swing a hammer to pound in a wooded plug!

While you can dive over the side and pound in a wooden plug, doing so in anything other than a FLAT calm day in warm water is asking for more trouble than you want!

[Blue Stocking]

Crossed drains are the answer to designer screw-ups. Think about it. Sailing, with a 15 degree list. Cockpit takes on water from wave. Leeward (lowest ) drain doesn't work, because its outlet at the hull is higher than the inlet. Windward drain is too high to get inflow from cockpit. Even under normal conditions of sailing, water held in loops will backflow into cockpit from lowest drain fitting. crazyold boatguy has the most practical opinion IMHO. I have tapered soft wood plugs tied with 1/8 line to every thruhull.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Hum, my cockpit drains are not crossed and I've not yet had water in the cockpit, well not from the hoses and with the cap rail touching the water. On my little boat, the cockpit would not drain on a heel with the hoses crossed.

But then my boat is OLD, has an over hung tail and the hull is shallow at the aft end.

Infinitely better than a hung over tail to be sure...