Blocked drain by Helm in cockpit - what to do??????

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mun22dogs

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Hi - can anyone advise please? I recently returned to my boat to discover the cockpit drain by the helm was well and truly blocked. Tried all the usual: plunger, hose, wash-up liquid and a snake I use for the sink. It's 'obstruction' is about 2m down, or maybe the pipe changes direction and the snake doesn't?

As she is in the water, I am loathe to put 'serious' chemicals down, as advised, nor poke too much. Would anything 'natural' work? Like soda crystals or bi-carb. or even vinegar?

Thanks.
 
mun22dogs said:
Would anything 'natural' work? Like soda crystals or bi-carb. or even vinegar?
Click to expand...

Impossible to say without knowing what's down there...and by the time you find out, you've probably fixed it.
Do you know if the cockpit drain plumbing is shared by anything else -- deck drains, perhaps? Is there another cockpit drain? In other words, is there any risk the cockpit could flood and back-fill the boat? If this is the case, the matter is urgent.
Is it possible to dismantle the hoses (assuming the drain goes via a sea-cock)?
 
Try sticking a hose pipe in the other end and see if it blows the rubbish back out the top?
 
mun22dogs said:
Hi - can anyone advise please? I recently returned to my boat to discover the cockpit drain by the helm was well and truly blocked. Tried all the usual: plunger, hose, wash-up liquid and a snake I use for the sink. It's 'obstruction' is about 2m down, or maybe the pipe changes direction and the snake doesn't?

As she is in the water, I am loathe to put 'serious' chemicals down, as advised, nor poke too much. Would anything 'natural' work? Like soda crystals or bi-carb. or even vinegar?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Cleared a blocked diesel feed pipe ( diesel bug plug) using a car tyre pump, making up a series of size increases to fit the size of the hose. Pumped until it got to 18 psi, when it magically cleared back into the diesel tank. Least your will end up in the sea
 
Ariam has various little drains and scuppers as well as the main cockpit drains, all undersized and tortuous and prone to clogging. The ones that exit above the waterline I clear by connecting the dinghy pump to the outer end and blowing the block back upstream. The ones that exit under the hull I once cleared with a wet-and-dry vac applied from the cockpit end.

As others have suggested, the ultimate cure is to dismantle it inside the boat, after having closed the seacock.

Pete
 
Recently had just this problem on a yacht we were working on, not part of the job but my feet were getting wet! it is important not to poke it as it may just compact it. I cleared it in 30 seconds with my Karcher wet shop vac, allowed it to suck up some marina water too for a bit to back flush it, same as poking a hose in the underwater bit really, only easier.
 
some of the dinghy air pumps allow you to connect the hose to the suction side of the pump? Only the spring in the bellows to create a vacuum...
Or try the same pump hose over the drain and try and blow the obstruction...
 
Blocked drain - reply

Ardenfour said:
some of the dinghy air pumps allow you to connect the hose to the suction side of the pump? Only the spring in the bellows to create a vacuum...
Or try the same pump hose over the drain and try and blow the obstruction...
Click to expand...

Hi Guys,

OMG it ALL sounds rather terrifying to me. I have poked as far as I dare, and used the wire snake. Water finally seeps away. The boat is in port and not going to the yard for a while. Will try to borrow a dinghy pump.

Sorry to be girly, but to dismantle the drain with the thought of saltwater, is not an option for me - although I did fit a new loo and change the outlet hose a while back. But, I knew what I was doing. I was hoping I could put 'something' down to melt away the debris. It was working before I left for the UK, so is open, but I suspect dog hairs to blame, or crustations.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. And, compliments of the season to one and all.
 
mun22dogs said:
Hi Guys,

OMG it ALL sounds rather terrifying to me. I have poked as far as I dare, and used the wire snake. Water finally seeps away. The boat is in port and not going to the yard for a while. Will try to borrow a dinghy pump.

Sorry to be girly, but to dismantle the drain with the thought of saltwater, is not an option for me - although I did fit a new loo and change the outlet hose a while back. But, I knew what I was doing. I was hoping I could put 'something' down to melt away the debris. It was working before I left for the UK, so is open, but I suspect dog hairs to blame, or crustations.

Anyway, thanks for your comments. And, compliments of the season to one and all.
Click to expand...
Why not turn a seacock off & disconnect the pipe
 
I have a drain unblocker that attaches to my Karcher pressure washer, it blasts a jet forward and another smaller one back I guess this is to a) drench the unwary operator or more likely b) to carry the debris back.

So if you have access to a pressure washer try to buy one of these and give it a go.
 
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One of me cockpit drains got totally blocked this season for the first time; it was mussels and sea weed. I managed to unblock it partly with a flexible steel rod. The yacht is out of the water now; the blockage was on the other side of the valve, so disconnecting the pipe would have made no difference in my case.
 
ghostlymoron said:
I wouldn't recommend this. Don't know what type of seacock you have but its possible that the ball (if ball valve) has detached from the shaft and is stuck partly open. If you detach the hose you'll get a flood!
Click to expand...
i have changed the engine inlet gate valve to a ball type afloat, where is the problem here, i got less than a litre aboard
 
Poking etc will often just compress the obstruction. Can you arrange some way of sucking? What sort of plunger do you have? If it's one of the plastic concertina types, fill the pipe with water, compress the concertina, apply it to the end of the tube and sharply expand it. Usually much more effective than using the plunger to apply pressure (works on domestic plumbing too.)
 
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