Cockpit drain seacocks

[Tranona]

That's why Im not keen on sailldrives - too risky

Absolutely no evidence that it causes problems. Have you ever heard of a boat sinking because of a failed diaphragm? Tens of thousands of boats fitted with saildrives. Would suggest that more boats have sunk because of failed stuffing boxes than failed diaphragms - although can't prove it because such cases are rare anyway.

 

[Halo]

Absolutely no evidence that it causes problems. Have you ever heard of a boat sinking because of a failed diaphragm? Tens of thousands of boats fitted with saildrives. Would suggest that more boats have sunk because of failed stuffing boxes than failed diaphragms - although can't prove it because such cases are rare anyway.

+1 Its the neglected boats that sink on the mooring and the badly skippered/neglected ones that get into trouble at sea.

 

[Rossynant]

Absolutely no evidence that it causes problems. Have you ever heard of a boat sinking because of a failed diaphragm?

Yup!
Oned did not actually sink if I recall, but cannot remember much; sprung a leak, luckily it happened in marina or about, when they started out under engine. Charter boat.
It must have been damaged some way before, or maybe not replaced as recommended?

But also heard a story about boat damaged on a reef or such, where saildrive unit was actually pushed or pulled and that tore the seal. Had it somewhere, but cannot find now.

All in all it's not a danger, failed shaft seal can make a dangerous leak too, and what with those mounted on rubber hoses on shaft...

 

[chinita]

I prevent rainwater from entering the cockpit by means of a cockpit cover.

 

[Stork_III]

Yup!
Oned did not actually sink if I recall, but cannot remember much; sprung a leak, luckily it happened in marina or about, when they started out under engine. Charter boat.
It must have been damaged some way before, or maybe not replaced as recommended?

But also heard a story about boat damaged on a reef or such, where saildrive unit was actually pushed or pulled and that tore the seal. Had it somewhere, but cannot find now.

All in all it's not a danger, failed shaft seal can make a dangerous leak too, and what with those mounted on rubber hoses on shaft...

Story of a catamaran that dried onto isolated rock causing seal to fail, but reseal when got off rock. In this Blog for July 15-18 2009 under "Bump in the Night"
http://bellavia.ca/2009/July.html

 

[john_morris_uk]

The Westerly Corsair valves will almost certainly be ball valves so all the talk of lapping them in or even stripping them down each year is irrelevant. If they are stiff then exercising them should help. I replaced ours on our Sealord (a stretched Corsair) and I replaced the pipes.

I must try not to get irritated by people who say that cockpit drains don't need seacocks as the drain is above the waterline! If they can explain how to achieve that on a centre cockpit boat.....

 

[Poignard]

I prevent rainwater from entering the cockpit by means of a cockpit cover.

What I do (when I remember!) is to almost completely close the cockpit drain seacocks before leaving the boat. Any rain water can still drain out and if a hose failure occurred the boat would take a very long time before it sank; during which time some good samaritan would probably notice she was low in the water and let me know.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

IF they exit well above the waterline, I'd agree. But I thought we were talking about cockpit drains in general now, not a specific type of boat.

Pete

Silly me. If I was unfortunate enough to have cockpit drains that exited below the water line I would want regularly serviced Blakes seacocks on them.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Current Blakes sea-cocks have a grease nipple so there's no need to dismantle them. They are expensive but good quality/

It may be possible to drill and tap the valve body and fit a grease nipple so that they can be lubed in situ in future.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I prevent rainwater from entering the cockpit by means of a cockpit cover.

Must make sailing the boat tricky.

 

[KellysEye]

Our boat didn't have cocppit drain seacocks, and I can't see the need for them unless seawater can be forced up the pipe into the cockpit, in which case the drains wouldn't work anyway. Can somebody please explain why they are fitted?

 

[Halo]

Our boat didn't have cocppit drain seacocks, and I can't see the need for them unless seawater can be forced up the pipe into the cockpit, in which case the drains wouldn't work anyway. Can somebody please explain why they are fitted?

If the pipe connecting the skin fitting to the drain fails below the waterline then the boat will sink unless the flow is stopped. A seacock mounted on the skin fiting means you can shut it off and prevent water floding the boat

 

[vyv_cox]

Our boat didn't have cocppit drain seacocks, and I can't see the need for them unless seawater can be forced up the pipe into the cockpit, in which case the drains wouldn't work anyway. Can somebody please explain why they are fitted?

On our little motorsailer the cockpit drain skin fittings are right on the waterline, with the cockpit sole only an inch or so above that. When the boat is motoring the stern drops and water floods the cockpit, so we close the drains before setting off. When we leave the boat, or if it is raining at anchor, we open them to allow it to drain. On our Sadler, in which the cockpit drains are well above the water line, we have no seacocks.

 

[chinita]

Must make sailing the boat tricky.

Not if you make a little plastic window on the cover and insert a note which says 'Don't forget to remove the cockpit cover before sailing'.

Of course, in the summer, in Greece, one is bound to be hit by torrential rain whilst sailing. In this event, the cockpit drain seacocks must be opened and the crew issued with balers and pumps.

Alternatively, you can heave-to and replace the cockpit cover.

If you have children on board this can be very exciting for them - pretending they are on a 'camping' holiday.