Sadler 32 cockpit well

[RadiumRob]

Hi,

I viewed a 1981 Sadler 32 today, and was intrigued by the cockpit well locker. This is accessed by lifting the cockpit sole, and is large enough to store a liferaft/dinghy plus bits and pieces. The cockpit floor is latched into place, but the well itself isn't bolted into place despite there being several holes for bolts around the rim and a sealing ring. It has a couple of smallish holes to drain into the engine bilge.

This seems a bit dodgy to me - if the cockpit became swamped the water could flood into the well and into the bilge. Presumably this would be slow enough for the bigle pump to deal with if the well was bolted into place and sealed, but if it wasn't then I would expect that the water flow rate into the bige through the drain holes and the sides of the well may be dangerously high.

Can any other S32 owners advise what the arrangements are in their boats and recommend the safest approach?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

 

[sailorman]

many were home finished so of varying quality & differing ideas of how it should be fitted-out.

 

[Finbar]

I sailed a Sadler 32 for some years and can confirm that this is the standard arrangement. The bathtub below the cockpit sole can be screwed down to fix it in place, and so seal it. The bathtub drain holes are quite small and unlikely to lead to catastrophic flooding. The cockpit sole is heavy and originally did not have latches, so this is a plus on the boat you saw.

The major worry is a knockdown when the whole lot could disappear overboard. There are usually eyes fixed to the bottom of the sole, and on my boat I took a line from the side locker through the sidewall of the bathtub and on to these eyes. This line could be tensioned on to a cleat in the side locker to hold the cockpit sole in place.

I generally did not screw down the bathtub unless going offshore, as the convenience of easy access to the rear of the engine and the stern gland seemed to me to outweigh the risk of flooding in normal conditions.

 

[snooks]

There are hundreds of Salder 32 out there, ours is 203. Maritn Sadler did the 79 Fastnet in his and used what he learnt to improve the boat. He said the boat was capable of completing the course, but the crew had had enough and they retired to Ireland after going through the storm.

Right, safety first. Make sure the gas locker drains over the side, either via the gas locker or into the cockpit and out of a drain ABOVE the waterline, not through the cockpit drains which drain out below the waterline. Ours drains from the rear of the cockpit, through the locker, to above the waterline.

The reason you need the drain is to let the gas escape overboard it is essential this modification is done, as without it, a gas leak at the bottle can drain into the boat. See Lord Trenchard report

Next you need to block the drain holes in the cockpit bath and make sure it is secured in place properly.

Once you've done that add a rubber seal to the bath lid. Now if you get a gas leak the gas will go overboard, rather than fill up the inside of the boat turning it into a potential bomb.

Also keep the spare in the anchor locker.

So what did I do? I glassed over the holes, so the tub now collects condensation, and water from the dinghy (bombard ax2 is big enough for 2 PPL and fits in there with the pump and oars and spare bildge pump). Then i took some self adhesive hatch seal and put two layers around the lid. You can attach an eye bolt to the tub and to the lid and connect them with a bit of long string so you wouldn't loose it over the side.

Next I found some SS nuts welded to the centre of 2in square flat plates with holes in. I then built up (with west systems fibreglass filler) the area under the hatch where the self tappers screwed into, so the SS plates would rest flat. I covered 20 odd SS bolts in vasline and bonded the SS plates in position, again with west systems fiber glass filler, and bolted them in position with the vasline covered bolts. Once set I added a layer of the neoprene hatch seal to the underside of the bath flange and bolted it into place. The bolts can be done up and undone many times, unlike the self tappers of which only 3 still had a bit of grip.

Easy peasey and much better that the original and not a deal breaker.