Self draining cockpits. Who needs ‘em?

[DoubleEnder]

A bit tongue in cheek but I do wonder… I had my boat 17 years and like a lot of people sailed coastal UK and a little bit cross channel. My boat was not a cruising type, but we did a bit and some family racing. But mostly days and weekends in familiar waters. The cockpit well was pretty small and had drains. A couple of times we bunged them and filled the cockpit to cool our feet on very hot days. This was useful.

We would get heavy spray and the odd bucketful on board, she was a pretty wet boat. But I never saw a large amount of water in the cockpit apart from the foot bath episodes. Nothing that would have scared me, had it drained in to the bilge.

I am of course not talking about vessels that might go out or get caught out in heavy weather, breaking waves, pooped etc. Just the sort of sailing we actually do. Lots of older, smaller designs by people like Harrison Butler, Shepherd, Strange etc did not have self draining cockpits. Folkboats dont. Neither do West Solent One Designs or any of the lovely keelboats like Dragons and Darings. Many of them live on moorings. I think with a decent cockpit cover, a deep bilge and a good pump they are just fine, in the real world.

I know, weather can change fast, ship’s wakes creat huge waves, the Bridge can roll you, the Portland Race can smash you to bits.

Not sure where I am going with this, but I'm interested to hear other views.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I'm glad mine self drains. I got knocked down and swamped a couple of years ago in the Med.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Mine has a massive hole under the helmsman's seat, it would empty the cockpit in seconds - obviously, the cockpit sole is above the waterline - perhaps some of the older, smaller boats had cockpit soles below the waterline so no drains?

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

A bit tongue in cheek but I do wonder… I had my boat 17 years and like a lot of people sailed coastal UK and a little bit cross channel. My boat was not a cruising type, but we did a bit and some family racing. But mostly days and weekends in familiar waters. The cockpit well was pretty small and had drains. A couple of times we bunged them and filled the cockpit to cool our feet on very hot days. This was useful.

We would get heavy spray and the odd bucketful on board, she was a pretty wet boat. But I never saw a large amount of water in the cockpit apart from the foot bath episodes. Nothing that would have scared me, had it drained in to the bilge.

I am of course not talking about vessels that might go out or get caught out in heavy weather, breaking waves, pooped etc. Just the sort of sailing we actually do. Lots of older, smaller designs by people like Harrison Butler, Shepherd, Strange etc did not have self draining cockpits. Folkboats dont. Neither do West Solent One Designs or any of the lovely keelboats like Dragons and Darings. Many of them live on moorings. I think with a decent cockpit cover, a deep bilge and a good pump they are just fine, in the real world.

I know, weather can change fast, ship’s wakes creat huge waves, the Bridge can roll you, the Portland Race can smash you to bits.

Not sure where I am going with this, but I'm interested to hear other views.

On the one hand I have a keelboat, and as you describe, its generous cockpit is left open on its mooring with just an auto bilge pump to keep it afloat.

On the other a wave fell into the cockpit of a First 38 in the Needles Channel, and I was certainly glad of the drains then because a couple of tonnes of water definitely affects the handling! (Quite surprising how quickly it drained).

 

[neil_s]

I've been pooped while running downwind in my old Folkdancer 27. It seemed like ages while the whole stern of the boat disappeared under boiling water. When she came up for air, though, the boat gave a sort of lunge and half the cockpit-full got slooshed over the side. Maybe I had too much sail up - it was blowing a fair bit, maybe it was a 'thing' for long narrow boats but the self draining cockpit with a solid sealed floor was very welcome!

 

[Rappey]

Without the drains the cockpit would fill with rainwater when left moored.
It soon turns into nasty green stuff.

 

[jamie N]

Folkboat with the cockpit sole 2-3cms above the waterline, and I (thankfully) do have a drain, which has frequently done its job.

 

[bikedaft]

Twice in 40 years, cockpit filled by a large wave, self drained. Halcyon Clipper 27.

 

[rotrax]

On the one hand I have a keelboat, and as you describe, its generous cockpit is left open on its mooring with just an auto bilge pump to keep it afloat.

On the other a wave fell into the cockpit of a First 38 in the Needles Channel, and I was certainly glad of the drains then because a couple of tonnes of water definitely affects the handling! (Quite surprising how quickly it drained).

I was pooped in the Needles Channel about 15 years ago. Washboards were in, hatch closed we were both clipped on. I was steering when I suddenly had water two feet over my head. The water hit the bottom of the mainsail and ripped the mainsheet bale from the slot in the boom. The Skipper was chucked across the cockpit and broke some ribs on a coachroof winch.

At that moment in time, cockpit drains were not a high priority...........................

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Couple of years ago rounding the Mull of Kintyre I had a wave climb over the transom and half fill the cockpit. After sloshing back and forth for a while it eventually drained away.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I was pooped in the Needles Channel about 15 years ago. Washboards were in, hatch closed we were both clipped on. I was steering when I suddenly had water two feet over my head. The water hit the bottom of the mainsail and ripped the mainsheet bale from the slot in the boom. The Skipper was chucked across the cockpit and broke some ribs on a coachroof winch.

At that moment in time, cockpit drains were not a high priority...........................

Sounds like you were well prepared for it. We had the board in too, but our wave wasn't as big as yours. The drains were just a distraction from my main priority which was the portable stereo which had just drowned and getting it rinsed under fresh water.

 

[Bodach na mara]

I have owned 4 keel boats, 3 of which had self-draining cockpits. Now the drains on th 3 that had them were all rather small and would not have cleared a flooded cockpit quickly however they kept the bilges dry from the rain that often falls in Scotland. I could never leave the fourth one for longer than about a week without having to row out to pump out the rain from the bilges.

 

[Neeves]

Not quite the same layout but we have a cat and the cockpit soles is 1m above sea level - we have walk through transoms. The sill between the cockpit sole and saloon is about 20cm. In big seas off Sydney - so well within a day's sail we often have the seas wash straight through the cockpit, in one side out the other - taking anything on the floor with it. On another manufacturers similarly sized cat with a low sill (we do snub out toes occasionally) a sea filled the saloon.

When the grandchildren were younger I made washboards to retain the children, with a decent slot at the bottom. In big seas we use them now so that we don't lose our shoes (in summer its all barefoot). I lost one shoe crossing Bass Strait.

Open transoms are really good if you catch big fish - you can land them trouble free as they simply come on board with the seas and are then left high and dry - and easier to handle.

Jonathan

 

[Tranona]

My Eventide had a non selfdraining cockpit and never once in the 30 years I sailed her did I ever get any water in. I have the logs of the original owner's first 5 years - he was much more adventurous than me -and no mention of water coming in. I put this down to the buoyant stern sections which always lifted the boat in following seas. Best investment is a cockpit cover which ensures no rain gets in when boat is not being used.

 

[Gary Fox]

I was mate delivering a large bermudan to Brunsbuttel, and near Helgo, at night, a large wave filled the cockpit so that I floated off my seat, water up to my chest. If I hadn't been clipped on I would probably have floated away and died. The water drained away quick through excellent cockpit drains, which are totally essential.

My own boat Marihøna has big crossed-over drains and the cockpit can hold a ton of water. A boat I sailed last week, Moosk, has a cockpit which could hold 2+ tons. Try working out roughly how much water your cockpit can hold, and compare it to your displacement. Imagine how your boat would behave with the weight of an estate car suddenly sitting on the back end...
(edit, as said above by occasionalyachtsman)

 

[Kukri]

I got the top of a wave into the cockpit once in 29 years in this:



A 1930s boat built with a self draining cockpit.

I can’t compare it with Rotrax’s experience. The sea just flopped into the cockpit footwell (which is very small) and gurgled it’s way out through the drains.

Incidentally I always rig a cockpit cover and leave the drains closed when leaving the boat.

 

[rotrax]

I got the top of a wave into the cockpit once in 29 years in this:

View attachment 123160

A 1930s boat built with a self draining cockpit.

I can’t compare it with Rotrax’s experience. The sea just flopped into the cockpit footwell (which is very small) and gurgled it’s way out through the drains.

Incidentally I always rig a cockpit cover and leave the drains closed when leaving the boat.

The boat was a Hunter 27 OOD. The column of water appeard alongside, about ten feet high, and then collapsed, half onto the mainsail, the other half into the cockpit.

Until then we were surfing at 6 - 9 knots with the wind from the Starboard quarter.

My lifejacket went off, limiting my movements to assist the injured Skipper and to hand start the engine and then grab the boom with the boathook and get the mainsail off her.

Not a nice experience in the dark!

 

[Stemar]

You can always get caught out, especially in wind over tide, but ISTM that unless you're crossing oceans, waves trying to join you are pretty rare, but I'd consider a cockpit without drains a very big negative, if not an outright deal breaker. Imagine Rotrax's experience, and having to bale out by hand on top of all the other things going on.

Having said that, my fervent hope is that the drains in Jazzcat never have to deal with anything more than a bit of rain and the regular hosing down to get rid of all the crap left by the @*%~+# seagulls that have decided to squat my cockpit and sprayhood

 

[johnalison]

In nearly fifty years of cruising, always with s/d cockpits, I have never even been near to being pooped, in spite of doing a fair number of Channel and southern N Sea passages with strong following winds. My 20-yr old boat has the usual drains from the time, but I don’t argue with the idea of having free-draining cockpits. I am sometimes a bit concerned about the safety aspects of such openness in modern designs, if only the risk of losing a winch handle, but there are some that take steps to ameliorate this.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Forgetting the pros and cons, I was extremely grateful that Khamsin's cockpit did(does) have self-draining.
In 2016 on the final approaches to Dover from the west I was pooped in very short, steep high seas, which filled the cockpit - not too much of a problem I suppose, but on departing Eastbourne earlier that day I had been caught by the mainsheet in an accidental gybe. The result was two broken ribs in my back and after a long day at the helm I would not have been able to bail-out the cockpit.