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When my Mk1 gets to 5 knots the drains begin to suck up a bit of water.. not a great amount but feet get a bit wet..

I'm planning on getting the boat out to antifoul etc soon and was thinking about options for the drains..

Currently the 2 x fibreglass tubes coalesce and exit together in the midline down low as seen here



What if blocked up these drains and put in two new ones further aft and higher up the hull.. Is there anything stopping me putting some drains just out through the transom / above the waterline?

Excuse the cobwebs/grime it's going to get cleaned up and repainted shortly..



Any help appreciated
Cheers

Forget it Sailtime,

That is one of the features of a Mark 1.
The only way to resolve it is to raise the whole cockpit deck by 150 mm.
Formit did this for the Mark 2 & 3 but did not raise the cockpit seats.

A big job.

I find the water coming in is ok to wash my feet and at sea keep the cockpit clean [you can work that out for yourself]

Seaka is hiding behind Double Island Point from SE winds, departing here at 0300 for Mooloolaba.

Hi sailtime, I’ve got the same issue on my mk1. One thing I thought of was putting a Venturi scoop over the outlets on hull that way water would be sucked out when the boat is moving, in the end I added a wooden grate/floor that adds about 40mm to the cockpit floor that does the trick most of the time. One unrelated question, it looks like you have rudder Gudgeons on your transom, do you have a different rudder set up to the standard Tophat?

Cheers
Nick

I know what you're saying about the cockpit floor being low but i can't see an issue with drilling some holes in the transom and taking the drains or the back. How would that be an issue?

I don't think the stern digs in enough to put the back of the cockpit floor below water level. You can see in the above photo how high out of the water it is.

The current drains suck water up them as speed increases.. a drain out the transom.. that's my idea.. why not? Anybody?

And yes there's fittings at the back for an emergency tiller which is stored in a cockpit locker. I think a previous owner was a stainless steel fabricator or something like that. And did some trips in the boat

It'll be a cramped job getting right back there and doing a fair bit of fibreglass work, I suppose you could put some round inspection openings up in the cockpit to help.
What about some large holes at cockpit floor height going out the transom?, the water would still come in, but be able to get out quicker??.

The drain on my anchor locker is just below the water line, I'm wondering why??, there is plenty of room to have it 150mm higher, and above the waterline.

Yeah that's what i'm thinking.. drill a couple of holes through the back of the cockpit where the transom meets the floor.

the existing drains are not huge once the outlets get a couple of crustaceans setting up a family in there so the transom holes would'nt have to be big to offer similar drainage.

i'll post some photos when i do it

My Mk2 cockpit has rear drains, which are fine at anchor, but accumulate about 1litre in cockpit when heeled over. This tends to lie in the forward of c'pit, giving wet feet and wet cushions when they slip down.
I will find some 2" rubber bungs; to be removed when moored or when likely to take in a big sea (never happened yet!).

Any photos of your drain setup saint peter?

Cheers

Sorry, SailTime. I can't get down to Kittiwake for a few weeks yet. Rear cockpit drains (each side) fall aft through the transom. When sailing heeled (nearly always in Pt Phillip Bay/Bass St.) water - less than one litre - lurks in the leeward cockpit; just enough to wet feet & cushions! A pair of temporary bungs will be tried this season.

Can't say I've noticed the problem on my mk1. Perhaps one way valves would help ?