Topic: Cockpit drains and transome thru-hulls
I guess the common wisdom is that the "standard" tiny cockpit drains on the CO26 are pretty poor, I agree. Mine drop well down into the deep-bilge area, below the drive-shaft, cross over to the other side, and exit thru a thru-hull that has no seacock on it. I don't like that, especially since if anything went wrong, and I had presence of mind enough to figure it out, I'd have to remove the cockpit floor to even plug it. Bummer.
Right now there is a thru-transom exhaust fitting, and the thru-hull for the electric bilge pump on the transom. That's two (2). I want to run the existing cockpit drains almost directly aft from their present location (in the aft corners of the cockpit, in a little drain depression) almost straight back and toward the centerline of the boat, exiting just above the high-waterline mark on the hull. That would be a drop of about 3-inches, not much. A small amount of water would still stay in the cockpit when the boat was heeled, but not much, and the centerline is the place most likely to not be submerged under normal operation.
Then I want to install two (2) more 1-1/2" cockpit drains exiting the cockpit 3-inches and 6-inches respectively off the cockpit floor and run them aft thru the transom. The thinking being that the tiny useless drains can get the last 3-inches of water out, but if I have a cockpit full of water the 1-1/2-inch drains should pick up the load. So, when I'm done I'll have the exhaust thru-hull, the electric bilge-pump thru-hull, two 1/2" thru-hulls on the centerline below the gudgeon attachment, and close to centerline two 1-1/2" holes for the other two cockpit drains, that's six (6).
How does this sound? Sounds like a lot of holes in the transom, I know. But running cockpit drains out the side of the hull doesn't seem to great, considering the angles-of-lean that I've seen in the pics. I've not sailed this boat yet, just got it last year and am getting it ready to go sailing.
The 3-inches of freeboard thing does really complicate getting water out of the cockpit doesn't it.
Any comments would be most appreciated. To complicate matters I am planning on installing a Cape Horn windvane on the boat.
I searched the posts and didn't see anything right on my question, so forgive me if this is an old subject.
Richard Bunn
"Martha Daggett"
Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA