Anchor Well Drain

[rognvald]

My current anchor well drain uses a 3/4" i.d. hose about 2 feet long from the anchor well drain to the through-hull. In certain bottom conditions, small snail shells attach to the anchor rode and get clogged in the hose requiring removal and cleaning. I'm considering increasing the hose to 1"-1 1/4" i.d. with the appropriate drain fitting and through-hull. The through-hull on the hull(egress of water) is about 1' above the waterline. Any apparent problems with this "improvement?" that may not be readily apparent? Thanks

[Scot McPherson]

Ever thought of putting a strainer on it, something like you see in cockpit scuppers? Or how about a stainless steel sink strainer?

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by Scot McPherson

Ever thought of putting a strainer on it, something like you see in cockpit scuppers? Or how about a stainless steel sink strainer?

Scot,
The problem with a strainer is that when it becomes clogged, the anchor well will fill with water(additional weight forward) which could be a problem when sailing in certain sea conditions. It also would allow the debris/stagnant water to brew in the anchor well for long periods of time when it goes unnoticed. I suppose it's just one less thing you need to check before going to sea if proper drainage is never an issue. Thanks for the input.

[UNCIVILIZED]

If you're upsizing it, it's worth going as large as possible. Say 1.5" And I'd keep the exit as far above the WL as is possible.
Although might it not be possible to just drill a hole in the side wall of the locker, thus no hose or through hull is needed. And if so, maybe put one in both sides of the locker.

[rognvald]

[QUOTE=UNCIVILIZED;2370260]If you're upsizing it, it's worth going as large as possible. Say 1.5" And I'd keep the exit as far above the WL as is possible.
Although might it not be possible to just drill a hole in the side wall of the locker, thus no hose or through hull is needed. And if so, maybe put one in both sides of the locker.[/QUOTE

UC,
Perhaps your second suggestion would have been a better design alternative when the boat was manufactured but I'm fairly conservative when it comes to drilling more holes in the hull and would prefer to improve the old system with its component parts, however, there are 1" drains available that would probably do the job . . . the 1 1/2" might be overkill on a 34' boat. With this in mind, what do you think?

[SVNeko]

You've already got the hole there, so I don't see why upsizing it would be a problem. Also, get yourself a plumbing snake.

[Uncle Bob]

[QUOTE=rognvald;2370493]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

If you're upsizing it, it's worth going as large as possible. Say 1.5" And I'd keep the exit as far above the WL as is possible.
Although might it not be possible to just drill a hole in the side wall of the locker, thus no hose or through hull is needed. And if so, maybe put one in both sides of the locker.[/QUOTE

UC,
Perhaps your second suggestion would have been a better design alternative when the boat was manufactured but I'm fairly conservative when it comes to drilling more holes in the hull and would prefer to improve the old system with its component parts, however, there are 1" drains available that would probably do the job . . . the 1 1/2" might be overkill on a 34' boat. With this in mind, what do you think?

Hi, the problem with going with a larger skin fitting is that when punching into any sort of a swell, the water will pump back up into the anchor well, although this can be controlled by fitting an ss clamshell over the outside of the fitting, facing aft and slightly down. This is how the well drain is fitted on my boat.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Yes, the clamshell fitting, or similar, goes without saying. Though you don't want to install something which will much inhibit debris from falling out freely, or the reason for having a larger exit hole gets cancelled out.

As to drilling holes in boats, sure I'd feel better about seeing the location first, to make sure that I wasn't deleting a bunch of strength somewhere that it was truly needed. But at this point I've drilled & cut enough holes in boats that unless they're structurally built right on the edge, it's no biggie. And you can always add extra reinorcements around the edges of any hole that you cut, drill, or enlarge. Which is pretty common practice anyway, both for deck hatches, & holes in the hull. Witness through hull backing plates/doublers.

I suppose that how large you go in terms of hole size is much determined by the sizes of the biggest, on average, bits of debris that are clogging your current drains. Assuming that you want such to pass freely though the new drain holes/hose. But if you're going to use screens over the drain holes (perhaps wisely) then there's much less need for super-sized holes.

My comment on going with the size XL holes was so that you'd (in theory) rarely need to clean out your anchor locker "scuppers".
As I'm one of those guys who's a BIG fan of cockpit drains the size of sewers, if a boat doesn't have an open transom. For they're only "too big" when your crew occassionally falls into them & need rescuing.

[rognvald]

" But if you're going to use screens over the drain holes (perhaps wisely) then there's much less need for super-sized holes. " Uncivilized


Yes, that is an option but when sailing, the anchor well carries 300 feet of 5/8" nylon rode and 40 feet of 3/8" chain. Inspecting at the dock or, especially underway is a PITA. Therefore, a larger diameter hose should, in theory, circumvent regular inspection/cleaning and allow shells/debris to pass through easily. So, would there be any other issues with a 1" I.D. hose? The run is about 2-2 1/2 feet in a slight arc to the through-hull. Thanks, R

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by rognvald

" But if you're going to use screens over the drain holes (perhaps wisely) then there's much less need for super-sized holes. " Uncivilized

Yes, that is an option but when sailing, the anchor well carries 300 feet of 5/8" nylon rode and 40 feet of 3/8" chain. Inspecting at the dock or, especially underway is a PITA. Therefore, a larger diameter hose should, in theory, circumvent regular inspection/cleaning and allow shells/debris to pass through easily. So, would there be any other issues with a 1" I.D. hose? The run is about 2-2 1/2 feet in a slight arc to the through-hull. Thanks, R

A 1" hose is pretty small. As a wine cork, plus a bit of silt would fully clog it up. And why bother swapping everything out if you're only going up 1/4" in diameter? That's a lot of work & expense for very little gain. Especially as the longer the plumbing run, the higher the chances of clogging. And curves in the hose run simply up the odds of this.

I mean isn't 1.5" pretty much the minimum size for cockpit scuppers? And they don't have to deal with mud, shells, silt, etc. Which, even at 1.5" there's enough that comes aboard on/with the anchor rode to clog plumbing that size.

Also, even with a 1.5" ID hose, the true internal diameter of things will be significantly smaller. Since by the time you fit the barbs of the mushroom ends into the hose, you're then closer to 1" ID at those bottlenecks.
So again, in order to keep things flowing freely we're either back to an even larger hose, or, simply drilling large drain holes in the locker itself.

Perhaps the above bit on hose barbs explains some of your current clogging issues. As at best, a 3/4" hose connected to a mushroom through hull with barbs for the hose, has an ID at it's end of about 9/16". Make sense?

If cutting/drilling larger holes in the anchor locker, or for hose drains is freaking you out. Then buy either some G10, FRP plate, or triax, & some epoxy resin to go with any of these. And beef up the hull laminate in the area where the hole will be. You can add 10-20mm of thickness in under a day. And unless the hole will be right next to a chainplate, that should make it overkill strong.
15-20mm of good laminate or G10 will stop most any bullet that comes out of a handgun, short of a few exotic (outlawed) armor piercing types. So it should do the trick for reinforcing the area around a through hull or hole.

And to be blunt, you asked for my expertise. So while I could give you a more structurally guaranteed answer if I had some pics, spec's, & diagrams to work with. But I'm wondering why you're fighting heeding what's been offered?
Admittedly I do tend to sometimes jump from near the starting point of a problem, to close to it's conclusion/solution without always explaining all of the intermediary steps. But... most of said steps have been laid out in this thread as best I know how, based on the information I've been given.
And no, I don't mind doing this, it helps me to consciously think through a problem & the possible solutions for it in greater depth. Thus benefitting both of us.

If your concerns about bigger holes are coming from the fact that the current holes are close to bulkheads of significance, you could always seal the current ones using proper glassing techniques. And then put in larger scuppers/hoses elsewhere, after appropriately beefing up the hull skin laminates. Plus if you want a less than zero chance of issues arising from such an approach, you can also beef up the bulkhead tabbing as well.

Please help me to help you out here. AKA understand the situation better.

[rognvald]

UC,
I'm going to rethink some of these ideas. This is why knowledgeable feedback(as you have provided) is important since it challenges the "game plan" as it exists. There's always a better way to build a mousetrap and I certainly don't want to create two projects out of one. The goal is to solve the problem and I welcome any/all suggestions. I suppose I have to revisualize a 1 1/2" through hull which, at the moment, seems like a gaping hole in my hull compared to the 3/4" id I have at present. I'll get some pix tomorrow to post. Also, the drain fitting in the bottom of the anchor locker(below deck) has a 90 degree hose barb connected to the threaded ends. This never made any sense to me since it prevented a direct hose run to the overboard through hull. Perhaps the builder didn't have the proper drain fitting with a hose barb and used the elbow for expediency. Thanks again for the feedback. Best, R

[Group9]

We had the same problem. Upsizing the hose is about all that we found to work. (After I had cleaned shells and rocks out of it for about the tenth time).

[deblen]

I installed 2 regular thru hull skin ftgs at very bottom aft corners of my bow locker. There is a ply removable floor sitting about 2 inches above the permanent GRP floor. Ply floor has a 1-1/2" drain hole. Bow locker bulkhead is a watertight collision bulkhead.
Seawater flushes in & out thru hulls in head seas.A limited amount sloshes up & down thru ply drain hole.
This automatically washes the locker bottom area.
Works well for me.

Cheers/ Len

[rognvald]

Enclosed are the photos--above and below of my anchor well and drain hose. In the first photo, the spider was kind enough to provide size perspective for undersized the 3/4" drain. The second photo, below deck, shows the drain hose and 90 degree fitting that makes a downhill 180 degree loop (to the right of the photo) to the starboard through hull. From the photo, one would assume that the clogging was largely in the 90 degree fitting, however, there was also considerable clogging in the standing part of the hose prior to the overboard through-hull. Hope this is clear. P.S. The open area in photo #1 is an inspection port for access to deck fittings that is closed with a cover.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Not purposefully trying to sound harsh or judgemental, but here goes...

I don't know what the large diameter white hose is to, but... I'd be majorly tempted to cut out the small anchor well pan, & convert all of the bow into a chain locker. One with a floor above the boat's heeled waterline, & having large holes on either side for drains. This would also likely include making the foredeck a monolithic glass piece, with no lift open hinged doors.
It lets you get the weight down lower, is more structurally sound, is self draining...

Though with some thought, you could do this while leaving the current small deck anchor locker/pan in place. So that you have room for a 2ndary rode for something like a Fortress, where you don't have a lot of chain on the anchor.

But barring that, go with a BIG drain in the current locker. Especially as it appears that it's not a major structural piece, given that huge hole in it's front end for the screw in inspection port.
If you do go with a large diameter hose that exits out the side of the hull, try to make the hose's curve as smooth, & gentle as is possible. So that there's less chance of clogging.

Also, the padeye in there won't hold any loads of consequence, with it between being right next to a large hole in the laminate (the current drain), & the fact that it doesn't have a backing plate. So given a good 500-1,000lb jerk or three, & it's likely that it's history.

BTW, you could clog that current drain with something the size of a crayon. It's TINY!