What parts to buy for a cockpit drain through the transom?

[cyrano138]

I have a Cal20 and the previous owner glassed over the original outboard well, and intsalled a single 1.25 inch drain in the rear of the cockpit floor that runs through a through hull below.
I'd rather not have a through-hull if I can help it, and as I understand it it's just as effective to drain the cockpit through the transom. My trouble is I don't know what parts I need to purchase to do the project. I tried a search and there are 14 different kinds of scuppers, drains, tubes, seacocks, etc, and I'm new to the terminology part of this whole thing.

Could someone please just tell me what the names of the parts I need are?

I would like to use brass or SS if possible. What is the name of the fitting that would go in the transom, the tube that connects them, and the fitting that would go in the cockpit. The simpler the system, the better.

Thanks for any help you can offer! Sorry I don't know what the heck i'm talking about!

Jack

[hd002e]

Originally Posted by cyrano138

I have a Cal20 and the previous owner glassed over the original outboard well, and intsalled a single 1.25 inch drain in the rear of the cockpit floor that runs through a through hull below.

I'd rather not have a through-hull if I can help it, and as I understand it it's just as effective to drain the cockpit through the transom. My trouble is I don't know what parts I need to purchase to do the project. I tried a search and there are 14 different kinds of scuppers, drains, tubes, seacocks, etc, and I'm new to the terminology part of this whole thing.



Could someone please just tell me what the names of the parts I need are?



I would like to use brass or SS if possible. What is the name of the fitting that would go in the transom, the tube that connects them, and the fitting that would go in the cockpit. The simpler the system, the better.



Thanks for any help you can offer! Sorry I don't know what the heck i'm talking about!



Jack

Depending on the situation two thru hull fittings with hose barbs, a hose and the clamps would be the easiest solution. Bed them with 3M 4200 bedding compound and call it a day.

Forespar makes lightweight, simple fittings.

[Cheechako]

I think you are asking for more work than you deserve and worrying about a non problem. For one thing you would need to glass the hull where you remove the existing thru hull etc. Most boats out there have thru hulls for cockpit drains.
There is also the question of "head" The higher water is above it's drain outlet, the faster it drains. A fairly horizontal stern drain will drain very slowly as the vertical distance from inlet to outlet is very small.
I worked on a power boat once whose cockpit sole was only a couple inches above waterline. If you put a few inches of water in that cockpit while washing the boat etc, it took forever to drain. Like 10 minutes or more. Ditto for a heavy rainstorm, so people who needed to go in the cabin were tracking in tons of water in the process as the cockpit was like a deep mudpuddle!

[hellosailor]

You're looking for an "automatic drain plug" or "self-bailing drain plug" such as:
https://www.jamestowndistributors.co...t.do?pid=51898

They're used mainly on runabouts and ski boats, they need some speed to work and they've never really impressed me for puttering around.

Brass is never used near water on boats, it corrodes badly. Bronze is used instead. Stainless steel will work, but it also fails long-term around salt water, too often. That's one reason that plug (above) is rubber and plastic.

A hand pump and a good sized sponge aren't such bad alternatives.

[goat]

Could you just glass a fiberglass tube through the transom? You may find water splashing up into the cockpit with a following sea, but there are a lot of boats with open transoms. How high is your cockpit floor above the waterline?

[cyrano138]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Sorry I'm so late getting back to this. For the poster who suggested i don't need to do it, I'm already glassing over two other holes in the hull and this one won't be much more trouble. I plan to do some traveling in this boat and I'd rather not have any holes below the waterline unless there's a good reason, honestly.

I'm going to get a couple pairs of bronze 1.5 inch through hulls for it. I'm not sure what kind of hose to buy.

The bottom of the cockpit is only a few inches above the waterline but I can always install the drain hole(s) higher in the cockpit. I don't mind if there's some water sloshing around in the cockpit, I just want to make sure most of the water would drain quickly if I got swamped. The cal20s that have had the engine well glassed over have a very large cockpit that can hold enough water to make me pretty nervous.

[TreblePlink]

Think hard about how fast (or slow) your cockpit will drain when heeled either way, with big waves completely flooding the cockpit.

That much additional water weight can compound problems.

I too am reducing thru-hulls from four to one for the reasons you state; the one remaining is the cockpit drain.

[cyrano138]

Originally Posted by TreblePlink

Think hard about how fast (or slow) your cockpit will drain when heeled either way, with big waves completely flooding the cockpit.

That much additional water weight can compound problems.

I too am reducing thru-hulls from four to one for the reasons you state; the one remaining is the cockpit drain.

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying the through hull cockpit drain will work and the through-transom cockpit drain won't?

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by cyrano138

Thanks for the responses, guys. Sorry I'm so late getting back to this. For the poster who suggested i don't need to do it, I'm already glassing over two other holes in the hull and this one won't be much more trouble. I plan to do some traveling in this boat and I'd rather not have any holes below the waterline unless there's a good reason, honestly.

I'm going to get a couple pairs of bronze 1.5 inch through hulls for it. I'm not sure what kind of hose to buy.

The bottom of the cockpit is only a few inches above the waterline but I can always install the drain hole(s) higher in the cockpit. I don't mind if there's some water sloshing around in the cockpit, I just want to make sure most of the water would drain quickly if I got swamped. The cal20s that have had the engine well glassed over have a very large cockpit that can hold enough water to make me pretty nervous.

I installed drains in my 31 footer when I built it to evacuate a cockpit fill quickly. They were in the vertical face of the rear of cockpit footwell. I think mine were 3" diameter each. So here's a couple suggestions.
-Buy fittings for your transom that will take rubber flappers like powerboats use on their exhaust. This will keep water from shooting into the cockpit when a big wave hits your stern.
-You must have at least a small drain to get the water out of your cockpit bottom. Otherwise, whenever it rains, even at anchor, you will be tracking much water into the boat. It's a big mess and keeps the boat steamy and moldy etc inside!
-I just used rubber green stripe boat hose to connect the fittings, or exhaust hose cant remember for sure. But that's about all I could find in 3". Here is a pic of mine, I wish I had known about the rubber powerboat flappers when I built this years ago as custom making flappers was a PITA>

[cyrano138]

Ah, okay, I get you. I'm going to keep the drain that currently sits at the bottom and runs to the through hull but run it through the transom instead. I'll put at least one more large one in, too when I figure things out.

[Cheechako]

examples:

[TreblePlink]

Originally Posted by cyrano138

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying the through hull cockpit drain will work and the through-transom cockpit drain won't?

Unless very low on the transom and centered, there may not be enough of a drop to drain fast enough. Even then, gotta consider how it will work when heeled.