BLUEMOMENT

One of the poor design features on the Centaur is that the cockpit drain seacocks have to be left open. If the 1.5 inch plastic drain pipes split the boat goes down when it thaws.

The alternative is to leave them shut, the rain will then flood the cockpit untill it overflows into the engine bay/bilge through the engine hatch cover.

Chiron should only sink 3', she is only in 6' of water, I don't think she should be hard to find if she floods.

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How can this be?

Surely the drain outlet is above the water when the boat is not moving? Does part of the drain lie outside the boat and below the waterline?

Nick wrote:.
Surely the drain outlet is above the water when the boat is not moving? Does part of the drain lie outside the boat and below the waterline?

Naaaa, the drains leave the aft end of the cockpit, then come forward about 5 feet to the seacocks in the lockers under the front of the quarter berths each side of the companionway. They must be a foot underwater. I would prefer to see them go back and through the transom above the waterline without any seacocks. I haven't investigated too thuroughly but I believe that the cockpit sole is too close to the waterline to do it properly.

The existing set up makes keeping gas in the cockpit less than ideal too, crap.

AFAIK the Vega is in the minority amongst small boats in having cockpit drains that exit above the waterline. Silkie has them below the water.

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The Vega's drains submerge when under way as she 'squats' quite a bit, but at rest they are about 1" above the waterline. The gas drain is similar - above the waterline when at rest but submerged underway. (Works well apart from the bottom of the bottle rusting).

Would it perhaps be a thought to raise the outlets in the cockpit by having them (eg) exit through the front bulkhead of the lazarette if that was what was required to have the outlet above the waterline. That way the cockpit would still begin to drain when there was more than a few inches of water in it but there would be no danger of flooding.

Nick wrote:.
Would it perhaps be a thought to raise the outlets in the cockpit by having them (eg) exit through the front bulkhead of the lazarette .......

That's just what I thought of doing to modify it. The lip round the engine cover is only about 1 inch high so the drain holes would have to be "neat" if verticle in the aft of the cockpit. I would prefer to use the existing ones with a 90° elbow facing aft instead of forward it there is the height.

Nick wrote:........ but my sister in law in Aberdeenshire has 14 inches.

interesting ....

happy new year to one and all

If Fair Winds sinks, can I borrow your mooring for the summer?
Er, actually if that happens, I may have sunk too.

Was down at the boat yesterday. Neighbour slowly wheezed up his engine and shot a bullet of ice out of the exhaust!
It's a transom outlet, so could possibly have accumulated rainwater on the outside of the swan neck - otherwise the small mass of seawater lurking in the loop must have frozen.
So there's another hazard to possibly stress the pipes enough to fail later in the season!
goodnight, sleep well everyone...