Post by oldmanofthehills on Sept 30, 2018 15:20:16 GMT
Having just bought an LM27 Mk2 and sailed it from Chichester/Emsworth to Plymouth Sound I was putting boat to bed on new mooring and and shutting all seacocks etc and clearing out sawdust and rubbish from the grooves under the cockpit hatches when I noticed that the water level in the cockpit drain was only about 2 to 3 inches below the cockpit sole. This alarmed me as that means it only has 3 inches of effective freeboard and if it is down by the stern by 3 inches it will fill up and sink. Now the boat has been left with full fuel and water tanks plus my weighty spare anchor and chain in side locker but is such a low margin normal?
I instantly tried to close the cockpit drain seacock and found it was a seized gate valve type and the handle promptly snapped off. I have wondered about blocking the hole with grease until I get the boat lifted out next year. As cockpit tent will be up when on moorings rain is not an issue, but I had one boat sunk due to water ingress due to excess weighty outboard on transom and dont think my insurers would be happy for another such claim.
The drainage seemed fairly inadequate anyway. My other boat, a Westerly Pentland, has two big pipes at the corners and crossed so when heeled the downhill side drains under uphill keel. the LM cockpit drain is central so less effective anyway. Is it useful or is it a liability
Have you read the rest of this board Old Man? You will see that there are various different designs of cockpit drain - ours is like yours I think - and that no-one has experienced swamping. Like you, the water level in our cockpit drain pipe is a couple of inches below the top of the tube; again, it has never given any problems. I certainly wouldn't block the pipe or close the sea cock permanently, otherwise there is nowhere for any water to go. The type plate in our LM 27 specifies 9 as the maximum number of people on board, but I would be cautious about having 9 large blokes in the cockpit. We came to grief with 11 people of mixed size and gender: see Overloaded LM 27 - a Cautionary Tale in the Ideas For Sharing section of this web site. Charles
Post by oldmanofthehills on Oct 3, 2018 19:05:51 GMT
Thank you Charles, thats reassuring and clearly crossed pipes is not practical with such low free board as the corners of the cockpit are clearly below water level when healed. I still need to replace the damaged seacock but will leave the drain open.