Cockpit drains

[bobevans]

I am currently refitting my recently purchased LM27, and since I'm installing a new engine it seems sensible to replace the cockpit drain seacocks and hoses while the old engine is out of the boat. The hoses are currently crossed and I'm thinking that I should replace them with hoses straight down to the seacocks. This has been the arrangement on all off my previous boats and I've had no problems with water ingress, and I suspect that any unwanted water will drain more rapidly with the 'straight down' design. What do other LM27 owners think? Bob

[Sula]

Cockpit drains were traditionally crossed to avoid the cockpit back-filling with water through the drains when the 'downhill' side of the cockpit (when heeled) was below the water line.

[bobevans]

Thanks Sula. I agree that this arrangement was traditional and that it’s possibly essential in the traditional, long keel and and probably tender style of yacht. However, for more modern boats, the advantage of crossover is less clear. For example, my last boat, a Westerly Corsair, which I sailed for thousand of miles, has straight through drains with never any back filling. My thinking is that the LM 27, with a relatively high freeboard for her size and I assume less prone to sail on her ear whilst beating,(something I probably will not be doing) is unlikely to experience back filling. So, I’m tending towards not restoring crossover drains but I’d very much welcome the experiences of other LM27 owners. Thanks, Bob

[Sula]

The critical factor is not the amount of freeboard, but how far above the waterline is the cockpit sole. I suspect crossing the drains is traditional because boats used to be generally much smaller, lower in overall height, and have deeper cockpits than is now the norm.

I have an LM27, but don't have the issue as mine's an earlier model which doesn't have a self-draining cockpit. (My cockpit drains into the bilge.)

I can't see that crossed drains will make any appreciable difference to the speed at which any serious amount of water (which is what you have to worry about) can drain from the cockpit. The only downside is that when heeled you may get a small amount of water (from rain, spray, etc.) retained in the downhill corner of the cockpit if it is above the outlet under the hull on the other side of the boat (until the boat next comes upright), but that would be better than water back-flowing into the cockpit if that is a risk.

I can't get to my boat to check the height of my cockpit sole above the waterline, and in any case the versions with self-draining cockpits may perhaps have shallower cockpits (I don't know). I do know that if you have too many people in the cockpit of a self-draining cockpit LM27 the cockpit starts back-filling with water, so I doubt it's far above the waterline. There's a post somewhere on here by Charles, who originally set up this Forum, reporting that's what happened when he had 10 or 11 people in his cockpit on some social occasion, and they had to exit quickly as the water flowed in around their feet. I can't remember exact numbers, but I think he found it could cope with reduced numbers of about 7 or 8. That would have been in flat water and with the boat level, as he was tied up at the time.

Whatever you decide to do, let us know how it pans out, so that others can benefit from your experience.

[bobevans]

Many thanks Sula and yes, I’ll keep you posted. I’m currently rewiring the whole boat from scratch, fitting new bilge pumps, replacing all seacocks, renewing the freshwater system, fitting new instruments, renewing the standing and running rigging, new batteries, new engine, etc, etc, so I’m sure that I will have more questions as I learn about the LM27. Bob

[paulsailing]

I have a single drain in my cockpit which goes straight down through valve to exit the boat. The sea level is about 100mm below the cockpit sole with me in the boat. There was a comment on this forum about someone having a party on board and water coming in. Not sure how much extra weight was in the boat?