Companionway hatch cover water drains

[jacksonlord]

Since there are no drain holes in the forward part of the companionway hatch cover, every time I slide the hatch open when it's raining, a bunch of water pours into the cabin. I see that there are drains in the teak brace in the aft part of the cover. Has anyone tried to solve this by drilling two small holes in the fiberglass on both sides in the front of the cover? Anything I should know before I do it?

Thanks!

[Stu Jackson]

We have a dodger, so don't have that issue.  What I suggest you do, since it hasn't been raining here in quite a while, is take a cup of water and fill the groove and see where the water goes.  Perhaps those drains are clogged.  What happens is the groove fills with dirt dropping out of the air, resulting in the hatch squeal that Ron recently discussed. http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5783.0.html You may simply have to clear the existing drain holes.

I just did a search on "companionway+drain" and found this:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2123.0.html

You might want to try searching around a bit, too.

[Ron Hill]

Jack : You do have drains in the forward on your MK I, but it sound like yours are clogged.  I spray water when I'm washing the boat into that hatch track and usually have some crud come out of the bow ends of the teak strip.
 
It won't do you any good to just take off the teak to clean that track, because you still can't really get at thetrack!!  With the teak off you'll have to remove the overhead cover that the companionway hatch slides into.  Then you'll be able to get all of the accumulated junk out and have the water flow again.

I'd try to spray it with hose first and see if that doesn't do it. 

[jacksonlord]

Great, thanks for the help guys. I sounds like a couple of makeshift drain holes on the bow side of the hatch cover wouldn't actually do any good because it's really the squeegee action when closing the hatch that pulls water in, rather than the way I described (it's been a while since it's rained here too). That is, unless I have a little forward tilt, which would require some holes up forward. I don't think my aft drains are clogged but they could be. I'll test a couple things and report back.

[Ron Hill]

Jack : I'm not too sure about the squeegee action?, but with the aft water tank empty the front of that companion way cover is definitely lower than the aft portion at the companion way itself.   A thought

[jacksonlord]

Thanks, Ron. I think that aft water tank is full, actually. But we've got 3 anchors and their chain/rode up forward, so maybe that's helping forward list. I'll experiment and try to find those forward drains you mentioned....

For a newbie: what is "MK"?

[Stu Jackson]

For a newbie: what is "MK"?

It's short for "Mark" as in:

Mark I - standard enclosed cockpit.

Mark I 1/4 - same but with a scoop on the stern

Mark I 1/2 - first walk through transom, cockpit not wider

Mark II - the new boats with wider cockpits and walk through transoms

You can wander around the C34 Tech wiki and find the brochures, although there isn't one specifically for the Mark 1 1/4.

[Ron Hill]

Jack : As Stu posted above all C34s with a hull # less than 1294 is a MK I and all hulls #s 1250 and above are MK IIs. 

[jacksonlord]

Good to know. Thanks!