Cockpit Drains

[Brad Young]

Getting ready to replace my cockpit drains. They are cracked and do not look so good. I have read where folks have thought it was a good idea to put in larger ones. Has anyone done this? If so how big did you go?
Any suggestion on which drain to use?

Thanks
brad

[Ron Hill]

Brad : I believe that Gerry Douglas did a more than adequate sizing of the two 1 1/2" cockpit drains that you have.

Not too sure why you would want larger drains? But
If you feel the size is inadequate for the amount of water in the cockpit - then put a couple of electric pumps inline in each gravity drain and have a power scuppers.   A thought & suggestion

[Stu Jackson]

When I redo mine, I'm gonna cross them.  I'm tired of stepping in a puddle on port tack.

[Ron Hill]

Stu : Good luck, you might be able to do that, but most (after 1986) have a rear water tank and I don't think there's space to cross those scupper lines.   

[Lance Jones]

Did either Stu or Ron figure out the hose size and length? How hard are these puppies to replace?

[Ralph Masters]

The hoses are for sure 1 1/2 inch hose.  I bacame very aware of mine on our 87 while working in the lazzerrt on my propane system instalation..  Crossing them sounds like a great idea.

Ralph

[waterdog]

You really want to have your drains smaller than your hose which sounds obvious.  But if you have a big drain, big hose, and a small through hull the blockage will be out of reach.  So going bigger means bigger all the way which means bigger holes in the hull - probably not desireable.  You might want to stick with what you have. 

Treat your hose as though it is below waterline - proper grade reinforced double clamps etc.   It is above waterline at the dock, but not underway...

[Les Luzar]

Brad,
The cockpit drains on the Mk I's are larger than the Mk II's, and as Ron says, I don't think that you need to enlarge them. I have never had an issue with the size of these drains.

[waterdog]

I have been the one of the people to suggest that the cockpit drains are inadequately sized - this was in the context of using the c34 offshore.   And you would really need to have some pretty nasty seas breaking into the cockpit to get in trouble.   Anybody crossing an ocean has a number of things on their to do list if they are thinking of taking a C34.   Drain size is not an issue otherwise.     Definitely not an issue on the MKII which has the ultimate cockpit drain. 

[Ron Hill]

Brad : The MKIIs and the walkthru transom MKIs have NO problem -- they just let it flow out the rear.

[scotty]

Has anyone ever modified a MKI to open up the transom?  How was thet done on the factory MKIs?

[Ron Hill]

Scotty : It was simply done by the factory - making new hull & deck molds.  

Don't believe this (change to a walk thru transom from a standard transom) is an owner "do-it-yourself" kind of task!!

[Stu Jackson]

Scotty, here are pictures of all the different transoms:  http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Evolution_of_the_Catalina_34