Replacement cockpit drains - Take Two

18-19 July 2014

I don't think I mentioned this before, so....

The small brass fittings I installed about two seasons ago (here) were really too small.  After making a big deal out of putting them in, I decided to replace them with the very idea I have been advising other H25 owners to do for many years.

The original H25 drains were RC Marelon through-hulls straight out the back wall of the cockpit-- necessitating that water either climb up the 5/8" threshold to flow out or else stay in the cockpit pan.  I installed the little brass drains in the sole itself, fitted them with 90-degree elbows and though them good enough.  After consulting with my friend Roland (SV Moonshine) about his solo Atlantic crossing, I decided too big can never be big enough.

The fix I have been long suggesting for this entails the fitting of a rigid fiberglass tube straight out the very bottom corner of the cockpit pan through the transom.  In what has to be the most productive two two-hour work sessions I have ever had on this boat (even in the face of predicted rain), I drilled the holes, bedded these into place, removed the old ones and filled and faired the old holes.  I did one one day and one the next, after a full day of work each time.  It impressed even myself!

 

Here's the view from the cockpit.  The tubes are 1" inside, 1-1/4" outside diameter, pressed fiberglass, ordered from McMaster-Carr.  It was about $21 for one 60-inch piece, which, cut in half, fit perfectly for this application.  I deliberately made the cut on an angle, twisting each tube in its hole in order to fill the corner (shorter side inboard).  Bedded in 5200 and faired with WEST epoxy and Microlight, they look like they were molded there.

 

At the transom I allowed the excess length to just stick out and, when the epoxy had dried, cut them shorter with a hacksaw and used the orbital sander to smooth them over.  This picture doesn't show it so well, but the factory's installation wasn't symmetrical-- one old hole (filled as of this picture) will appear closer to the new tube than the other side.  I just eyeballed the site from above, applied a ruler and made them lead  out parallel to the centerline, straight aft from the corners of the cockpit pan.

The green tape covers the HIN.  I got some epoxy into it a while ago and decided to preclude any more messing it up.

The other two through-hulls are the Marelon ones I installed for the bilge pumps.

 

Looking under the cockpit the downward angle and parallel leads are seen clearly.  The duct tape is part of one of my 'mooyock' solutions for filling holes.  When the old through-hulls were taken out (with hammer and chisel), I taped over the holes in the inside and made up 'communion wafers' of fiberglass to stuff into the voids from the outside with epoxy.  Why try to fill a hole that's overhead or angled so that the epoxy will only dribble out?

This isn't a great view of it, but below the tubes is a little floor I installed aft of the low bulkhead in the foreground.  This low bulkhead, a little higher than the waterline, will contain water from any rudder-post leaks in the event of a rudder strike (which should be high on the list of any sailor's worst nightmares).  A small hole, here seen stained in epoxy, is fitted with a brass tube which will accommodate one of those little rubber transom-drain plugs.  It's not the most secure arrangement; but it's much better than having nothing at all in the event of this happening, for which Stephen Dashew says your best scenario is to crack the rudder blade.  Any other possibility involves catastrophic damage to the hull-- and, with your average production spade-rudder boat, probably the end of your voyage.

 

This pic, with the fuel tank in place, shows the upper end of the cockpit-drain tube.  With the little brass things in place, there had to be an elbow over the back edge of the tank that seriously complicated attaching fuel hoses and intruded on space for removing the tank.  Now this is practically structural-- no worries for stuff in the lazzarette weighting down the drain hoses till they fail or pop off.

(The dark spot on the tank is an old epoxy spill, not a leak or any damage.  This tank has been kicking about this boat for very long, getting dusty and spilled-upon, and only now (September) is is finally in its place for good.  Of course I've kept all the openings well taped-up!)

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The crucial duty of the compression post.

A Hunter owner asked me about rebuilding his compression post; and my comments on the Hunter Owners Web in response are probably worth something; so here they are--

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=996161#post996161

And here are some pics that go with it--

 

This is what Hunter gave H30 owners-- it is NOT a compression post.  This is the view looking through the bilge.  Apparently this corroded object purports to support a piece of mahogany, which supports a piece of aluminum, which supports the plywood sole, which supports a teak block of some kind-- and all of it transmitting the load to precisely the wrong place-- the top of the keel.


Here is my post; and below is how it is supported.

The pic below shows Diana's bilges before I installed the sole (half of it is in place to starboard). Thejoists are all 5/4 mahogany, cut and fit to the hull and bonded with 5200; the post stands on a doubled one abaft the main bulkhead. Note that none of them are in contact with the actual bottom of the hull. The goal was to spread each one's load to as much surface area as possible. Note the limber holes and bilgewater spaces, access for keel bolts, and the central joist having cleats to accommodate the leg of the drop-leafed table (looks like a tripled joist). The part on top of the can that looks like 2/3 of a joist goes in the head compartment.

The electric bilge pump goes in the space farthest aft in this view.  The manual pump's pickup goes in the farthest forward space in the main cabin.

Under each settee is a water tank and a house battery, so all this weight goes here, not to the ends. The red and yellow wires tie the batteries together as one bank.  The orange wire is for the voltmeter.  These will be restrained in fairleads later.

The PVC freshwater manifold (second big space from bottom) connects the two tanks, one under each bunk.  Unfortunately the head sink will feed from only the port one.  There are independent shutoffs, port and starboard.  The valve to the back is the drain, so either tank can be selected to either drain or supply the galley sink.  The black thing is a particle strainer.  Under the galley sink goes a proper cartridge filter.

The hull drain has since been added, under the tanks' drain.  It is removable from inside-- the better to facilitate inspection and maintenance (and to streamline the underbody).

The brown dirt is pretty much bonded into the spilled epoxy and will have to be sanded off and painted in Bilgekote.

 

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Head compartment

In these photos this is far from being done; but I was just fooling about with the camera and took some photos of the head area to record progress.


This is the head sink, which, as all H25 owners know, the boat did not originally come with.

The stainless-steel basin came from an old Chris-Craft; I bought it on eBay for $19.00.  Its drain goes through the forward bulkhead-- to get out of the foot area-- and then to a trap and down to the drain seacock.

The after portion of this countertop (to the left) lifts up for access to a 4-inch-deep compartment above the foot of the bunk.  The two openings outboard of the sink are for toiletries and towels.  The little mahogany stick on the forward bulkhead, inside the locker, is the cleat for the shelf in there.  The shelf divider is sitting against the hull.

I put the tissue dispenser in there to calculate the space for it; but I certainly won't rely on a cardboard tissue dispenser to be kept in the head, under the large foredeck hatch, aboard a 25-ft boat!

There is no headliner or hullliner in place in this photo.  The trim is not installed here either.

The wiring isn't really this messy-- it's just dangling down from the connections block above this doorway where the spar wiring enters the cabin and the cross-cabin circuits pass by.  When it is connected properly you won't see the danging bits in and out of the lockers.


This Wilcox-Crittenden Head-Mate toilet was given to me by a guy called Bill who was working on his friend's boat in Hancock's Harbor, NJ.  I saw it sitting outside the boat on a Sunday and left a note on it: 'If you are getting rid of this toilet, call me and I'll take it.'  The guy called me as soon as he returned to the boat.  It pumps perfectly well-- they must have been switching to either a larger bowl or just an electric one.  The intake/flush lever is a little rusty; that's all I can find wrong with it.

I had intended to mount my existing 'Frankentoilet' with the crossover sanitation pipe underneath this blue shelf; so the shelf is mounted a little higher than it would otherwise be.  Unfortunately this toilet's pump doesn't mount on the level; it mounts at a slight angle (like a modern Jabsco) on an angled flange on the crossover pipe.  So I can't mount this pump on the shelf, with the crossover pipe underneath, because it won't sit flush.  I have no idea why Wilcox did it like this.  I really wish I were reusing the original Raritan Compact Mk I; but this is similarly 'retro' and works fine-- and best of all the price was right.

The two little openings under the shelf are meant for access to the bolts; and this was supposed to accommodate the crossover pipe underneath so these would allow for cleaning out as well.

Behind the toilet the black ring is a Starboard trim piece around the exit pipe (PVC) leading to the holding tank.

The all-plastic Rubbermaid tool box is actually in its intended place-- this V-berth area has become a true forepeak, having room for only one to sleep but getting equipped with a tool box, workbench, hanging locker, microwave oven, plenty of outlets for charging cordless tools and possibly also a fresh-water supply tank for flushing the toilet. The holding tank is underneath, with most of the plumbing and all but one of the boat's through-hulls.  And that's in only the aftermost 26 inches of it! [wink]

The mahogany in the foreground is the backup to the compression post, underneath where the maststep really is.  It's a piece of the stock I cut for the cabintop handrails, but here it is solid except for only one hand hole (through which the vacuum cleaner's cord is running).  I gauged this hand-hold for someone sitting on the potty and only after installing the stick I realized that the head door's latch has to go at the very same elevation-- so when you reach through it you will stub your fingertips on the edge of the latch plate.  Oh, well.

At the time this was taken the lockers behind the toilet were taken up with the stereo, the outlet strip and the lift-out panels for all the lockers about the boat.

The bronze Barlow selftailing winch (vintage 1977) is a leftover from Warren Luhrs' C44 cutter and served as a doorstop in my mother's bathroom for about 20 years.  It's now slated to be the foredeck-mounted anchor-rode winch for a first-generation Hunter 25 called Diana.  Funny how things turn out!

Here is an 'aerial' shot of this space, minus the toilet, taken from the foredeck hatch opening. 

The door jamb, to the right, was excessively tedious.  It is a T-section and has to fit a very awkward three-sided space and accommodate the natural crookedness of the boat as-is.  It turns out that the face of the head's sink cabinet (side of the port-side berth's footwell) is neither in one plane (it's twisted) nor parallel to really... anything.  Fitting delicate mahogany (the lower portion of that stick is 5/16" square) to a crooked boat is an exercise in near-futility.  But I got it to fit!


The threshold of this doorway is somewhat more robust.  If it appears crooked, it's because the main bulkhead of the boat is not square to the centerline.  Believe it or not that threshold is in the only place it can be to make the (not yet built) door work.

I still have to countersink those screw-holes to fit them with plugs; but I'm keeping it as removable in case something happens with the door later.

The rough plywood sole is only temporary.  The finger-hole, however, will be in the finished mahogany panel.  It's the drain for the space, as there'll be a shower hose here too.


The black square is the pedal for the Whale Gusher foot pump for the head sink.  It feeds from only the port tank, however, despite being likely to be the most-used water source in the boat.

In the foregound (top right of photo) you see the coaming for the foredeck hatch, not yet varnished.

I like the deep-blue/white/black/stainless/mahogany decor theme of this boat.  It's bright, cheerful, nautical and traditional.

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Cockpit-seat lockers

These are some older photos that never got posted under any specific topic.  In most cases there has been much progress since these were taken.

1. Here is a view into the port side locker, what used to be the fuel-tank locker.  As I have said before, this area was so soggy when I acquired the boat that I removed the bulkhead and shelf with bare hands-- really; no tools needed!  The bulkhead was formerly under the drip rail to the right.  I made a new bulkhead about 8 inches farther aft, to make the quarter berth about 6'4" or 6'5"; the foot of it is under this shelf, which, with a fiddle installed, will hold winch handles and the like.

In this photo the shelf is holding a plastic bulkhead vent fitting which I may end up not using and a length of SS angle intended for the backstay's backing plates (since substituted with aluminum).

Outboard is a little box/shelf I made to hold quart cans of paint, solvent, 2-stroke oil, and whatever.  It drains into the area farther inboard.

I really hate black 5200-- it always looks unclean and messy somehow.  But it's what I had; and this will all be painted in white Bilgekote.

The port-side battery's breather tube comes up through the box/shelf and extends up like a snorkel to within a few inches of the underside of the coaming (the PVC coupling seen on the shelf is for that).  The battery is under the main-cabin settee.

The after bulkhead replaces the one that was there holding up the fuel-tank shelf.  The 3" hole will accommodate a ventilation tube leading from the Dorade box (after of the tiller head) to the foot of the quarter berth.  This will be PVC, as it should be rigid to keep from being damaged when stuff gets dropped or thrown into this locker.

You can see the bodged-up job the PO did in increasing the size of the openings in the hatch's drip rail.  The real reason he had such leaks is because he had cut out the drip rail itself along the outboard side of the hatch to accommodate overly-big hinge bolts.  I patched this, not prettily, but adequately to lend it strength.  This will get sanded and reshaped prior to paint.


2. This is a look straight down at the starboard-side locker.  At one time the fresh-water tank was under a platform at the forward end of this space.  It was not there when I acquired the boat.  My new fresh-water tanks go under the main-cabin settees.  I fitted this shelf in here to lend stiffness to the hull the way the quarter berth does on the other side.  All major flats and verticals should be structurally bonded to the hull-- they all help.

For access under this shelf I made two lift-out panels.  I really cannot think of what I would put down there, as the top of this shelf will be full of things like life jackets, mooring line, fenders and a folding bike.  The inboard opening without a cover (left side of the pic) is for the engine-starting battery.  A standard-sized battery box fits into here with its ear handles holding it from sinking all the way through.  Of course this will get screwed in place-- and a strap fitted over the cover when the battery is installed-- as well.

The little block of mahogany is a step I made on top of the edge of the stiffening rib so that, for the many times I have climbed down this hole for access under the cockpit and aft, there is something to step and lean upon that is more substantial than the knife-edge of a piece of 3/8" plywood.  (My back is grateful for this!)

Under the cockpit at the lower edge of the photo you see the black plastic (Tempo) fuel tank, which is 11.5 or 12 gallons.  It sits on a plywood shelf, the edge of which protrudes a bit this side.  As it is located, the tank is about one inch off center but otherwise fits perfectly, with all access points at the after end for vent, sender, feed and fill.

The openings in this hatch's drip rail were enlarged too but not as clumsily as the ones on the port side; I filled and faired these as well.

3. This is a look from inside the starboard-side locker, looking forward.  You see the two lift-outs and the hole for the battery box.  All of this has received one coat of Interlux Bilgekote; it'll get another coat before it's done.

The things in the forward corner are a brass tube, which will be installed in that bulkhead, down by the hull, to admit bilge water from this compartment to where the bilge pump is, and the ends of the PVC tubes that lead to the electric and manual bilge-pump pickups.  I made this section of them in PVC because it would be nightmarish to thread any replacement hose through this route once the boat is done.  PVC can be assembled in pieces, in place, so even in the unlikely event that the PVC might fail it too can be replaced after being hacksawed out.  From this point hose, with check valves to avoid backfill, will lead towards the transom outlets.  The vertical PVC tube mounted on the plywood block is the starboard-side battery's breather which extends up to within a few inches of the underside of the deck.  The battery is located under the settee berth.

The wooden bulkhead is the back side of the teak plywood bonded to the inside of the cabin back.  It extends down below the galley counter back here and provides a surface to which to fasten wiring and other stuff.  In this plywood will be fitted the on-off switch for the engine-starting battery, so one can reach down to the galley from the main hatch and switch it on or off.  Also the wine lockers will be mounted in this bulkhead (more on that later).

The long skinny shelf along the side of the cockpit (to left in the photo) will get a varnished-mahogany fiddle to hold stuff (mainly because I have plenty of countertop-fiddle stock).  This shelf was installed to seal the under-cockpit locker from potential fuel fumes (the tank is out of view just to the left of the camera).  This whole compartment gets vented via a Rule #140 blower and a hose leading to the Dorade box.

Just forward of the drip rail (angled feature at top left in photo) in the cockpit side will be mounted the throttle and shift for the motor; so those cables will run straight towards where I was holding the camera here.  Also the Whale manual bilge pump gets mounted in the cockpit side just to the left of the camera.


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