anchor locker drain question

J

Jake B

New member
So I have still yet to put in an anchor locker drain, as we were not really using it and I was not really wanting to put holes in the boat. but now the time has come(here in a week or so ) and after reading through the old post about a potential void and drain tubes ect. I was just curious is it better to drill the hole 1/2-3/4" too high and raise the floor or drill it in the bottom corner and check for potential gap that could drain into v-birth?
I looked closely at sunbeam pictures of what was done there, as well as read that the void could of been caused by a non bonded tab being drilled at the factory? and if that is what happened then There should be no concern for mis-draining?

and what size clam shell should I order and it looks to be 1/2" hole is desired?

my plan was to drill hole and then coat with epoxy.....

I ended up with 300' total rode 275' 8 plait and 25' chain....
 
One trick to find where to put the hole, is to put a piece of metal at the lowest point in your anchor locker, against the hull where you want to drill the hole. Then use a magnetic stud finder to locate this precise point from the exterior of the boat.

I would drill the 1/2" hole slightly above this area--and then fill and glass the bottom of the locker, with a sloping drain to where the hole is. You want a clam shell which will cover about 3/4"; slightly larger than the hole.

The boat is not cored at this part of the hull, but coating with epoxy is a good idea. Or you can just extend some polyester resin you have used to seal the bottom of the anchor locker and coat the sides of the hole drilled in the hull.

What you bought for a rode should work well for you.
 
I like the magnet idea!

I would go for the drain at the lowest point in the locker (obviously, as that is where I put mine), because I don't like any drain water sitting there, if I can help it. I don't see any point in raising the locker floor, as that's also a project, and so I'd figure one might as well just make sure there is no void in the tabbing (or repair the void if there is one). Then you end up with the deepest possible locker and with no "mystery things" buried under an epoxy pour (or whatever you raise the locker with).

I'm probably repeating myself here, but here is what I found:

1) The way the locker is formed is to put a triangle of plywood in to make the bottom, and then to lay glass (or mat or something) over it and then tab that (i.e. use strips of fiberglass and resin) to the hull sides and to the divider between the locker and the V-berth. So picture a separate bottom piece, and then "tape strips" (the tabbing) running around the edges.

2) Now picture that those "tape strips" are made of such a material that they don't like to take tight corners (which is how fiberglass is). So where they make the ~90º bend from locker bottom to locker sides, they make a radiused curve instead of a square/flat corner. Now picture trying to get that all to lie flat while you work in the cramped bow with sticky fiberglass. The "voids" occur where the "tape" did not quite lie flat on the "wall" after going around the corner. So then when you (or they) drill the hole for the drain, it goes through the inside tape layer, then through the void (if there is one), and then through the other hull. Water of course "finds" the void and hence drains down into the area below the locker.

So here is what I did (my locker had a drain, but it was too high up and would have allowed water to stand). I figured out the lowest possible point (after port corner) and drilled the hole. Then I looked VERY closely to see if there was any void between the tabbing and the hull. In my case there didn't appear to be one. If there had been, I would have closed it off. I did still "paint" the inside of the hole with slightly thickened epoxy, just to coat the edges and fill any micro voids. Then I mounted a slightly larger clamshell, but that's because it would cover both holes (the too-high one and the new one); you won't have that problem, so could go with the "normal" sized one. In my album for the anchor locker I show the normal and jumbo sized ones in the same photo with a standard utility knife, so that would give you an idea of the sizes.

I considered doing what some folks have done, which is using a fuel vent that has a nipple (which then lines the hole). But I figured I would want to put that in with thickened epoxy to fill any void (had there been one) and so why not just epoxy the void and not need the vent tube thingie. Not that it's not a valid alternate approach.

Sunbeam
 
I just did this project, and wish I would have checked more closely on others.

I drilled a hole from the inside out, first using a small pilot bit, then a 3/4" bit. I angled down and managed to put the hole right below the strake. Most drains end up above the strake, and I thought it would be better lower.

I epoxied the inside of the hole, re-drilled to 5/8".

I found a perko fuel vent fitting that had a nipple on the end. It came with a threaded brass fitting and was threaded on the outside. I took out the screen, cut the nipple off, and then tapped threads on the inside and got a brass threaded plug so I can close the drain if and when I want to.

I used a grinder inside to create a space for the brass fitting, put 5200 in the hole and put the modified fuel vent fitting in, just under the strake, with the cap on to keep 5200 out of the inside, and then threaded on the fitting. Because the fitting required a notch in the anchor locker, I then poured epoxy into the notch and smoothed.

The result is a very secure means of draining your anchor locker without water being channeled through the hull material.

I'll try to take some pics of the finished product.
 
also i like the magnet idea and will be using that Kushtaka look forward to the pics, never thought to make it a closeable option....
 
Jake B":9vt6ja0j said:
I will just drill and create a slope with epoxy any idea how much this may take?
Click to expand...

Just as a note: There is no need to create a slope with epoxy. What I mean is, the bottom of the locker already slopes aft, so if you put the drain hole at the bottom of the locker (i.e. right aft), the whole locker bottom will slope that way already (well okay, not athwartships, but then the boat will change angles that way anyway, as it floats).

The last response reminded me that yes, I did check where the clamshell would line up on the strake -- you don't want to end up with it spanning a strake transition!

Sunbeam

PS: If you were to pour epoxy in for some reason, keep in mind that plain epoxy will end up cracking, and will then let water through (BTDT when a builder did this in the bilge of a different brand boat - what a headache). You might be able to just thicken it, but to really make a large/flat area not crack, you might need to use cloth ("plain" epoxy is fairly brittle).
 
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