TC255 design question

J

jritsema

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C Dory Year
1994
C Dory Model
255 Tomcat
Hull Identification Number
xxxxxxxxx
New Owner:
I have found water in the forward port hull, below the berth, and have traced it to the anchor locker and the two adjacent forward lockers. It seems the water finds its way aft, though I can't find the exact spot of the leak.
I was surprised to find what I believe, is an anchor locker without a hull drain? The windlass allows intrusion of water at the entry of the chain as would be expected, but it seems there is no provision for the water to drain overboard from the locker??
Appreciate any thoughts.
Jeff Ritsema
 
The answer is "yes". There is a design/construction flaw. My boat was made so that the water would drain from the center anchor locker to one of the side lockers...only problem was that the side locker did not have any overboard drain, at all!

The side lockers should be made so that there is no connection with the anchor locker, with the outside of the hull, or with the area beneath them into the two hulls. It may be necessary to epoxy some fiberglass tape on the inside of the side lockers to prevent any intrusion of water in or out of these compartments.

Next, drill a hole in the bottom of the anchor locker, and put one of the "Vent covers, or even two of the vent covers (one smaller than the others, to prevent spray or seas from coming back up int the locker. Also put filler (I used polyester) to build up the bottom of the anchor locker so that any water will drain into the hole you have put in the bottom of the locker to the underside of the wing deck. I made one side higher, and the lower side the drain. You could put the hole offset from the center and slope each side to that. Be cautions of the anti sneeze "nanocle"(?) in the center.

Finally, a small platform or teak or Iroko type of wood to keep the anchor rode off the floor of the anchor locker.
 
Look on page three of my TC255 Discovery Album. There are pics of my fix for the anchor locker drain. I used PEX tube and a clamshell.
 
I don't have a TomCat but i did put DryDeck on the bottom of my anchor locker to allow some air circulation and drainage.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

JC_Lately_SleepyC_Flat_Blue_070.thumb.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies mates. All makes sense, excepting the design, that is.
Guess another winter project is on the list- great hobby though.
Jeff
 
I'm not the original owner but my 2007 Tomcat has drain vents on the outside of the hull for each side locker. The 'vents' are rather small and resemble the polished stainless covers used to install speedometer 'pitot' tubing through the transom on small boats. There are also shelf's in the bottom that keep the rode and storage stuff above the runoff.

On a separate note- what are people using to seal the opening where the rode enters the locker? A rag stuffed in the hole is my current 'low-tech' solution
 
Hi guys,
My (center) anchor locker has a drain, and like Harvey the bottom has Dri-Deck for cushioning and noise control (do great minds think alike or what?) esp when I don’t have the 8-plait line under the 120’ of HD chain bouncing around.
I’m in salt water, so after the windlass winds in the chain and we get back to the slip, as part of freshwater wash-down I stick the hose down the chain drop to give it a good rinse. I leave it open so the rain does the same. There is no other air circulation in there. To date wasps/critters have not chosen this area as a home. If I opened the cabin berth anchor locker access, even a 13.5k BTU Coleman AC couldn’t control the heat and humidity pouring in from the 3 inch chain drop hole. Even a little saltwater life/grass on anchor chain can stink to high heaven if open to the cabin.
For your freshwater areas, I guess I’d say let your experiences guide you.
John,
I can’t picture a ‘vent’ in the sponsons or what purpose it would serve. The lower portion of each sponson will be 14-19 inches underwater or so. I agree with Bob there should be no access for seawater to enter a sponson under any conditions. There are multiple ‘through-hull’ drains but none would allow seawater into the sponson. (The gas tank vents could allow seawater into your gas tanks, but not into your sponsons. You’d pretty much be capsized for even that to happen since they have an upper loop like all the others). Do you have a picture? I may not be imagining this correctly.
Happy Boating!
John
 
John et al:
An alternative to a center anchor locker drain is the one posted by "Discovery" where the water from the anchor locker is directed to the "vents" on the freeboard, port and starboard, well above the water line. Have a look at how he managed this "fix". The advantage I see to his approach is that the thrust of water into the anchor locker in a head sea will be less with a "side-hull" drain with clamshell cover than with that of a drain under mid-ships. Here is the post from Brent:
Look on page three of my TC255 Discovery Album. There are pics of my fix for the anchor locker drain. I used PEX tube and a clamshell.

Just my thoughts. My boat (2008) also came with the port and starboard "vents" (which are actually drains for the outer two lockers) with clamshell covers.
John and Bob, where is the center drain placed in your boats?
Jeff
 
Hi Friends!
I had to wait til the weekend to buzz over to Pensacola for some late-season boating yesterday (with a high of 82 and water at 78) and stick my head down in the anchor locker.
Mine is Triton Hull #001 (that was a bit of optimistic numbering, eh?) so a different builder.
They sealed off the center anchor locker entirely from the hulls with no passages between. They drilled a slightly under ½ inch hole in the port, aft-most portion (just forward of the forward berth bulkhead) draining to an aft-opening clamshell. The clamshell is way out of the water (about level with the bow eye winch attachment). Looking closely at pics of Marc’s new TC255 with 175’s (now why would I be doing that, Eileen asks) it looks like the current builder did the same thing. I told her I only looked because our buds had questions and comments re anchor locker drainage, not because it was a cool new TC255 with 175’s.
I think the theoretical concerns about head-sea seawater entering an under 0.5”, reverse-clamshell protected hole that high above the waterline while underway are misplaced. You’ll be climbing a 4 degree grade every time you get on plane as well as in those conditions, which will keep the locker empty.
If you really, really want a TC255 re-design more resistant to taking green water over the boat, do away with the lower portholes in the berth, like on my boat. They can’t give way if they aren’t there, and the square inches that could allow in seawater in a bad boating day is many orders of magnitude more significant than that relatively tiny anchor locker drain. I could have 2 portholes installed if I wanted, but I don’t. A well placed good quality fan gives better air circulation with our Coleman 13.5 rooftop AC.
Don’t drill til you think about it some more and get some more opinions and consider all the options.
Happy boating!
John
 
PS on an unrelated subject...
If you're at a marina all season with short finger piers that don't allow you easy access to the side deck water fill and waste pumpout covers, you'll know it's quite an acrobatic maneuver to balance on that narrow sidedeck while holding on the rooftop grabrail and trying to bend over enough to unscrew those fills with a Davis key.
Forget that.
Do it from inside, through the sliding side windows. Never thought of that with the AC on all season.
Duh!
Happy Boating!
John
 
Thanks for the effort and the feedback John. Got all winter on the hard to study the issue- heated indoor storage, thank goodness.
 
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