Cockpit Drainage and Thru-hull Questions

[jkenan]

Brian-

Great progress! Engine installation looks great. Tackling the galley is down the road for me (after the bottom, thru-hulls, etc) are done, but when I get to that point, I will certainly be referencing your work.

Question for you about your raw water intake manifold: how do you manage the risk of raw water demand being interrupted by a breach in the vacuum? Confusing question? OK. Let me explain: As a benchmark, raw engine water is normally supplied through a dedicated line that does not service any other unit. Once a manifold is introduced, and other units are 'on-line', what prevents the engine water demand from pulling water from the other units because it is 'easier' than pulling from the thru-hull, and eventually pulling air from those units?

In my ideal config, I would have head raw water intake and engine raw water intake being served from the same thru-hull. Will the seals in the head suffice to hold the vacuum? What if someone leaves the handle up (I've got the Raritan PHII head - and I ought to know it better if I'm going this route).

On another point, I was interested in your grounding plans for SSB. Do you have any plans to provide a ground for lightning?

Looking forward to your response (We're in the 'zone' for baby delivery, so I am definitely an armchair sailor/boat renovator for the near-term. Any reading I can get is greatly appreciated!)

 

[anzam1]

Brian-

Great progress! Engine installation looks great. Tackling the galley is down the road for me (after the bottom, thru-hulls, etc) are done, but when I get to that point, I will certainly be referencing your work.

I don't know I will have anything that could be "referenced". Each installation is different. My primary goal is to have a scheme whereby I can dismantle it to give me total access to the engine if ever I need to do so. Of course incorporated in that are easily removed panels to give access to the day-to-day maintenance items on the engine. Achieving all that and still have a strong structure is the current conundrum.

Question for you about your raw water intake manifold: how do you manage the risk of raw water demand being interrupted by a breach in the vacuum? Confusing question? OK. Let me explain: As a benchmark, raw engine water is normally supplied through a dedicated line that does not service any other unit. Once a manifold is introduced, and other units are 'on-line', what prevents the engine water demand from pulling water from the other units because it is 'easier' than pulling from the thru-hull, and eventually pulling air from those units?

Two things, hose size and check (one-way) valves.

Both the galley pump and the watermaker have inbuilt check valves.

Even if they didn't, the engine hose is 3/4", the galley pump is 3/8", and the watermaker is 5/16". As you say, the engine will take from wherever is easiest and pulling it thru 3/4" hose is a lot easier than the others plus the thru hull has an external scoop on it anyway.

I have used this arrangement before and never had supply problems on any of the branches.

In my ideal config, I would have head raw water intake and engine raw water intake being served from the same thru-hull. Will the seals in the head suffice to hold the vacuum? What if someone leaves the handle up (I've got the Raritan PHII head - and I ought to know it better if I'm going this route).

I have the head sink pump sharing with the head intake. I was more concerned with contamination than supply problems so I fitted check valves to both the sink and head lines. One can not draw from the other.

Similarly, the head sink shares a thru hull with the head outlet. So I don't get contamination there I fitted a check valve to the sink drain. It allows water to drain but prevents any backflow from the head.

On another point, I was interested in your grounding plans for SSB. Do you have any plans to provide a ground for lightning?

Just so nobody gets confused, the SSB grounding is RF grounding **NOT** electrical grounding. Even though I've connected to the keel, the keel is encapsulated.

BTW, the above is not "planned" it has been accomplished .

As for lightning protection... What I will use, and have always used, is a length of 2/0 stranded cable, clamped to an upper shroud and dangling overboard in the water, whenever the situation warrants it. Lightning is not normally a concern where I will be most of the time.

Looking forward to your response (We're in the 'zone' for baby delivery, so I am definitely an armchair sailor/boat renovator for the near-term. Any reading I can get is greatly appreciated!)

Good luck with the delivery...

 

[Lucky Dog]

Ref: cockpit drains, again

This thread has been everywhere. Would like to continue one of the one question.
What is, should be the correct drain size and material? I went out to check our boats winter cover today. The cockpit drain holes are only 7/8" in diameter. I would expect there is some pressure increase created from the weight of the water in the cockpit, but not equivalent to a two inch drain hole. Increasing the entire drain from cockpit to hull is 4 time more expensive. What is the real answer?

This leads to my next question:

For those of us lucky enough to sail in fresh water only, why not commercial bronze ball values? I plan to find out the bronze formulas for the seacocks and commercial bronze valves. I suspect they are not different. So for freshwater why not? Does the marine insurance differentiate between saltwater and freshwater requirements?

Certainly agree that a seacock should be the best there is available. Failure is not a option.

Looking forward to advice or even good questions.

ml

 

[jkenan]

Sad news

I found out that Brian Cleverly (username Anzam1) was killed in a mast climbing accident this past November. He had just completed the refit of his Fuji 32, and had launched her only two weeks beforehand. Apparently, he was up changing a bulb in his masthead light when the accident occured. I don't know any other details.

I didn't know him at all except for our exchanges on this board and a backchannel e-mail or two, but I certainly appreciated the knowledge he shared freely, and valued his opinion (as I do many others here). Whether one agreed or disagreed with his methods, he certainly seemed to be passionate about sailing and seamanship, and was generous in sharing his knowledge. Here is a link to blog on the Fuji 32 refit: http://www.anzam.com/images/fuji/project/work_begins/welcome.htm

Sail on, Brian...

 

[footrope]

Brian Cleverly Obit from the Sacramento Bee

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sacbee/obituary.aspx?n=brian-windfield-cleverly&pid=154576381

 

[Rocinante33]

Very sad news indeed. We wish fair winds to his family in this time of grief.

It's another reminder for us to be extra dilligent when we ascend the mast. Always tie the halyard off to the bosuns chair. I like to shackle it on after I've tied it off. Then I use a second harness with at least a tether around the mast which would arrest a fall at the radar mount, the spreaders, the shroud attachment, etc. There have been other threads about mast climbing safety.....

We lost a good rigger in a fall at our harbor some years back. I still think of him.

 

[Sven]

I've been reading the last few messages in this thread ... trying to figure out the implications.

My first reaction is that you should remember to treat others as if you would never get a second chance.

- In most cases it doesn't matter but it is good to remember when you are among those where it might.

A natural second reaction is to ask "what happened !?". How can you climb a mast and not do it safely ??

- Then I remembered that I did it a couple of months ago. I was just going up to the first spreaders so I didn't need a second halyard as a back-up. A fall wouldn't have killed me (unless complications did) but our cruising lives as we imagine them probably would have been destroyed.

A natural follow-on thought is that it is stupid to do unsafe things.

- Why ? So you can live in a hospital bed until you die of boredom with relatives watching you wheeze your last breaths !?

I didn't know Brian. I don't know his family. I truly admire Brian for doing what he did and apparently loving it. I hope his family doesn't suffer because of what he did.

What was his age again ? Talk about skidding over the finish line with the throttle fully open.

I'm sorry he is gone and I didn't even know him !



-Sven