• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Cockpit drains to bottom ?

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
No doubt, and Catalina--and everybody else--have changed boat design radically in accord with demand.
To my eye, however, the demands are those of a cross-Channel ferryboat.:)

cat 380 Capture.JPG
 

nquigley

Sustaining Member
The rapid draining afforded by the open transom of this Catalina 27 was about the only good thing in this story ... what a fiasco!
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
It is useful to remember that if a boat is flooding, the source is likely obvious. (True, if holed below the waterline the ingress may be inaccessible because of ceiling or TAFG and the highly theoretical exterior canvas patch the only resort. But that is very, very seldom the cause. And you probably sink.)

But usually it's a known hose of some kind, or a known hole of some kind--throughhull, sensor, stuffing box, shaft log and so on.

The first act is to instantly, aggressively and obviously, locate the water inflow. Never mind the radio and the bilge pumps and calling for help. Find the leak.

All typical leaks can be plugged, even in the face of water spurting in. The point is to do it, do it, do it. Nothing else matters.

Sounds like theory but I can tell you that over the years I have faced this several times. My 21-foot pocket cruiser cracked its centerboard trunk and I pounded my T-shirt into it with a hammer. We blew the nine-foot daggerboard out of a 36-foot racing trimaran at 15 knots (sailed over a submerged jetty), and that took several T-shirts and most of the cabin table to staunch. We lost an outboard rudder off Bermuda which left holes in the transom, and I crawled into the stream and pounded cushion foam into the holes. Sure we carry wooden plugs next to each thoroughull, but they're not always the solution.

If a dripless shaft seal bursts, it is necessary to immediately wrap the leak with something, anything, get it under control. It helps to consider in advance how to do that, but even if a total surprise the need is for immediate aggressive action with whatever's available.

The accident boat above made a Mayday call before the source of the leak was discovered.

Find the leak first.
 

supersailor

Contributing Partner
Also the rapid filling in a following sea makes sea boots advisable and don't drop anything unless you like to see it scooting off the stern. Open transoms are really dumb for most of us. An opening door could be nice for those of us who don't do heavy offshore.
 

Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
I helped a friend sail a newer Jboat 36', a 112?(I think) across Lake Michigan last year. We hit some weather and had to deal with trailing sea on short intervals and the cockpit was a wet place for a couple of hours. Cold wet feet and as Bob said you can't have anything loose in the cockpit and that includes your shoes....even colder feet! I don't get it at all. $300k+ boat = wet cold feet, nothing in the cockpit(including kids and some adults), what's the advantage/purpose?
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I helped a friend sail a newer Jboat 36', a 112?(I think) across Lake Michigan last year. We hit some weather and had to deal with trailing sea on short intervals and the cockpit was a wet place for a couple of hours. Cold wet feet and as Bob said you can't have anything loose in the cockpit and that includes your shoes....even colder feet! I don't get it at all. $300k+ boat = wet cold feet, nothing in the cockpit(including kids and some adults), what's the advantage/purpose?
My take on it is that "styling" is used as a way to differentiate and sell new boats. Some things become normal and accepted and some don't catch on.
I recall the distain that many of us had for steering wheels on boats under about 30 or 35 feet, but the public did respond and the idea brought in money. Ditto for putting travelers on the housetop. The "market" can surprise us at times.

Best use for large/wide open transoms I have ever seen was on a couple of large "modern" sailboats tied up at a *visitor dock, stern to stern. The couples were having a back n forth happy hour celebration. Very Social Idea! :)
*at Port Angeles, and Bob probably remembers.,,,

Also, with an open transom a high bridge deck is really important. A boarding sea has to be halted... somewhere.
 
Top