Sea water in bilge

[Bolo]

I "assisted" (watched and handed him tools...) my friend with his E-32-3, when he removed/restored the anchor tub. He could not figure out an easy way to secure that "glued-in" piece of drain tubing as the tub was dropped back into place. IIRC he used a longer length of tube, and put a glob of sealant around the hole in the bow stem. The tube extended outside. With the inside 'glob' and by pushing sealant around the exterior of the tube it was secured in place and water tight. The excess tubing was cut off just beyond the bow stem exterior.

Different in our boat where EY glassed in a 4" long copper tube to the hole in the stem. Then they could conventionally clamp the hose from the anchor well onto it. We do have access to that area of the bow from inside though.

( Personally, I would cut an access plate in that 'tub' to allow more conventional access, and then also have a glassed-in piece of copper to secure the hose to. )

Sounds like a big pain in the "azz" to put the anchor "tub" back in place. Before I decided to put a manual windlass on my foredeck rather then an electric one in the anchor locker on on top of it, I was considering removing the anchor tub and rebuilding the anchor locker which would require a drain out the bow similar to what is there now. Using waterproof materials I was going make the locker bottom shallower then the tub, which is fairly deep and maybe too deep, and tilt the bottom down in the front so that water could drain out a new hole just above the bottom of the new anchor locker floor. The hole though the foredeck would be higher up above the water and there would be no way it could leak into the bilge unless the anchor locker bottom failed for some reason. I'm still considering doing this because I'd like to get access to the underside of the forward deck to reach the cleat and wiring connections among other things. It would be a big project.

 

[Bolo]

One value of a diaphragm pump is that the hose (seen here with in-line strainer) can be long enough to suction several bilge compartments. At rest it just coils up in its primary compartment. Not for everyone, but useful to me. Blog entry on pump installation considerations here.

View attachment 44313

Christian, I like this idea of the long hose to drain out other bilge sections. It was your installation and description here on this site that inspired me to install a diaphragm pump for the mast/shower bilge which I'll do for the main bilge also. I did make a portable 12 volt bilge drainer by screwing a small diaphragm pump, strainer and on/off switch with a long cord and plug to a piece of 1/2 plywood. I use it to suck standing water in the main bilge (because the centrifugal pump doesn't get it all) and deposit it into a bucket or the mast/shower bilge with has the diaphragm pump. Before I used a turkey baster to do the same thing but that got old real quick.

 

[bigd14]

I was considering removing the anchor tub and rebuilding the anchor locker

Do it! It’s a great modification and pretty simple. I made mine extend about 6 inches deeper than the existing drain elevation and drilled another hole in the stem. Two pieces of plywood cut to size, some fiberglass and epoxy and a splash of paint and it’s done. No more leaks!

I did have to cut the flange off the tub (not shown) and leave it in place to provide a bearing surface for the anchor locker door.

 

[Christian Williams]

We get water in through the anchor locker drain on our 32-3 as well.

In my experience, renewing the anchor chain locker (tub) and drain is relatively easy.

The fiberglass pan is removed using a caulk debonder (Anti-Bond 2015), prying tools, and patience. Takes an hour or more. Get an all-steel Red Devil 4050 scraper. The offset edge is worked under the flange and then driven sideways with a hammer. When the bond breaks, levers pop the tub out. I learned all that from the others before me here.

If the drain hose connection to the stem is a copper tube, as Ericson often used, it may have corroded off, as mine did. Drill out the hole, epoxy in a new tube. I used 1/2" OD stainless as replacement on the E381.

If the drain hose is just a hose epoxied into the stem, drill out and replace as it was.

The factory hose will be too short to allow reuse--the anchor chain locker was obviously installed early in the build. Just fit a new hose long enough to permit reaching the connections, and allow manipulation of the anchor pan during reinstallation. Bed pan in caulk, screw down. Finished.

This job also provides the only access to bow pulpit stanchion bolts, bow cleats and running lights wiring. So it has to be done eventually anyhow.

......

 

[Bolo]

Do it! It’s a great modification and pretty simple. I made mine extend about 6 inches deeper than the existing drain elevation and drilled another hole in the stem. Two pieces of plywood cut to size, some fiberglass and epoxy and a splash of paint and it’s done. No more leaks!

I did have to cut the flange off the tub (not shown) and leave it in place to provide a bearing surface for the anchor locker door.


View attachment 44317

Bilge leaks aside I’m definitely going to do this modification to at least get access to the bow hardware under the deck. The project is now on my boat “to do” list. When you drilled the hole in the bow did you line it with any sort of tubing? I’m assuming (always a dangerous thing to do) that it’s solid fiberglass at the pointy end.

 

[bigd14]

When you drilled the hole in the bow did you line it with any sort of tubing?

No I just drilled the hole and left it. The bow is solid fiberglass and seemed robust enough to me to not worry about another 1/2 inch hole punched into it. The bottom hole sometimes gets clogged with debris so having the original “overflow” hole in place prevents water from getting too high and moving into places I don’t want it. I wasn’t able to fully seal the anchor locker from the rest of the boat. There are still some gaps up high around the toe rails. Someday I may fill these with expanding foam, but for now the water shouldn’t get up that high. If it does I’ll have a bigger problem on my hands!

 

[nquigley]

Some might be interested in my related project a couple yeas ago - in this thread (posts 12 and 18):
https://ericsonyachts.org/ie/threads/e32-3-anchor-locker-drain.18269/#post-144328
I completely removed my OEM anchor well tub ... to ... enlarge the available space, seal it off from the boat's bilges, make it self-draining, provide access to all bow area hardware and wiring, and facilitate my windlass installation project.
In addition to creating a water tight compartment (except the through-bow drain), reinforcing the forward bulkhead (with marine ply tabbed to hull with fiberglass strips, and then completely covered with glass cloth) provided an anchoring point for an inner forestay and a wash-down pump.