When I hauled POG (hull 118) in March I had a Pearson 424 right ahead of me in the yard. The owner was busy replacing all his plastic thru-hulls with bronze ones. He claimed one of them had sheared off while miles offshore. Luck and seamanship got him back without the boat sinking.
I have had three of the smaller plastic drains break on me: the two propane locker drains broke off with little effort as I was crawling around in the stern while installing the windvane. The one at the bottom of the ice box snapped at a light tug on the hose attached to it. They are obviously brittle as hell after more than 30 years of service. I replaced the more vital propane locker drains with bronze drains.
I can well imagine what would happen if one of the large drains for the deck at the waterline decided to break on a dark and stormy night at sea. The boat would be sinking fast.
Granted, the large drains have a lot more meat on them than the small ones that gave up on POG. Be that as it may I don't much like the nagging thought of these old plastic drains, much as I hate the idea of having to rip the boat apart to exchange them for bronze fittings. Has anyone out there had problems or heard of them with the plastic deck drains?
Carl
Carl,
I was replacing the hose on my bilge pump which is located next to the port aft deck drain. In my struggle to remove the old hose from the barbed bilge fitting, I bumped the deck drain hose on the adjascent thru hull. I instantly could see the gravel in the storage yard below where the boat sat.
That fitting snapped off without effort. It is a chilling thought to think that one could be 5 miles off and while digging through the cockpit storage snap one off. I ended up replacing all of our plastic thru hulls with stainless. The starboard forward deck drain snapped as well while trying to get the hose off. In both cases the mushroom head separated from the threaded tail piece. I suspect sun damage and if that is the case, the larger the diameter the fitting the farther up inside sunlight gets.
As a double blessing I found totally rotted and separated hose clamps as well as hose that you could put your finger through it was so rotted. Changing out the fittings and hose is not a big deal on dry land. Actually it could be done right at the dock as long as you can reach the fitting to keep it from spinning.
Worth the money and effort.
Good Sailing...
Dale
Thank you Dale. That does it! I will change mine out too. Any problem getting to the forward ones? Did you bother to change the ones on deck also?
Carl / POG
Carl,
They were all accessible.
I would love to change the ones on deck however they are an old size and I have not found anything that will fit that recess nicely. I would love to have grates on them.
I just ordered new WATER fills for the deck because all the chrome was gone off of the old ones and that was a mongrel size as well. Hopefully the ones I found are as advertised and will fit.
Dale
Dale,
I bought stainless drain covers for a few bucks at the Home Depot for all deck drains and the two cockpit drains. The four stainless retaining prongs on the underside are made for a larger diameter than the boat drains. I just bent them to fit with a pair of pliers. They look good and work perfectly. Wouldn't live without them. Too easy to drop a scredriver or something else into these black holes - and then what? Major aggravation....
Carl / POG
Carl,
Where in Depot House did you find them?
Dale
Dale - and Gordon,
I am going to Home Depot tomorrow to pick up masking tape and trays etc for my painting of POG's deck and cabin. I will look for the drain covers and give you the brand and sku number if they are still there to be found.
I located them in two places in the local Home Depot. They were hanging on the end wall in the department where they have faucets, shower heads etc. They were also in a bin in the place where they have abs and pvc pipe and pipe fittings.
Unfortunately I rented out my house in the expectation of being on board POG in the South Seas right now. Pneumonia six days before departure made short shrift of that long standing plan. My digital camera and card reader are with my wife in Europe or I would send a picture. Everything is a bit disorganized due to the forced reversal of plans. I am house-sitting for friends until I join my queen in the old world for a couple of months on June 25.
However, these fittings are great. They seat perfectly in the recess for the drains. You will be tickled pink.
I will not be changing out the plastic drains until I haul next year before hopefully getting under way to New Zealand. Appreciate if you keep the information coming, Gordon, on what's ionvolved in getting access to the drains behind the interior, what parts are needed etc.
Carl / POG
All this talk of drain thru-hulls snapping off has now given me yet one more thing to worry about. I've done a complete below the waterline thruhull replacement but that did not include the drains because in my boat they are all above the waterline. I assumed they could be easily replaced in the calm waters of my slip.
Currently my 365 is in the shipyard getting the hull restored and at great expense. The gel coat grind turned into a fiberglass hull grind/repairdue to some significant stress cracking. I'm curious to learn what hurricane this boat survived. Timeline suggests Ft Lauderdale, Wilma in 2005.
Once the hull was reapired the whole thing got covered with 2 coats of epoxy primer and then Matterhorn white algrip. I've run up a significant bill. But paying to paint over a bad foundation made no sense.
If I have time to replace the drain thru-hulls before launch I will. I'm assuming them to be 1 1/2" hose barb thru-hulls in 3 places. One to port and 2 on the starboard.
Should any of these be right angle hose barb?
Keep up the good work mates. Pete W
Pete,
Congtarts on the paint job. Next year it would cost even more, and in 5 years from now you won't be able to buy good paint, it will all be "new and improved". Do it now, do it right.
There are 4 thru hulls, two on each side. I used 1 1/2" threaded thru hulls and installed Forespar's 90 degree Marelon female threaded to barbed elbows on all four.
Dale
Here is the promised info on the stainless strainer cover plates that fits the cockpit drains and the deck drain wells.
Purchase them at Home Depot. The brand name is SIOUX CHIEF. The product name is GRIPPER 2" stainless steel pipe strainer. The price is $2.96. The Home Depot SKU is 643 125. They are located in the bathroom and kitchen plumbing area.
You need to bend the four retaining prongs to adapt to the smaller inside diameter of the boat drains.
Carl / POG
Hey Pete,
If you are still hauled out I would go through with changing out the deck drains right away - at least the fittings just above the water. Both Gordon and Dale have boats that are about one year older than my 118/1977 hull and have broken these fittings with very little obvious force applied. These drains are obviously at the end of their use-by date.
Though the drains exit the hull above the waterline when at the dock this would not be the case when you are at sea and heeling. These old, brittle holes in the hull are a potential death trap. I thought Dale's comments about 35+ year rusted hose clamps and rotten hoses pretty interesting also. This is a vital safety issue and has to be dealt with.
Alas, a boat is a black hole in the water sucking up dollars at an alarming rate - as you no doubt know after all the work you have already contracted. BOAT is, as we all know, an acronym for "Break Out Another Thousand". Somehow, just sitting in the cockpit at sunset with a glass of grape juice close at hand makes me forget that side of things. I hope you share that feeling too. Then it's all good.
Carl / POG
Hi Carl,
My sense of well being while aboard is both a combination of what you describe and also the knowledge that my vessel is completely sea worthy. Something I learned as a boyscout.
I've sailed with skippers who not only refused to perform upgrades to essential marine systems but simultaneously had no fear of Murphy's law. A fatal combination IMO.
One particular fellow I know had lost 3 out of the 4 last boats he owned. One sank, one drifted out to sea and the last one in which I was an unfortunate partner, threw a rod and was later abandoned. "Run her till she blows" was his directive on that boat. Unfortunately his estimated life of that motor was not 5 years but more like 5 hours. As I had warned.
Consider the cost of salvaging your boat and you will gladly break out another thousand.
I'm ordering the required fittings today.
Safe passages to all, Pete W.
Pete,
I will not be doing the job until I haul in about 7-8 months. Please, give an account at this topic of parts and procedures and difficulties as you do the job. It is of great interest to me and should be equally interesting and important to all the other 365/367 owners.
Initially these interior hoses and drains were an elegant solution over just regular scuppers. Now they are a real threat as the parts involved have aged and become brittle.
God luck with the project.
Carl / POG
I replaced my deck drain waterline fittings and hoses a couple years ago with Conbraco Part # 65BF857. They are 90 degree bronze fittings. Although they do not include a seacock, (I don't have room) I do feel much better about the watertight integrity. I still haven't found a good deck drain replacement though.At least they are well above the waterline and easier to deal with.
I have considered drilling a bronze fitting and inserting a bronze rod for the deck fitting.
To all of you who HAVE changed out the deck drain thru-hulls:
What's involved in getting to them? In particular the forward ones and especially the port forward one that seems to be located behind the ice box.
Carl / POG
You can access the top of the port forward scupper by removing the back of the galley storage cabinet above the range. Just remove the screws and it will come out.
The lower fitting can be access, via boat yoga, by removing the port settee seat, or sliding it all the way out if you are really flexible.
Good luck,
Ron
SV Matchmaker
Thanks Ron.
I guess I would have figured it out but this helped.
Carl / POG
I had a hell of a time replacing the aft port deck drain hose.
Ron is correct in his suggestions.
The greatest problem I had was to get the relatively rigid hose section onto the lower fitting.
My solution was to feed a line tied to the closest stanchion, fed it through the deck drain, the hose and the out the lower fitting. I then tied the other end tight to one of the jack stands. I lubricated the inside of the hose and the fitting with silicone. Using Ron's boat yoga I was then able to slip it over the fitting.
Hope this helps
Henri
Using a line as a guide... what a good, simple solution.
Carl / POG
My original scupper hose was wire reinforced radiator hose. Really stiff! A bit of overkill I thought for a scupper drain. I just substituted more flexible hose when I replaced mine. Although, Using line is a great ideal that I will remember.
Ron
A Pearson 365 pilot house "Starchaser" out of Beaufort sunk during Hurricane Irene. Her cockpit scupper through hulls were rubbed of by the pylons. She is now at Sailcraft Services in Oriental, NC.
I assume you meant "deck" drains. The original cockpit drains are bronze and quite low on the hull. I changed the deck drains to bronze a number of years ago and can't imagine them failing before the hull chafed through. I hope it gets salvaged, there aren't a lot of them to begin with.
Ouch!!!! >:(