Figuring things out

This is the “busy season” for work so I am lucky if I get one day a week to go out and work on the Alberg.  Recently I took that one day to build a deck in our back yard:

 

Yesterday I did make it out to the boat but I didn’t get much fixing done, just lots of figuring.  It was the first time I used the chart table and I am quite pleased with how comfortable it was even without the cushions and backrest!  The headroom won’t be ideal when we put the cushions in but it will work 🙂

Here is the issue: We have a 2 inch seacock on the port side that the port side deck scupper, port cockpit scupper, and galley sink all drain through.  The configuration that came standard on some, if not most, of the boats looks like this:

 

What you are looking at is a 2 inch ball valve attached to a 2 inch thru hull, leading up to a copper fitting that looks like this:

I’d like to point out that I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with this fitting.  As a mater of fact I’m using it as a template for a new one that I’m going to make myself.  Here is my opinion: The sink drain should not be attached to the scupper drains.  That’s all.  Oh, and well, I don’t like unsupported seacock to thru hull configurations as we know from previous posts on seacocks.

Here is the issue as far as I have heard stories about and read about: The sink is lower than the cockpit scupper.  Some sailors think it prudent to close their seacocks when they are going to be away from the boat for an extended period of time.  It rains.  The rain fills up the cockpit and cant get out of the seacock.  Did I mention that the sink is lower than the cockpit?

Yup, you guessed it, the rain fills up the sink and flows right over onto the galley counters and into the boat.

This wouldn’t be an issue if you were confident in the seacock, hoses, hose clamps, and fittings.  You could just leave the seacock open.  As a matter of fact, I was going to leave the configuration just as it was made 36 years ago (with some new hose, new seacock, and new clamps).  I ran into a little (big) problem though:  the copper fitting pictured above is 2 1/4 OD (outer diameter).  They don’t make 2 1/4 inch ID hose and for the life of me I could not find a way to fit 2 inch hose over the fitting.  This leaves us with a hose with an ID (inner diameter) larger than the OD of the fitting – not exactly a snug fit for such a critical, potential boat sinking, part!

Alas, I am sometimes stubborn and I tried it anyhow, spending (wasting?) over $300 on hose trying to make SOMETHING work.  Here is the result with a dry fit new Groco seacock:

It just doesn’t feel good.  The hose is too big, you can see how the clamps are distorting the hose and the hose bend is all wrong, it will eventually fail.  This is not something that I want to loose sleep (or our boat!) over.

So back to the drawing board.  And that is what I was doing at the nav table yesterday.  Drawing up new ideas:

I  kept coming back to the sink drain.  I just didn’t like it.  Sink drains get nasty, and clogged with little bits of coffee or food or whatever… And Erin really wants a deeper sink.  And lord knows Erin doesn’t ask for much so shes going to get that deeper sink, as low as it can go over the engine.  This puts our sink drain as low as or lower than this big fitting – now we have a horizontal hose run – no good.

As much as I agree with the “have as few holes in the boat as possible” mind set I have decided we are adding a dedicated seacock for the sink.  It will be almost directly below the sink, which is already on the center line, and will be an all around better set up.  It solves all of the aforementioned problems in one swoop.

So, for now: new copper for a new fitting has been purchased, this time only for the scuppers and of a 2 inch size so we can fit a 2 inch hose around it for a good snug fit.

More to come soon 🙂