Leaky aft cockpit hatches

[dastahl]

My 1976 58 LRC has a small cockpit with two large hatches. When it rains real hard like all of June here in the Sassafras the hatches leak enough to fill the bilges so the pumps go on.
The small 3/8 hole drain in the trough around the hatches does not seem to carry off the water. They are clean and they work but I get lots of water.
The hatches seem to be regular Hatt issue. Do others have this trouble?
Skooch
Sassafras River

 

[Ross Macdonald]

Two thoughts on this. We have 3 hatches aft and one forward in our cockpit and the drain holes/channels are all interconnected. (60 EB...Big cockpit). First, maybe try to suck the drains clear with a strong shop vac. Secondly, we have a cockpit carpet that snaps down and even if it rains hard, it seems to limit any water getting in the scuppers around the hatches. During non rainy season, you can roll up the carpet and store it. Ross

 

[rsmith]

Two thoughts on this. We have 3 hatches aft and one forward in our cockpit and the drain holes/channels are all interconnected. (60 EB...Big cockpit). First, maybe try to suck the drains clear with a strong shop vac. Secondly, we have a cockpit carpet that snaps down and even if it rains hard, it seems to limit any water getting in the scuppers around the hatches. During non rainy season, you can roll up the carpet and store it. Ross

The IO carpet works well keeping the dirt out. We fish a lot and the blood and guts washes right off the carpet. Lemon joy full strength keeps it from smelling too.

 

[holtcl]

This may not be relevant but for what it's worth- on my 53 MY, the drains on the side decks were draining sluggishly and when I wash the boat they would back up. Then my friend blasted water down them with the hose and wooosh - they unclogged. Maybe you could try that? Such a simple thing but I never thought about it.

Cheryl
Cinderella
1971 53 MY

 

[Pete]

Our 48 LRC has the same problem. The cockpit has one large hatch with two 3/8 inch drains that can not handle the volume of water required during a heavy rain. In our case there is also a a loose fitting bolt that acts as a handle to raise the hatch that also leaks. Net result is the water enters the bilge and the bilge pump expels most of it. This hatch was designed to leak. Been thinking through this and so far am planning to install a larger third drain in the hatch well and replace the bolt handle with a water tight handle. But still in thinking mode. Not ready to break out the drill and saw yet.

Pete

 

[jim rosenthal]

Lots of Hatteras yachts from that era have this setup. The hatches fit into a channel which has only one drain hole, and they do get plugged. The drain hole on my boat is under the swim deck, in the transom.

Best way to clean them out is to plug all but one with small wooden plugs and then cautiously put water through them from a hose nozzle. You'll see plenty of crap come out- usually leaves and bugs and pollen etc. The other thing that helps is keeping the channels clean, which is much easier to do in dry weather where you can vacuum out what's in there. In wet weather- and we've hardly had anything else lately in MD- it's a considerably messier job to clean out the hatch channels.

I remember the bolts as hatch pulls. Very sloppy. I filled those holes and then fit ring pulls on a rectangular base, made of stainless. I think the kind I used were SeaDog; I got them at Fawcett's. They look a great deal better and they are easy to replace if they get damaged or bent, although it seems like water still gets into that area under the aft deck.

 

[rsmith]

My drains are copper tubing that was flared on the end and glassed into the hatch channel. I've had them come loose and leak. Hatt do this on any other boats?

 

[bigbill]

i did the same thing with the copper tube. i also cut a notch in the bottom edge of the hatch that lines up with the gutter drain. this has helped a great deal.

 

[Colwyn D]

I have the same arrangement of glassed in pipework that run to the transom outlets. While working in the lazerette the other day it started raining and both channels, port and stbd, leaked rainwater. The leaks were where the hatch channel meets with the glassed 'pipework', an inch from the hatch, under the deck and looked like poor fabrication. Might be worth checking out.

 

[dastahl]

Thanks for the replies. I have the little copper flares and the lift pin on Skooch. One on each 2x3 hatch. I think I will get two 2.5 x 3.5 foot outdoor door mats and some real hatch grabs. The cockpit sticks out of its summer shed and gets the waterfall off the roof making matters worse. So we will also turn her around and see how much the bow pulpit leaks. 60 ft slip but the boats Panama Canal cert says 64'.
Skooch
58 LRC