Cockpit drain into centerboard slot?

[ddeaton]

I was looking at my pics from the Wooden Boat Show in Newport and noticed a couple holes through the centerboard case at the forward point of the cockpit floor on one of the boats at the dock. Is this common for a centerboard boat, or am I seeing something else here? No through hull fittings or hose to plumb up?
Danny

[Ian McColgin]

Can you get the pic up? It's a bit unusual for a traditional CB boat to have sealed bilges and an above waterline cockpit sole, both of which you'd need for this to be a drain.

At the foreward edge is also an odd placemetn for a weephole.

Finally, drainage through the CB trunk, necessarily constricted by the board and even more when the board is up, would only work when the boat's on an even keel.

So, i'm thinking something else, like the hole for the missing CB's pivot pin. Lots of traditional boats put that above the waterline to avoid leaks, for convenience, and to provide a better leverage arm to support the board.

G'luck

[Pernicious Atavist]

not having more info--size of boat, etc., this sounds like what i was considering for mine when i was going to install a cb. these were to be drain holes for when the boat was on the trailer, not in the water. now that mine uses leebds, i installed the drains, with small livewell plugs, beneath the thwart.

[bugeye]

Hi,
I've never heard of it before, but there's no reason it wouldn't work. I've got my bilge pumps running into the centerboard trunk, and it works great. No streaks of dirty bilge water down my topsides, and at no degree of heeling will the outfall be below the water line. I don't think I've ever seen this on yachts, but every skipjack, and schooner I've ever seen is riiged this way.

[merlinron]

google "sztrandek" and have look at the plans. her cockpit floor is about 5" above the water line and it drains into the top of the two bilge board cases at the forward end of the cockpit, where the painters goes down to the boards.the slot is about 1-1/4" x 4". maybe not so commonly seen around here, but i've seen a few boat plans of european origin with that self-bailing system.i've never really looked it up. but i do know that thier equivelant to our coastgaurd has some stipulations on the height of the cockpit floors if the boat is to be rated for coastal use. with the floor being that far above waterline, there's plenty of roon to get a c-board and case between the floor and the bottom of the boat and it never drops below waterline at heel. the length of just about any board puts the aft end in the cockpit so it makes a drain of this type workable. the floor is also just slightly pitched forward to the drain, when the boards are down,there's plenty of room for the water to get out the aft portion of the bilge board slots....neat design.

[ddeaton]

I will try and post the pic. I havent posted one yet, so may take a little learning.

[notwoodbut...]

Danny,
If you're looking for this type of set-up, you can look at Marshall catboats. I know they're "not wood" but they have similarities to many traditional boats. My 22' has holes in the centerboard trunk on each side right at the bulkhead in the cockpit. Works fine for any amount of water you're likely to get from rain, spray, or washing the boat. They do squirt small amounts of water into the cockpit especially when under power but the water drains right back. We Marshall owners use any variety of plugs, wine corks, etc to keep dry. My 18' had a hole in the back of the trunk. This worked too but the water would really gush up when moving at speed due to the placement of the hole. If you forgot to put in the plug when powering, you definately got wet feet. The water would drain away but not before everything got wet.