MS 400 cockpit scuppers

[Dougcole]

Hi all,


The cockpit scuppers on my 400 drain really slowly. They drain through the deck and exit at or just below the water line. There are floating rubber balls inside the scuppers that are designed to prevent water from flowing into them, which seems to work...I've never had water flow up into the cockpit. Problem is, they often get sort of stuck and prevent water from flowing out of the cockpit as well. I removed the screens over them and that helps some, but not a lot.


It's a poor design, they should drain through the sides, well above the waterline. I'm not too worried about flooding as I think the cockpit door would actually move more water out than the scuppers anyway if a lot of water came in. But it is irritating.



When I rinse the decks the water pools over them they float up, close off the scupper and the dirt settles out, creating a stain around them.


I'm considering removing one of the balls to see if it helps. Anybody tried this or have another solution? All of the 400s I have seen and most of the other 2000 era Mainships have the same design so I'm sure I am not suffering alone in the wilderness here.


Thanks!

 

[Seevee]

Doug,

Yes, I suffer with the same thing and looking for a solution. I'll pull the cap off the drain and hose water in the line to clean out debris which helps.

However, during heavy rain, they will drain slow and the lazarette hatch "mote" will overflow into the lazarette. I've thought of adding another drain line in that "mote" to help, but haven't, yet.

I now put a matt over the lazarette hatch which deflects water pretty well reducing heavy rain from getting into the lazarette, but looking for a more permanent solution.

 

[garmstro55]

My drains go slowly as well, but I don't know if it is because of the check valve. I ended up opening up the holes as shown to make more space for the water and small bits to escape and it seems to have helped a lot. I got the idea from the Stella Blue website. A friend did it with a Dremel but a machine shop is a better idea.

 

[Xsbank]

Toss those little MM drains, install a BIG one with much larger hose and a BIG outlet and lose the balls. If you do have an issue with a following sea (not likely) put a proprietary flapper on the outlet, like a genset exhaust.

Funny how the builder fussed about water getting in but not getting it out. If you took water over the rail or the stern, you want it out asap.

 

[Dougcole]

I saw that on Stella Blue about expanding the holes in the cover, it's a good idea but I just leave my covers off entirely. It helps but they still drain slowly due to the check valve.

I like the idea of a bigger hose and drain, but that will require major surgery. I would like to pull the ball out of one of the three drains and see what happens. Problem is that I'll have to cut the ball into pieces to get it out. If it doesn't work I'm screwed.

 

[garmstro55]

I saw that on Stella Blue about expanding the holes in the cover, it's a good idea but I just leave my covers off entirely. It helps but they still drain slowly due to the check valve.

I like the idea of a bigger hose and drain, but that will require major surgery. I would like to pull the ball out of one of the three drains and see what happens. Problem is that I'll have to cut the ball into pieces to get it out. If it doesn't work I'm screwed.

If you do that Doug, take pictures for us.

Xsbank has a great point about wanting it to drain as fast as possible. I travel mainly in the Chesapeake and I don't anticipate taking in a lot of water from a wave, but just washing down the boat used to create a backup which has been somewhat improved by widening the holes.

 

[Dougcole]

I'm thinking the easiest way might be to pull the hose off of one of the scuppers, take it out and replace it with an open through hull. That way if water comes back in I can put the check valve scupper back in place.