Chain Locker Drain

There is no outside chain locker drain on my boat, a 42' OA Sedan. Also, I can find no evidence of the locker draining to the bilge either. I haven't pulled all the chain out of the locker so I can't confirm as to whether or not there is an exit at the bottom of the pile. Does anyone who has a 42 in the 20000-2007 years no the answer to this?

We don't have an OA, but our GA lockers drain into a manifold that dumps it out the side of the boat, about midship. Could that be the same for you?

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s42/chain-locker-drains-32277.html


for $3 get one dri-dec cut to fit bottom

Codger2 said:

There is no outside chain locker drain on my boat, a 42' OA Sedan. Also, I can find no evidence of the locker draining to the bilge either. I haven't pulled all the chain out of the locker so I can't confirm as to whether or not there is an exit at the bottom of the pile. Does anyone who has a 42 in the 20000-2007 years no the answer to this?

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I'd suggest that at the dock, you just drop the anchor and all the chain right in your slip. Then you can look at the bottom of your locker and see what is there. It also gives you a good opportunity to rinse out the locker and then use the dock hose to rinse the chain and you haul it back in.

The drains in my Eastbay 47 weren't obvious on the inside. Just some glassed-in holes leading to scuppers out on the side of the hull. Lots of fine crud had accumulated, blocking them. I had to blast water in from the outside to get them to clear. Once clean I put some Dri-Deck tile down on the floor of the locker to leave some room for crud to get washed away, rather than the chain just piling up, blocking it.

Dump all the chain... but BE SURE TO BE LOOKING in the locker when you get near the end. Make sure the rode has some sort of attachment, and that it's in good shape. Mine has some really tired looking 3/8" line which I'm sure would have parted immediately had I paid out all the chain. I'm debating the idea of using some floating poly line when I replace it. With the idea being if I have to lose the chain then at least there'd be some floating line attached to it for potential retrieval later.

wkearney99 said:

Dump all the chain... but BE SURE TO BE LOOKING in the locker when you get near the end. Make sure the rode has some sort of attachment, and that it's in good shape.

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Thanks for that reminder Bill. I should have mentioned that.

I knew to look for it when I started, but as it got to the end I was, like, holy sh!t that would have been a VERY annoying surprise had it broken and gone overboard!

On my OA the chain locker had a removable bottom. It was cut away a little at the corners so it would drain into the bilge. Not sure whether other OA models employed the same idea, but I did not like it. Despite washing the chain as it came over the bow roller there was always a bit of mud still on the chain and eventually it builds up in the bilge.

When fitting a new windlass with a larger size chain, and a longer length or chain, we lowered the locker floor to about a foot above the waterline and glassed it in place. Then put an small hole to drain overboard with a clamshell on the outside. I can almost stand upright in the locker now.

I would not want it draining into the bilge because of the potential smells. In a previous boat I glassed the bottom in and put a hole through the hull side with a clamshell as mentioned above.

Check there isn`t already a drain blocked by mud. My previous boat had a massive anchor locker which wasn`t draining. I stood in it using a water blaster and under the mud found 1'' high diamond pattern rubber matting laid over the "floor". Finding and clearing the drain to the outside of the hull, I blasted the mud etc out.Very satisfying.

Codger2 said:

There is no outside chain locker drain on my boat, a 42' OA Sedan. Also, I can find no evidence of the locker draining to the bilge either. I haven't pulled all the chain out of the locker so I can't confirm as to whether or not there is an exit at the bottom of the pile. Does anyone who has a 42 in the 20000-2007 years no the answer to this?

Click to expand...

I can't imagine a boat of any size not having an anchor locker drain. You really should empty your locker once a year and check your chain as part of your regular boat maintenance.
If that is too much trouble, you could put a hose in it and see where the water comes out. But if its never been cleaned out, it's probably clogged up and will just fill with water.

My anchor locker drained into the bilge. Previous owner wasn't good at cleaning off the mud and salt. As a result, the salt attacked the chain at the bottom eating the galvanizing and pitting the last 50' which had to be cut off. After cleaning the locker, I was able to plumb it in a continuous downward slope to the shower and sinks sump tank. While I do end for end the chain when in the boatyard, I now fresh water down the chain several times a year in the locker. Very nice to have it drain in the sump as opposed to the bilge.

Ted

Codger,

Our 456 drains into the bilge.

This is the drain that I found on the Nordic Tug after emptying the locker and vacuuming out ~ 6 inches of rust. The drain was also clogged with rust. Luckily I payed out the chain on land because the rode was not attached to the boat. After cleaning it and flushing the drain I found it drains into the bilge.

We also replaced the old and very rusty anchor chain.

The chain locker on our OA 440 has a thick (removable) plywood false bottom with a chunk of dense styrofoam like material over that (cushions the impact). A roughly 1.5 inch diameter drain/hose runs high along the port side of the hull from the void under the false floor "sump" to the main gray water drain pipe that services the sinks in the two heads, the shower drains and one of the deck drains. Nothing (including the AC condensation) drains into the bilge. I'd expect that your newer boat uses a similar arrangement. On our 440 the hose is visible behind the top drawers under the port side V-berth. Look for the big drain pipe for your sinks and then work your way forward. I'd bet you'll find the hose connection.

I did have a problem last year when the sealant behind the connector exiting the chain locker sump began to leak (water on the V-berth floor). The fix involved pulling all the chain onto the dock so I could remove the flase bottom and access/reseal the drain exit fitting. Should be good for another 25 years.