I have 4" on mine and I'm right at the recommended minimum height.
Dave

Another thing- the cockpit floor in mine has 1/2" holes drilled in the corners draining to the bilge. I suspect that is endangering the balsa core, but it might be solid fiberglass in the very corners. I was planning on boring these out and instaling 1" PVC bonded in with epoxy or plexus. These 4 corner scuppers could drain to the bilge or could feed a small sump with its own bilge pump that sits atop the keel stringer.

The idea is to have adequate drainage to keep the cabin itself dry(ish). And to pump the water that gets there past a hard top and windshield overboard before it has to run all the way aft under a few bulkheads to get to a bilge pump.

Any thoughts? Especially with PVC scuppers/drains from topside to the bilge (not thru). I am not sure how strong a plexus or epoxy bonded in PVC pipe would be. I would slightly recess it below the deck height, but even so, I am concerned.

Drain holes go right through the balsa. A few of mine had allowed water into the balsa core, with some modest rot. Surprisingly(to me) the deck seemed completely solid from above, lots of glass, I guess. I filled the rotted out balsa with epoxy (it wasn't all that much), filled the holes with epoxy paste and redrilled them. Worked OK, but the hole diameter is a bit small now. Holes at least as big as original, or bigger would be better. One problem with the arrangement, the water drops from the holes straight into the bilge, a loong way from the stern access. Pretty much any solids that drop through with the water are going to be trapped in the hull. Give it time and that will be a lot of crud. Several owners have reported drainage problems, maybe related to inaccessible crud. Screens on the drains would be a good idea.

X2

Dave

My home depot plan goes from 1" drains thru to 1-1/4" hose. I really should have just turned the PVC down to make hose barbs on the lathe at work, but this is easier. And I think the socket welded 45 degree bend will be nice.

Her is what I did on mine. The two that sit on the outside of the cabin door threshold have screens. The two that are inside the cabin are bronze fittings epoxied flush with the deck. The balsa core was in good shape on my boat.

I would stay away from that corrugated hose. It gets brittle with age and breaks. Any solids that find their way down the drain will hang up in the corrugation. It will be difficult to support in a way that consistently drains. If it holds water, your arctic winters are going to freeze it and break it. Just sayin'.

Dave

Blue_Heron-
You have a good point about freezing the corrugated hose, I hadn't thought past the $11 a roll , vs. $3 a foot part.

I am of two minds on the strainers. I hadn't thought a lot about debris, more about the ability to drain away water quickly- hence the 1" diameter. If they do go to a small "settling tank" (and the debris sinks- it might not), then the settling tank has a slightly elevated bilge pump, then that might work without a screen. But a topside screen fixes most of this straight away. Except for leaves. Which both are vulnerable to.

I think I will keep looking. Or buy some schedule 80 PVC and make a deck fitting with a shoulder on it in the lathe.

Strick-

Thanks for documentation on demand! I really should take more pictures. I might also look for the screened drains on line at Jamestown or Hamilton next.

And never use it on your bilge pumps.

This is the cockpit- (I stitched together 2 cell phone photos so it is warped)
I need to remove some wet balsa and fill holes. I drilled them out to get rid of cracked glass and get access to soaked balsa core. I plan to foam fill and put "water putty", then vinyl ester, then gel coat.
You can see the track of the bilge hose out of the left corner, across the deck and out the port side. The 1-1/4" hose was reduced and put thru a 5/8" thru-hull!:eek:
Oh yeah, and they couldn't be bothered to remove the wood decking they put in the cockpit before splashing it with stain...