2300 Anchor Locker Bottom Plate Project

[gman1001]

This forum has/had me pumped to seal off the bottom of my anchor locker and install a drain to the exterior of the boat.

went out to measure so I can glass up a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to serve as the new base.

not sure if this will work as planned. My bow eye sits so low that the new base will hit the bow eye bottom bolt.

I could move the bow eye up a bit, bit now I’m thinking this has just become a low priority project.

the bill is a 98. Anyone else tackle this challenge?

see pic below. Sorry best I could do standing on the trailer and leaning over the bow with a clear in my belly.

 

[Andy]

This forum has/had me pumped to seal off the bottom of my anchor locker and install a drain to the exterior of the boat.

went out to measure so I can glass up a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to serve as the new base.

not sure if this will work as planned. My bow eye sits so low that the new base will hit the bow eye bottom bolt.

I could move the bow eye up a bit, bit now I’m thinking this has just become a low priority project.

the bill is a 98. Anyone else tackle this challenge?

see pic below. Sorry best I could do standing on the trailer and leaning over the bow with a clear in my belly.

View attachment 32294

Hi gman1001, this is a subject that's been talked about for years here on CP. In short, all (yes ALL, and on ALL boats), the anchor locker should be drained immediately, out of the bow (self-draining), without channeling the water all the way through the boat to the aft bilge pump. (Like we see is done on most (all?) Parkers (and other boats too) including our Parker 2525)....
It is basic common sense to divert/drain water in the anchor-rode locker OUT of the boat, FROM the anchor-rode locker.. It is a No-Brainer, and would be Sooooo easy to accomplish this when the boat is being built... and is Sooooo difficult to do 'after-the-fact'.... Our Parker is the only boat we have owned that does NOT do this. With our past boats, I could take a hose and clean the anchor-rode locker, and all the yuck-water would drain out of a 'drain-hole' (duh!) right there in the bow.... Why in the name of @$&%$* would you want to run all that 'yuck-water' all the way to the stern of the boat, hoping it does not create a clog somewhere, and contributing to mold and mildew throughout the boat, and THEN, PUMP it out 25 feet away!!! .... geeezzz, it makes no sense at all.... This is at least the 3rd time I've voiced this rant on CP... The lack of an anchor-rode locker-drain is one of the few 'bitch-points' I have about our Parker.

 

[Bodick93]

I did it. I used small powerful magnets to stick through the hull to orient inside to outside. I used a bronze 3/4" Groco through hull, and it stays high and dry. I'm sure the occasional water splashes in, but it goes right back out. I did it in early 2020, still perfect, no streak on the hull.
My hull was actually holding water! In other words, any water that went in the anchor locker would not drain. It was trapped by a foam "plug" that had pushed through and plugged the drain. Lots of pics, and the threads are linked.


https://www.thehulltruth.com/boatin...cker-drain-need-little-glass-help-please.html

 

[Bodick93]

Another thing I had considered was to securely plug the interior drain hole in some manner, put a strong port-low tilt on the trailer, followed by a quart or so pour of some "liquid transom" mix. When you returned the boat to level after curing, it would have a natural slope to the floor. Then you could use the magnets to properly locate your hole to the outside. Epoxy does get hot when pours are thick (not kidding, see pic in thread). But they pour 2" thick transoms all the time.

 

[Reefrunner]

On my 2520 I drilled a 1/2” drain hole in the hull covered by an aft facing small stainless clamshell vent on the outside. Glassed a shelf in the anchor locker that was angled towards the 1/2 drain hole. Dry bilge after all these years. Drilled the hole last spring finally got around to glassing in the shelf this past fall. Hardest part of the project was working thru the locker in the vberth. You can put your head thru the access and see what you need to see. You can put two arms thru the access but you can’t see. You can put one arm and your head but hard to do anything. In the end it was a one handed job sticking your head in occasionally to see how the hand was doing…... Made a simple project 3 x as long. Also put rubber plugs in the cabin floor drains. No need for dirt etc. to end up in bilge. Now my bilges are dry and clean. Boat itself feels dryer.

 

[Bodick93]

One thing I have discovered. For trailered boats that have an engine bracket, you can take a long thin cotton rag and place one end in the bilge and run the other end out hanging down a foot or so though the garboard drain. This will wick the bilge to dryness in less than a day (if you have any residual from a leaky floor hatch like I do). ( I keep meaning to order some lamp wick from Amazon...that would be ideal.).

 

[Andy]

One thing I have discovered. For trailered boats that have an engine bracket, you can take a long thin cotton rag and place one end in the bilge and run the other end out hanging down a foot or so though the garboard drain. This will wick the bilge to dryness in less than a day (if you have any residual from a leaky floor hatch like I do). ( I keep meaning to order some lamp wick from Amazon...that would be ideal.).

Hey Bodick93, Great idea! and it works well.. I've used that same 'technic' to drain water off a corner of the flybridge on our last boat that would not drain on it's own. It would have been hard/impossible? to put a real drain there, but the wicking-cotten-towel did did the trick!

 

[Bodick93]

I just ordered 3 rolls of lamp wick. It was 8 bucks total. I imagine it is going to work great. I had been using an old shirt tail. I put a swivel on the inside of my drain plug and attached it. The other end is in the bilge. I will need to install some sort of fixture to keep it on the bottom of the bilge.
Dry bilge with no power required. Sweet. I will post up when I get it figured out.

 

[Bodick93]

This setup emptied a little less than a half gallon in 3 very cool days (to dryness). During the summer, it would probably take a day. This is the wick I purchased off Amazon, 3/4" x3'. Here is the test I used to simulate standing water in the bilge with the wick hanging out the garboard drain:

 

[Bodick93]

This setup emptied a little less than a half gallon in 3 very cool days (to dryness). During the summer, it would probably take a day. This is the wick I purchased off Amazon, 3/4" x3'. Here is the test I used to simulate standing water in the bilge with the wick hanging out the garboard drain:

The wick from Amazon did not work in the boat, like it did in the jug. It didn't like the horizontal run I guess.
As soon as I put a piece of cotton T-shirt in the bilge and sent it out the drain the water started dripping. Unbelievable. Probably a drip every 5 seconds, not counting evaporation off the cotton.