Plastic Classic Forum

Boy, what a stupid topic! "Galley sink drain"? What on earth could possibly be interesting or important about that?

If they did yours like they did mine, it's important.
The drain hose is mated to an ordinary domestic sink tailpiece. It's supposed to look like this.


That's fine, until it looks like this.

With the collar-nut left behind on the stem of the basket strainer.

Folks, I'm not at all exaggerating when I say that I grabbed it and ripped it clean off the sink with almost no effort whatsoever. This thing exists in the wide open space of the "galley module". What do you store in there? A loose bottle of booze rolling around in a seaway would have had no trouble exerting the same force.

And let's all remember that this connection is below the waterline a LOT of the time. (which is probably why the collar-nut corroded so badly)

I'm thinking I'll replace it with plastic.

I replaced my sink drain tailpiece with a cheesy plastic one for exactly the same reason: cheesy plastic may be cheesy but it doesn't corrode.

I found an all-plastic drain & tailpiece combo at Do It Best Hardware, but I'm sure most hardware stores have them.

I added a ball valve to my drain line a few inches down stream from the tail piece as a precaution. In a Renegade the bottom of the sink is probably never below the waterline (I have never notice water in the sink under any sailing condition), but if the end of the hose should break loose or the tail piece break off it may very well be. I use Sealand sanitation hose (I like the clean look of it) so I used a pvc ball valve with 2 Sealand hose adapters glued to it.

...and people wonder why I still think that ripping all this old junk out from the onset is the best approach!

"Out of sight, out of mind" is a great mantra until you realize what you haven't been seeing all that time! Then it's just scary. What lurks beneath the next hidden area, one wonders...

As much as some of us love these old boats today, remember that they were built quickly and inexpensively, and that no one ever anticipated the sorts of lifespans that are coming to pass. While Pearson can be forgiven for this sort of installation, those over the years who have ignored it and allowed it to deteriorate to this point cannot. But still, the overwhelming attitude seems to be: "Well, she floats today...she'll be floating tomorrow".

Until one day she's not. Most boats that sink, sink because of dumb things like this!

"Out of sight, out of mind" is a great mantra until you realize what you haven't been seeing all that time! Then it's just scary.

How true,

When I bought my Renegade back in 2005 (yes you read that right) I checked all the plumbing , thru hulls and seacocks except for the galley sink, which I was working on.

Last summer the boatyard picked up and launched my boat a few days early on me. I knew that I had not reattached the sink hose yet. Being cautious I went to the boat on my way home and found the bilge almost full (and I obviously had a problem with the new pumps I installed also). The culprit was the ball valve for the sink drain. Since the drainpipe was not attached and the connection was below the waterline the water was seeping quite quickly thru the failing ballvalve into the bilge. luckily the boat had been in the water for about five hours, when I caught it.

It never occured to me that this ballvalve would fail. It opened and shut perfectly and was not original to the boat. Amd being a ball valve I wouldn't try to rebuild it.

As much as some of us love these old boats today, remember that they were built quickly and inexpensively, and that no one ever anticipated the sorts of lifespans that are coming to pass.

The lesson is simple, when you buy an old boat, rip out the crap you are unsure of, especially if integrity the part cannot be ascertained upon inspection, as I almost had my boat sink because of a ten dollar ballvalve .

Figment
I believe you can get a schedule forty pvc threaded fitting to go on the drain. You might have to scrape the threads on the fitting with a pocket knife first. Then you can put in a barbed hose fitting. It's a little more solid that way. Actually I think you can get a female threaded to male barbed hose fitting and that might be an even better way to go. I can't remember what I did on my sink other than installing a seacock which I keep shut as water comes into the sink at high angles of heel.

Brock

Spooky.

Jamestown part number GRO-TP1500. That'll do.

How's this for a thread dredge?

Figment did you end up using the groco tailpiece? I've been searching for solutions other than slipping the hose over a thin walled tailpiece and have considered both the groco solution and the pvc barb glued into an adaptor. I don't know what type of threads are used on a sink drain. I bought a 1 1/2" pvc adaptor and it didn't want to thread onto the drain. I had a nut from a cheap plastic tailpiece and it screwed on easily. I don't know if the threads are different or if the thinner plastic was just more flexible allowing it to adapt more easily.

These drain fittings from Forespar are frequently a workable choice. The collar fits the 1-1/4" IPS threads on most standard drain fittings.

http://www.forespar.com/products/boat-m ... rain.shtml

Scandvik also makes this sort of adapter.

http://www.scandvik.com/index.cfm/metho ... ID/279.htm

Whatever you do, don't use those thin metal household-type tailpieces. Your instincts are correct.

Yes, I did use the bronze tailpiece.

And while I was at it (the most expensive words on earth), I installed a seacock for that drain.

The only difficult part was getting the hose to connect the tailpiece and the seacock, because there really isn't much clearance beneath the bottom of the tailpiece and the inside surface of the hull. I don't recall precisely HOW I did it, and don't have any pics, but I recall that I had to solder up something with a couple of copper elbows and a nipple to make the transition. Moving the hull penetration forward was also part of the solution, which had the additional benefit of putting the seacock handle within reasonable reach of the settee hatch.

I'm going to assume that the forespar fitting was not available three years ago, and I'll thank everyone not to correct me if I'm wrong on that. Looks like a handy solution.

On this subject people, I'm thinking of installing thru-hulls at slightly above the waterline for both my galley and vanity sinks ... anything wrong with that? They'll certainly be in the wash while sailing 'flat' but, only submerged proper when on a starboard tack.

Is your galley high enough that you can get your sink to drain and yet still have the discharge seacock above the static waterline? Usually it seems a challenge just to keep the sink bottom above the waterline.

If that is not a problem, here are a few other potential issues that come to mind:

1) Will the sink drain on the port tack? (Not sure how centered your sink is athwartships.)

2) Could it result in unsightly staining on your topsides/boot?

3) Gurgle/spitting while underway. I have had an above-the-waterline drain on a sailboat (but effluent was pumped up/out as sink was below the waterline, and that would have eliminated the chance for the issue I am about to mention). However on some powerboats I'm familiar with (they run at 8-16 knots though), the galley sink drain is right at the waterline amidships and, if not closed off, the drain makes an annoyance of itself by gurgling and spitting as you go along. I don't know if this would be an issue on a sailboat.

Rachel

To be honest Rachel, I'm not sure what difference there is between drain and water iine level. I will certainly make sure I know that before drilling any holes.