[Public-list] Cockpit drains above water line

[penokee at cheqnet.net]

On Wed Mar 14  8:15 , 'Mike Lehman' <sail_505 at hotmail.com> sent:

>Rachel,
>
>I do not know why you would go to all of the effort to do this. I have never 
>seen an A30 with cockpit drains above the waterline. Gate valves are a bad 
>thing and should be replaced. Moving the thru-hull fittings makes no sense. 
>These boats have survived, without problems, for 40 years. If the thru-hull 
>fittings are bad replace them. If the plywood backing plates are bad, 
>replace them too.

Mike,

As I mentioned, I am in the process of replacing the gate valves, backing plates,
and through-hulls, which is why I'm posting about it now.  While I agree that the
A-30 is a great boat, and has survived for 40 years as is, there are certainly
things that I would do differently (and the manufacturers might too, given
hindsight).  Now that I have the whole set-up out, I see no need to slavishly
duplicate it without considering changes or improvements.  I mean, I'm not
putting gate valves back in, so I'm already changing it from original.  I'm also
not changing just for the sake of change, or without forethought and research.

I hope this helps to explain why I might go to the effort of asking about a
potential change, and might even make a change in the end.

Rachel

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