Keeping the cockpit dry
You may not have noticed, but there is a very smart system on the Saona to guide the water from the bunny deck cockpit overboard. At the top of the stairs leading to the bunny deck there is a small water tray where water from the upper cockpit is collected. It then drains through the two stainless tubes to the helm station floor. From there it drains on the starboard side eventually to the deck.
The design is quite smart but the execution in the boat is stupid. The reservoir top is glued onto the reservoir. So if the drain is blocked, it cannot be serviced. The solution is to cut the tray top free with a wire. Add two washers and a bit of sika and screw it back together.
We found that not all water from the upper deck runs to the upper cockpit floor. If the boat is slightly tilted forward of aft, it bypasses the cockpit floor and runs directly to the lower cockpit. We added two nylon strips left and right of the cockpit to force the water to run as intended.
Hello, thanks for sharing all these usefull information.
Could you please advice what kind of material are these strips and where did you find that kind of shape (curved on top). Are they on the market or hand made??
Thank you
I had them made by a machine factory. Use POM or Erthalyte. Don’t use Nylon as it will dry out in UV and get brittle.