The latest trend on sailboats: the cockpit bathtub

[merttan]

I visited my old lady today... To face with a cockpit full of greenish water! The cockpit drain strainer apparently did his job to prevent dirt and leaves to clog the actual drain, however, managed to clog itself as well. The water emptied in the matter of minutes as soon as I cleaned the strainer's surface...
As I walked around the marina, I saw many other(if not all) dry docked sailboats' cockpits full of water...
I couldn't stop myself from thinking that the cockpit can fill with water when I'm on the water as well...
What do you guys use to prevent this?
I put a simple 1$ strainer on the drain to prevent the drain to get clogged, it works perfect, but if I'm not around the boat long enough the strainer gets cloged itself... I thought about a bilge pump type of setup there but that can also be cloged by debris...
So any ideas?

[sailingdog]

Well, the major difference is that if you're out on the ocean, there aren't a whole lot of leaves and such to clog the cockpit drains. What is necessary while on the hard or in a marina, isn't necessarily the case out at sea. Last I checked, the number of trees growing out past the three-mile limit was pretty limited.

Also, the cockpit drains on most bluewater boats are about 2" or larger in diameter, which are pretty difficult to clog. Most people I know with such boats have strainers over the drains to prevent small but necessary items, like house keys, from going overboard.

[Rockter]

Leaves will clog it. They are probably your worst enemy. When the boat is stored, maybe a big wire gauze strainer, cage-style, over the plug hole would help?

[Idiens]

Stop the leaves getting in the cockpit - fit a wheelhouse

[zz4gta]

Tarp over the cockpit. I had the same problem and had to powerwash my cockpit 3 times before I splashed her. When the boat is on the hard, or a trailer in my case, the water doesn't drain out of my drain holes. The water collects towards the companionway. However, actually sitting on the water, there is no such problem.

[Quickstep192]

I plan to use something like this next fall; modifying the hardware store variety downspout strainer to suit my drains. I think they'll be in the way when sailing, so I'll remove them when underway.