If you have lockers in your bathing platform - check them !

I have a Fairline squadron 58 and there are two lockers of approximately 1 m² and about 20 cm deep on the bathing platform.

I noticed some water so lifted the tender and opened the hatches. They were full of water and my estimation would hold about 200 kg of water each right at the back of the boat - do some 400kg.

They were bunged up with Pineneedles et cetera. I've now drained them. I have no idea how long they have been full of water for so if your manufacturer was daft enough to include storage in a bathing platform that is always wet as well , you might want to check that they are actually empty

Got one of these lockers on our boat, what are they intended for? as they are always potentially wet they seem of limited use, can't even get a fender in mine

We keep our bridle ropes and mooring buoy strop.

The problem is that on the SQ58 and many others, because the tender sits on top of them they can only be accessed when its launched, so they are not very practical and therefore unused! I am guilty too of only ever lifting them a couple of times, luckily they were empty!

Chris_d said:

Got one of these lockers on our boat, what are they intended for? as they are always potentially wet they seem of limited use, can't even get a fender in mine

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Our last boat had these, we used to keep water toys, inflatables, pool noodles, snorkel and mask etc in them, essentially all the stuff you use when messing about in the water.

I like to keep a green/brown seaweed-like substance in mine, with some water sloshing around at the bottom.

julians said:

Our last boat had these, we used to keep water toys, inflatables, pool noodles, snorkel and mask etc in them, essentially all the stuff you use when messing about in the water.

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But they will be mouldy and yucky from being wet all the time !

jrudge said:

But they will be mouldy and yucky from being wet all the time !

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We didn't find that, but maybe it depends on the design of the locker, ours had pretty big drain holes so never stayed full of water.

jrudge said:

I have a Fairline squadron 58 and there are two lockers of approximately 1 m² and about 20 cm deep on the bathing platform.

I noticed some water so lifted the tender and opened the hatches. They were full of water and my estimation would hold about 200 kg of water each right at the back of the boat - do some 400kg.

They were bunged up with Pineneedles et cetera. I've now drained them. I have no idea how long they have been full of water for so if your manufacturer was daft enough to include storage in a bathing platform that is always wet as well , you might want to check that they are actually empty

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One of the things that really bugs me with our Fairline is the internal diameter of the drains, I tend to check and clean ours out a few times a year, another is the lack of wind protection on the fly bridge, not a problem for you peeps in warmer climates,

SC35 said:

I like to keep a green/brown seaweed-like substance in mine, with some water sloshing around at the bottom.

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Purchased a Princess 35 from Wales many years ago.
When being lifted off the road transport crane driver shouted out of his cab window as to what the boat was supposed to weigh ? as it seemed a bit heavy. !
During the immediate post purchase euphoria, undertook the compulsory investigation of all the nooks crannies lockers on the boat, to find if anything interesting or more importantly, valuable, has been left aboard forgotten by the previous owner.
The space under the lazarette was full of water from the bottom of the bilge to just under the floor of the lazarette.
It has obviously been there for ever, a technical "digit test" proved to be freshwater ? .
Took about 30-40 goes with a wet n dry vac to empty.
Being keen at the time did fit a little bilge pump with a PITA exit pipe , shame never got round to providing it with 12 volts.

Chris_d said:

Got one of these lockers on our boat, what are they intended for? as they are always potentially wet they seem of limited use, can't even get a fender in mine

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This is what I use mine for.



Floating rope - in the right place to use straight away when tying back to the rocks.

My locker has a similar drain to the one mentioned above so I can see how it might get blocked but mine has stayed clear.
My locker also has a drain channel around the edges so water doesn't usually get into the locker.

We used to put the garbage bags inside of no sight of land. Then of course the tender goes on top and after a while at our age the mind drifts and one forgets. Until the smell starts to emerge!!!!!

I ll stick with the KIS principle. It’s all about the design .
No veneer on err BTW ,Solid planks those .


No cassette passerelle sensor hassle either requiring another inevitable big buck bill.

You can learn a lot dock watching

Portofino said:

I ll stick with the KIS principle. It’s all about the design .
No veneer on err BTW ,Solid planks those .

View attachment 175608View attachment 175609
No cassette passerelle sensor hassle either requiring another inevitable big buck bill.

You can learn a lot dock watching

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Your transom ladder combined with the swim ladder looks difficult.....how do you climb them when they are folded together ?

Bouba said:

Your transom ladder combined with the swim ladder looks difficult.....how do you climb them when they are folded together ?

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Like any other ladder .There are higher hand rails which you instinctively seem to grab ….if that helps .
You toes feel a rung .

With the passerelle, we don’t really go down there , and when we do it’s usually @ anchor and the ladder is dumped in the sea any how ….plus tender dumped using the very easy pass crane .Pass is then moved almost vertical.
Note the lower ram leg does NOT touch the platform either , it’s transom fixed .Also it’s pipage is inside the ram so no ugly yellow pipes as well .What’s not to like ?

Portofino said:

Like any other ladder .There are higher hand rails which you instinctively seem to grab ….if that helps .
You toes feel a rung .

With the passerelle, we don’t really go down there , and when we do it’s usually @ anchor and the ladder is dumped in the sea any how ….plus tender dumped using the very easy pass crane .Pass is then moved almost vertical.
Note the lower ram leg does NOT touch the platform either , it’s transom fixed .Also it’s pipage is inside the ram so no ugly yellow pipes as well .What’s not to like ?

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But to plug in your shore cable you need to raise the passerelle, drop the swim ladder in the water...then climb down the transom to get to the transom socket

Bouba said:

But to plug in your shore cable you need to raise the passerelle, drop the swim ladder in the water...then climb down the transom to get to the transom socket

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Why ?

The thing with the swim ladder up is just a ladder with extra rungs .It’s clipped so doesn’t deploy .
You can reach kneeling from the sun pads to connect the shore power once it’s been walked on .
It’s at the stb side as the shower faucet is port side …just right of the ladder ,So when you climb out the faucets handy .Makes sense to avoid mixing leccy and water .

In the marina the passerelle is set to get on / off and stays there .


Just walk on / off ^



Handy to get the dog off

Dogs love passerelles...

jrudge said:

if your manufacturer was daft enough to include storage in a bathing platform that is always wet as well , you might want to check that they are actually empty

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I'm not sure I'd blame the manufacturer for the bathing platform lockers per se. It's rather their design, that doesn't sound logic.
I didn't notice those lockers in the few Sq58 that I viewed before buying my current boat, but pretty sure they have hull underneath, as it happens with all boats with no hi-lo platform, right?
And if that is the case, why on earth did they make any drains in them, I wonder?
I mean, if there are drains, it necessarily means that their bottom is above the w/line.
But I can't think of any logical reason for not making them as deep as possible, i.e. almost down to the hull bottom.
Of course, the implication is that it's impossible to drain them by gravity alone, but it's not like fitting a bilge pump is a big deal.

Just as an example (which I don't think I showed you when you've been onboard my boat), below you can see the massive locker that I've got under my swim platform.
That's similar to what also Ferretti did, before jumping on the de rigueur hi-lo platform bandwagon, and it was designed to hold even a stand-up jetski.
Now, you say that the two lockers in the Sq58 can hold 200L each, but as much as this can sound a lot, it's just a fraction of the capacity of my locker below.
I never measured it, but my guess is that it's not very far from 2k liters.
In fact, the whole thing was designed as an additional flotation reserve, being an additional w/tight compartment, on top of the other 4 the rest of the boat is designed for.
Not sure of how noticeable that is in the pic, but there's a (white) rubber seal all around the locker border, and the large cover is held in place by two handles pressing it against that perimeter seal.
As a result, even if of course it's not the driest part of the boat, I've yet to run its bilge pump for anything else than checking if it works as it should.
And if for any reason the locker should flood, I'd be warned by the bilge pump alarm.
So, in a nutshell, I'd call it a problem that doesn't exist.
Not that I don't have others, obviously!

Portofino said:

I ll stick with the KIS principle. It’s all about the design.

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If there's one thing that did NOT trigger that design back in the days, it's the KIS principle.
Most builders used that in sportboats because it was the cheaper way to fit a decent platform to an existing hull mould, nothing else.
In fact, in hindsight, it's reasonable to call that solution the worst of both worlds, because you neither get the undeniable convenience of a hi-lo platform, nor the longer hull that you get with non-overhanging platforms.
I guess you can call it a classic though, I'll give you that.