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Sea Chest - Are they good? What are your thoughts

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by StillLearning, Apr 20, 2023.

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  1. StillLearning, Apr 20, 2023
    #1
    StillLearning

    StillLearning Member

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    Title pretty well sums it up. I have never owned a boat that had sea chests.

    Are they beneficial? How would you describe the benefits.

    Would you pay more for a boat that had sea chests?

    Thank you
  2. Capt Ralph, Apr 20, 2023
    #2
    Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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  3. StillLearning, Apr 20, 2023
    #3
    StillLearning

    StillLearning Member

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    thank you for the link - I had searched but didn't pick this up.
  4. Capt Ralph, Apr 20, 2023
    #4
    Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Search for sea chest. This brings up every time that phrase has been used.
    More comments come up from other threads.


    Screenshot 2023-04-20 at 12-38-22 Search Threads and Posts YachtForums We Know Big Boats!.jpg
  5. DOCKMASTER, Apr 20, 2023
    #5
    DOCKMASTER

    DOCKMASTER Senior Member

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    To have or not have a sea chest depends on the type of vessel and the lay out of systems. If you have a boat or ship where everything is in the engine room then a sea chest makes sense. But for something like my 54' Sportfish I wouldn't want a sea chest. I have equipment and systems that need raw water and/or discharge in the lazarette, engine room and fwd mechanical spaces under the passageway. I would need piping running all over the place. Much easier and less complicated to just put a thru-hull where you need them.
  6. Pascal, Apr 20, 2023
    #6
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I don’t care much about intake sea chest but o like discharge sea chests. Hatteras used to do that back in the days, I have 5 of them along the hull sides. They re just like half pipes built into the fiberglass with a single discharge at the water line. No streaks on the hull, don’t see a bunch of holes all over the hull sides.

    Down side is that you can’t see each discharge like to view flow out of eaxh AC and the bottom hole needs to be big enough for everything connected to each sea chest.
  7. StillLearning, Apr 21, 2023
    #7
    StillLearning

    StillLearning Member

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    Thank you all for the input.

    It's not like I am able to pick out a boat based on whether it has a sea chest or not. It seems like some manufacturers have them, some don't. Just trying to educate myself a bit. Should I embrace? Should I run? Should I simply shrug my shoulders and say ok...
  8. Pascal, Apr 21, 2023
    #8
    Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I think…. “Whatever” is the correct answer. There are far more important things to consider like drink holders, flat screen TVs, and fancy styling :)
    JadePanama, rtrafford and Fishtigua like this.
  9. Capt J, Apr 21, 2023
    #9
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    You don't not want a seachest with the a/c pump pulling off of it. It becomes a huge mess of barnacles which is a MF to clean out.
  10. rtrafford, Apr 22, 2023
    #10
    rtrafford

    rtrafford Senior Member

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    Agreed. This should not be a reason to buy a boat. It likely should not be a reason to avoid buying a boat. It's just a thing.
  11. JWY, Apr 23, 2023
    #11
    JWY

    JWY Senior Member

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    For appropriate vessels, I consider sea chests to be a positive feature. In addition to ease of cleaning strainers, I would assume the less holes in your boat, the better...
  12. StillLearning, Apr 23, 2023
    #12
    StillLearning

    StillLearning Member

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    Is this because of the constant water flow pulling in water all the time?
  13. leeky, Apr 23, 2023
    #13
    leeky

    leeky Senior Member

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    U.S. Navy submarines use sea chests for that reason and also there are fewer places to look for leaks.
    Capt Ralph likes this.
  14. captholli, Apr 23, 2023
    #14
    captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    The vast majority of vessels with sea chests employ electrolytic anti fouling systems in the sea chests to keep them free from hard growths such as barnacles, mussels etc. Cathelco is the major player in this arena and they've been producing sea chest systems for over 40 yrs. now. Other options for sparkling clean sea chests would be dosing systems using a chlorine generator converting sea water into sodium hyper chloride to low and slow dose like the Electro Sea systems being marketed with proprietary sea strainers primarily in the sport fish market now.
  15. Capt J, Apr 23, 2023
    #15
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Yes.

    None of the boats I dealt with, with seachests had anything to prevent growth. I don't see many new yachts with seachests, but I don't step on too many new yachts over 100' either.