Hi Karen, This is just one of the small compromises of owning a 17. I agree with most folks here that raising the cockpit floor or raising the seats would compromise too many other things. I do wish the cockpit well was half the size. But that's just me. I just try to sit forward as much as possible. On good days I close off the seacocks and then I only have to contend with the occassional burping up the centerboard line hole. I keep a large sponge and an empty Maxwell House coffee can to bail. I've minimized the amount of water that comes up from the centerboard by putting a hole in a plastic cap off a gallon ice tea bottle and sliding it down over the opening. It rides up and down easily with out hampering the raising and lowering of the centerboard. It catches most of the burps but not all. In warm weather I either wear easy draining close toe sandals or barefoot and in the winter I wear boots. Not a bad price to pay for all the other virtues of this fine boat. Joe SeaFrog M17 ----- Original Message ----- From: Karen Saville To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2012 8:46 AM Subject: M_Boats: Cockpit Drains We have a Montgomery 17, 2006, and when our boat is heeling or motoring the cockpit drains back siphon water into the cockpit. Are these one-way valves? And is it normal to back siphon or are these valves defective? Any help or answers would be appreciated!!! Thanks!