Roger Long wrote:
Drains above the waterline are also much less prone to clogging. The
floating stuff goes right through instead of building up into a mat at
the water level.

You should close the seacocks on below water hoses when leaving the
boat so that means coming back to water (and slime if its been a long
time) in the cockpit.

Are you sure your cockpit really drains forward? Sometimes builders
just put the drains there because it is easier. A good arrangement is
drains straight back through the transom. You can get through hulls
with flappers to prevent back surge and there are special drains to
install low for complete drainage.

With a Ranger 26 it only has to rain about three inches and the cockpit
would drain down into the boat. I wouldn't leave my boat with the
drains closed.