Through Hull Replacement/Upgrade
Some of the plastic through hulls were deteriorating and had loose plastic on the interior surfaces. So I decided to replace all above water through hulls with stainless steel. How hard could that be?
After lots of price checking on the internet I decided to purchase Attwood fittings. The Maxum online parts guide was a great help in sorting out how many of each size were needed. 5 Days and $350.00 later I had a box of nice shiny new fittings.
Most were not too difficult to access, all of the ones accessed through the engine room were not too hard to get to as my engine is currently stripped down to the short block (new engine sitting in the garage).
However there were a couple on the starboard side that made things a little challenging. To access the sink drain in the head I had to remove the TP holder. When installed the factory seemed to spare no expense on the adhesive, I guess they concerned that I may try and tow the boat from this point. After some time I was able to get the darn thing out and reach the sink drain through hull. Then I found the real reason for the strong adhesive, they did not want me to know that they did not bother to put a clamp on the sink drain hose at the through hull.
The mid bilge pump and shower outlet are accessed through a access panel in the head storage compartment with almost enough room to get one hand in. See the photos, I could not get a photo that actually showed the hose clamps because of the limited room and angle. Getting the fittings out were easy, I broke both of them trying to pull the hoses off. Getting the new ones in was a little more challenging as the is not enough room to turn a wrench or pair of channel locks. I managed to hold the nut with a strap wrench while the first mate turned the fitting from outside the boat. Getting the hose clamps on was fun too as there is not enough room to get a screwdriver in and also turn it. Ended up using a ¼ inch drive ratchet and small socket to tighten the clamps, only dropped it once.
Now that this is done time to move on to the next easy project, getting the engine installed.
Included a couple of photos of some of the installed fittings.
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