forespar thru-hulls

[Don Crowther]

Hello Main Sail

I looking a changing out my thru-hulls this spring. I've been looking at thru-hulls on SBO and came across these Forespar marelon seacocks. Have you ever used them? I'm on fresh water and only in it for 5 months of the year. Any opinon on them?

I've attached a couple of pictures of them.
Thanks

 

[Steve Dion]

Don:

Didn't MaineSail do a little article on these? I think they were scary!

 

[Don Crowther]

I did a search and nothing came up.

 

[Steve Dion]

Yup! Scary.

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=136999

of course this does NOT take into consideration the effects that corrosion would take on a bronze one. But looking at new vs new it looks like a bronze one is about twice as strong as Marelon.

 

[Don Crowther]

Thanks Steve

Yes I found it and it's very scary!!

 

[Maine Sail]

That "scary" test was for a valve on a thru-hull, which is scary in and of itself.

The Marelon series 93 / OEM series are very good valves. The key thing with them is that they MUST be purchased with the right thru-hull fitting. The take a very specific thru-hull fitting that is specifically designed for the Series 93/OEM seacocks. If you get the right thru-hull there is little to worry about with the Series 93/OEM valves..

 

[Don Crowther]

Mainsail
The valves I've been looking at come with the thru-hull attached. They don't say if they are series 93 or not. With these valves do you still need a backing plate?
thanks

 

[FastOlson]

Mainsail
The valves I've been looking at come with the thru-hull attached. They don't say if they are series 93 or not. With these valves do you still need a backing plate?
thanks

The newer "OEM" style Forespar valve assemblies come with a dedicated thru hull fitting.
Reportedly it is a "buttress" thread. They do NOT want these valves used with other pipe thread parts.
One reason is that, no matter how many times a written warning is enclosed, someone will start mixing metal and Marelon fittings.

I would note that since these composite thru hulls are easy to glass to, you could first epoxy on your new backing plate, then screw the inner and outer parts together with some epoxy on both mating parts...
Then grind off the round flange on the outside. The valves are built to be disassembled from the inside, BTW, should you ever need to do so.
You end up with a minimal-resistance hull opening and a thru hull that's as strong as the hull itself.
We made this change back in '02. They work fine.

There is a picture of one of ours in this short thread.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?551-New-Strainer-amp-Thruhull&referrerid=28
And an additional pic is attached.
Cheers,
Loren

 

[Stevep]

Step wrench for series 93 through hull

That "scary" test was for a valve on a thru-hull, which is scary in and of itself.

The Marelon series 93 / OEM series are very good valves. The key thing with them is that they MUST be purchased with the right thru-hull fitting. The take a very specific thru-hull fitting that is specifically designed for the Series 93/OEM seacocks. If you get the right thru-hull there is little to worry about with the Series 93/OEM valves..

Does anyone know which (if any) "step wrench" will fit a series 93 1 1/2" through hull fitting? Is a special "marelon" wrench required? thanks very much Steve