Need to seal my thru hulls..... any suggestions?

[Bob]

I would like to plug my old head seacocks. For legal reasons, the head was removed before I bought it. What would the best way to seal these thru-hulls?

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

Head removed for legal reasons?

There's no legal reason whatever to remove a toilet, only to secure it against direct overboard discharge...which can be as simple as closing the seacock and removing handle, or if you're NEVER gonna use it, just removing the head discharge hose altogether. If you're sure you'll never want to install another toilet, and if you're absolutely certain that you'll keep this boat for more than a 2-3 years, the best thing to do is remove the thru-hulls and glass over the holes. Otherwise, put plugs in 'em, close the seacocks and remove the handles, and attach and secure a length of hose to each one that's well above the waterline in case the plug fails.But before you do anything...WHY do you want to do it? What size is the boat?

 

[Bill Ebling]

Pipe cap

I saved the thru hull.When I purchaced my H31 the head sea-discharge plumbing had already been removed by a previous owner. The head only connected to the holding tank, and the holding tank only connected to the deck pump-out deck fitting. However, the previous owner left the below-water discharge thru hull and the protruding frozen stock gate valve in place. For safety reasons I removed the useless gate valve from the thru hull (while the boat was out of the water of course) and capped the thru hull with a bronze pipe cap from WM (caulk the threads well before seating). Two years later I started to use the boat on occasion well off shore so I pulled the pipe cap and installed a proper seacock on the original thru hull. The boat was replumbed for sea discharge. By saving and capping the thru hull I did not have to patch a hull hole and than later create another.You may never know when you my need an extra thru hull (wash down pump?, air conditioner? emergency scuttling?).Bill EblingYesterday's Dream1985 H31Crab Alley BayKent Island, MD.