Raw water through-hull location

[xavierlh1]

I just bought a 2005 B373, and as I was tidying the boat at the endof our first cruise, I realized that the raw water intake for the engine (as well as the through-hull for the dripless shaft seal) is located under the aft berth.

This location makes it unlikely that it will closed when the boat is unattended. I've always been taught to close all through-hulls when leaving the boat. Do you guys close your through-hulls? Have you considered moving these through-hulls to a more convenient location?

It seems there's plenty of space next to the engine battery in a very convenient location.

Thoughts?

 

[Weasel]

We have a 331 and our seacocks are located under the Aft-Berth as well. We also have an A/C raw water seacock located there as well. My wife HATE's the location of these valves! We have investigated 12VDC actuators, air actuators, and other possible solutions. My suggestion is to do what we did and cut a couple of holes in the plywood under the mattress , (the small covers, approx. 6" X 4" squares), can be reinstalled easily and allows "easier" access to the valves. We DO shut all seacocks whan we leave for the week. We also have softwood plugs tied to the valves in case of failure.
Email me and I will send you a drawing of what we did.

Fair Winds!