Replaced a through-hull, thanks to MaineSail

[ILikeRust]

Boat is a 1968 Pearson Wanderer 30.

The cheesy old fitting I removed:

I think the through-hull is the factory original; the ball valve is a standard big-box hardware store ball valve installed by the PO.
The exterior strainer:

Made a fiberglass pad - estimating how big the circle has to be:

Bandsawed out a circle:

Epoxied the pad into the hull (had to trim one side to allow space for the grounding lug - ignore the wire in the foreground - accidentally got a little epoxy on it):

The beefy new through-hull after installation:

OK, so I didn't get the Sikaflex quite as neat on the inside as shown in MaineSail's tutorial. I figured a bit too much was better than not quite enough. So a lot squeezed out when I screwed the fitting down. I don't think it's going to leak, in any case.

Also bought a nice Groco ball valve to go on the fitting, and will be getting a good-quality sea strainer to install between the through-hull and the engine.

Couldn't have done it and wouldn't have tried it without the great photographic tutorials.

Thanks!

 

[jibes138]

Just curious ILikeRust. Why did you decide to drill the three screw holes through the hull versus just tapping holes in the fiberglass pad you bonded in? my recollection of mainsails instructions I think show both methods. It seems like the tapped holes would be easier and eliminates a potential, but agreeably low probability leak path? I think the best would be to bond threaded inserts into the glass pad for the screws. This would be stronger than threads in the glass but location would have to be exact for alignment. Your installation looks fantastic , great job!

 

[jibes138]

Oh yeah, what is that little bronze screw next to your installation for? Looks like you took great pains to avoid that with your mounting pad shape but the exterior shot doesn't show it..

 

[ILikeRust]

I figured drilling all the way through would be the by-far strongest way to mount it, and with all that Sikaflex in there, I have no real concern that they'll leak. I squirted a goodly amount into each screw hole before shoving the screw through, and it extruded out the other end inside like toothpaste coming out of the tube. I figure the threads of each screw are completely filled and bonded with Sikaflex for the entire length of the hole.

Plus I just wanted to get the job done in as few steps as possible. But mostly I was looking for the strongest installation.

I will cover the countersunk screw holes with marine filler and they will disappear.

The little screw next to the pad is a grounding lug.