Thru Hulls Falling Apart ÔÇô 1986 boat-gctid818095

[jmcajmca]

Last weekend I found that the 1-1/8" thru hull for my rear bilge pump had the outer flange missing/broken. Yesterday I went around the boat and checked on the other thru hulls. I touched the " thru hull for the front bilge pump and the outer flange came off with a very light touch. I am considering changing all the thru hulls at this time. Since the original plastic thru hulls lasted 30 years, I will just buy plastic replacements. Just want to share this with people with older boats so you can check the thru hulls on your boat also.

Joe

[boatworkfl]

I have had the same thing happen on my 3870, I changes all to Stainless steel, shop ebay for the best deals, just be sure of the size of the hose and the hole in the hull, you can go larger on the hull hole but not much smaller.

[Norton_Rider]

Plastic is OK as long as you use Marelon fittings. The material is UV stabilized and fiber reinforced. As a matter if fact, it is rated for underwater use.

[Solandri]

I went with chrome-plated bronze replacements (I think most "stainless steel" thru-hulls are actually chrome-played bronze). They're expensive, but the price difference between plastic and metal/marelon is almost negligible in the grand scheme of boat expenses. The cost of your extra labor and sealant replacing them after another 15-20 years is probably greater.

I went with marelon for the holding tank macerator thru-hull, because I didn't know what that crap (literally) would do to metal over the years. I noticed the metal holding tank vent is corroded whereas the metal fuel and water tank vents look pristine. Will probably go with marelon for the water drain thru-hull when I add a bait tank, because it's going to be seeing a constant stream of water.