Marelon Thru Hull Fittings

[pbr]

Originally Posted by Night_Sailor

That is assuming you are in a monohull. These are common in multihulls for the weight savings. In any case, how do you fair one in?

Most cruising cats have keels too. Again what kind of fairing are you referring to?

[savoir]

My marelon fittings only sit about 1/8" proud of the hull so I don't bother with fairing. They are 11 years old and remain faultless.

[Night_Sailor]

Originally Posted by pbr

Most cruising cats have keels too. Again what kind of fairing are you referring to?

I suppose it depends on how thick your hull is. I have bronze thru-hulls on my big boat and all you can see is the opening. They sit in a bevel and I just covered the top of the thru hull with fairing ten years ago when I faired the whole hull. Makes for a smooth very fair hull. The only way to improve it would be to go with a hard bottom paint, and I'm too old to do that work constantly.

If I think of it, I'll snap some photo's. I'm about to grind out three of these thru-hulls and move them. I'm repositioning my aft head forward a few feet to make space for a hanging wet locker, these have to be repositioned to more convenient locations. I'm way behind on working on it though. Berween breeding my dog, a back injury, and then back to back deliveries, I've lost a lot of time. The last delivery was difficult--the motor crapped out, and I had to sail it all the way back mostly by myself. The last job will pay for my new autopilot, but I lost a lot of time I can't regain this season.
In any event, modern boat hulls are too thin for faired-in thru hulls, although I suppose you could do it if you reinforced the laminate on the inside, although that might be a questionable choice and more trouble than they are worth I suppose. On an older hull that is inches thick it is a good idea.

I still don't like the idea of anything sticking out. And a piece of plastic could shear right off if it caught on something like a submerged shipping container. Plus I don't like the look of them. I have one that sticks out and it is really obvious compared to the others.

[pbr]

Originally Posted by Night_Sailor

I suppose it depends on how thick your hull is. I have bronze thru-hulls on my big boat and all you can see is the opening. They sit in a bevel and I just covered the top of the thru hull with fairing ten years ago when I faired the whole hull. Makes for a smooth very fair hull. The only way to improve it would be to go with a hard bottom paint, and I'm too old to do that work constantly.

If I think of it, I'll snap some photo's. I'm about to grind out three of these thru-hulls and move them. I'm repositioning my aft head forward a few feet to make space for a hanging wet locker, these have to be repositioned to more convenient locations. I'm way behind on working on it though. Berween breeding my dog, a back injury, and then back to back deliveries, I've lost a lot of time. The last delivery was difficult--the motor crapped out, and I had to sail it all the way back mostly by myself. The last job will pay for my new autopilot, but I lost a lot of time I can't regain this season.

In any event, modern boat hulls are too thin for faired-in thru hulls, although I suppose you could do it if you reinforced the laminate on the inside, although that might be a questionable choice and more trouble than they are worth I suppose. On an older hull that is inches thick it is a good idea.

I still don't like the idea of anything sticking out. And a piece of plastic could shear right off if it caught on something like a submerged shipping container. Plus I don't like the look of them. I have one that sticks out and it is really obvious compared to the others.

Actually you could fair in a Marelon thru hull like you have your boat, though I would never do it that way. Prefer to use a flush mount version and build up glass inside if necessary. The chances of catching the lip of the standard thru hull on debris and it sheering off, would be as likely as winning the lotto.

[leftbrainstuff]

Bronze or Marlon but nothing else.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[chris07732]

PO of my boat bedded the thru hull with 5200. Not sure that its a bad practice as the occasions to need to remove them is few and far between. What else does everyone use?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by chris07732

PO of my boat bedded the thru hull with 5200. Not sure that its a bad practice as the occasions to need to remove them is few and far between. What else does everyone use?

Polyurethane (3M 5200 & Sikaflex 291) is a good choice for bedding through-hull fittings.

[bcboomer]

Trudesign suggest recessing their thru hulls flush with the hull then epoxying them in place. Seems like a good idea and they become part of the hull.
Replacing them would require using a hole saw to bore them out but I can't see that ever happening.

Neil