Seacocks and Skin Fittings/Thru Hulls

[RJJ]

Any tips on source of wooden bungs? Clearly for this purpose, and also for emergency purpose, we only need a couple of sizes; I am struggling to find them except in sets of 6-8 where only two are useful.

[Poey50]

Although plastic offers many attractive features and i can see the benefits, I am still not 100% convinced of their longer term reliability. There are stories about them snapping, which just backs up my instinct about using plastic. Perhaps they really are much better than DZR, but I am happy to stick with the tried & tested this time around.
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TruDesign are a glass-reinforced nylon composite. I've just fitted a second and, frankly, will not now use anything else. Marelon ones had some previous problems of handles snapping.

[NormanS]

Any tips on source of wooden bungs? Clearly for this purpose, and also for emergency purpose, we only need a couple of sizes; I am struggling to find them except in sets of 6-8 where only two are useful.

As a practical boat owner, I am speechless. Sorry.

[Rogershaw]

Pipe threads come in tapered or parallel.

Internal pipe threads in pipe fittings are generally all parallel but external threads can be either parallel or tapered.

A tapered external in a parallel internal thread can be tightened a but more to get the orientation of the fitting correct.

With parallel threads in to parallel threads unless you one to the end (bottom) of the thread it will not lock in that position.

One way is to ue a lock nut the other is to adjust the bottom position by filing/grinding the bottom (locking) position to get the correct( required) orientation. This is the way I prefer but does need a little work/skill.

[Rogershaw]

As a practical boat owner, I am speechless. Sorry.

If RJJ cannot make some from some scrap wood lying around, he could get some rubber stoppers from a local lab supply company.

https://www.google.co.za/search?q=ru...w=1517&bih=640

[asteven221]

Any tips on source of wooden bungs? Clearly for this purpose, and also for emergency purpose, we only need a couple of sizes; I am struggling to find them except in sets of 6-8 where only two are useful.

I had a bag of mixed bungs and only 2 fitted, so I went into the chandlers for some more bags. At £7 a bag I thought sod that, so I got my sanding machine out and sanded them down as required. I found the softwood bungs can be a bit soft and you can easily drift of centre when drilling. I had a brush handle so cut that up for bungs. That was much better as the wood was harder, thus drilling was easier to control. When banging the bungs into the thru hulls it doesn't matter if the bung isn't a perfect circle as long it's in the hole sufficiently so that when you saw the excess off it is close to being a circle. All you need to do is make sure your pilot hole is dead centre of the thru hull hole.

[bobgarrett]

TruDesign are a glass-reinforced nylon composite. I've just fitted a second and, frankly, will not now use anything else. Marelon ones had some previous problems of handles snapping.

I had similar comments "why would you trust a plastic through-hull?" when I went for Trudesign. My reply was "well it's a plastic boat". As said, they are glass reinforced so the same as the hull. The only downside I can see is that they are physically larger for the same diameter so you do need a little more space around them.

[penberth3]

As a practical boat owner, I am speechless. Sorry.

A good chance to get some practice with the carpenter's hand axe!

[Graham376]

I had similar comments "why would you trust a plastic through-hull?" when I went for Trudesign. My reply was "well it's a plastic boat". As said, they are glass reinforced so the same as the hull. The only downside I can see is that they are physically larger for the same diameter so you do need a little more space around them.

An upside is that they still move with one finger even after months of being in one position, whereas dzr or bronze can get quite stiff if not regularly used.

[Poey50]

As a practical boat owner, I am speechless. Sorry.

Fremdschamen-das-boot-nicht-praktisch - feeling in sympathy with someone being shamed for not being practical enough on a practical boat forum.