Tools that work & Etc.

[ebb]

This indispensible tool comes from looking into one of C'pete's Links (Repairs and other stuff) on the Link Thread.

Want to draw your attention to a great adaption of a common socket tool to the how the hell do you remove the through-hull problem.

This comes from George de Witte of the Nepean Sailing Club.
What you do is find a socket wrench, the cup thingy, that fits snugly INTO the through-hull and cut a slot across the cup that will slip over the two lugs molded inside the bore.

With seacocks, using this adaption you will be able to back out the through-hull while leaving the seacock in place untouched. maybe it is damaged or needs recaulking. If you have ballcocks you need the wrench to hold the through-hull while you unscrew the fitting inside. Two person job.
Not to be ridiculous but the tool is useful if you are adding a new hole in your boat. It's a pretty big deal to mount a true flanged seacock properly. But once it is in place, you can take the time to turn the t'hull in - and take it out to trim it - until you get the length exactly right. Then turning it in a last time with caulk.*
A one man job. And theoretically you could do it with the boat in the water. Might want to close the seacock.

Cutting the slot into hardened steel socket is perhaps not the easiest thing.
George mentions a way he did it. I might try a plywood jig that a hand circular saw with a carborundum blade would slide in. You'd have to immobilize the socket in the jig. Maybe drill a hole hole slightly too small that you bung the socket into! I'm assuming that single passes of the blade in micro-depth increments would cut the groove and the groove would not be too wide. A friend with connections to a machine shop would be a good alternative. As they say: different sockets for different through-hulls - hopefully the same driver. 3/8" was suggested.

[Recently installed small 1/2" seacocks using a short length of modified 5/8" brass hex rod to turn the through-hull . A box end wrench was used to turn the fitting into the seacock through a bulkhead. The inside part of the hex rod was machined round to fit and long slots milled into the round sides to slip over the lugs. Being brass it was no problem to machine. But in this case, most of us would have to have it done by someone with a metal lathe. Had fairly long slots cut so that there would be more bearing surface when used to break the rubber caulk seal if the fitting had to be removed. The slots fit the lugs in the through-hull without too much slop, much like you'd want any wrench to. The through-hull is nylon. But the same would be good for a bronze fitting. The lugs are rather small and the more tool surface you get on them (by having longer slots) the better imco.]

Polysulfide has the rep for being the correct underwater caulk for the t'hull/seacock. It'd be more likely than polyurethane to allow mechanical sheering when it comes time to take it apart than 5200 or maybe the newer silicone/urethane** hybrids. It's just my feeling that p'sulfide stays elastic longer than p.urethane. T'hulls are notorious for being non-removable.

This seldom used socket alteration can live with the usual wrench collection aboard and therefor would always be found when needed.

This slotted plug idea has been given the coveted Five Star Seebee's Can-do Award.
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*If your flanged seacock is mounted on a nice backing plate that is epoxied or 5200ed permanently over the through-hull hole.... It seems possible to screw the t'hull in with old fashioned underwater bedding compound. The seacock should be waterproof with the through-hull removed. Much more civilized.
**Silicone/polyurethane hybrids (except for BoatLife's LifeSeal hybrid) are new enough in the states that not much is talked about them on forums. These hybrids supposedly stay flexible forever, never hardening. It might be easier to break a flexible seal rather than one that has hardened.