Checking skin fittings

[Joe_Cole]

Various recent threads on skin fittings have got me thinking.

My boat is getting on for 20years old and I have no idea whether or not my skin fittings are the originals. On one of the other threads someone mentioned a "hammer test" (by which I assume he meant giving the things a hefty clout with a hammer).

In the past I've had a look at my skin fittings each year, but they are covered in anti fouling and I don't really know what I should be looking for.

How should I test/check my skin fittings?


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[john_morris_uk]

Surveyors use a hammer to tap and listen to the sound that hulls and fitting make. I suppose that they listen for the dull clunk of a fitting that has been eaten away by electrolytic action etc. This is backed up by more obvious visible signs. That said, I have removed skin fittings on several boats and discovered bolts that looked honest faling to pieces in my hands.

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[Joe_Cole]

Thanks, I'll try that.

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[alahol2]

Just got back from working on the boat, in the cockpit locker, put my foot against the nylon fitting that forms the outlet of the gas locker drain. It fell in two, it had sheared where it passes through the laminate, judging from the dirt on the break it had been split for quite a while. Just a bit of mastic between the sea and a flooded hull. I'd grab and shake every through hull to check it. I always try to tighten each bolt on through hulls every year, I reckon if it's corroding it will break.

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[Joe_Cole]

Isn't your gas locker fitting above the waterline?

The trouble with my fittings is that they are all secured with a single large nut. None of them have bolts. I'm wary of trying to loosen a darn great nut in case I loosen the whole thing and have difficulty tightening it up again. Maybe I should?

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[alahol2]

Yes, the gas exit is just above/on the waterline, but I reckon low enough to sink the boat if it were on the mooring for a week. I'd just try to tighten the big nut a bit, if it doesn't break off then it should be OK. You can also scratch the outside a bit, if you get bright yellow metal then it hasn't de-zincified, if it's orangey/red then it has.

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[Joe_Cole]

Mmmmmmmmnnn. Now I'm worried. I did scratch a couple of them last year just to see what they were like. They weren't bright yellow, but I put that down to them being bronze....though I wasn't sure.

I think that you've found me another job for this winter!

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[jfm]

Joe I think the hammer test means hitting with hammer, from the inside of the boat, to see if they snap off. Old bronze ones can go brittle and weak (dezincification?), and literally snap off with the hammer clout. This happened to my brother's boat, 20yrs old, so he replaced them all

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