Hose clip failure

  • Thread starter Thread starter TQA
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vyv_cox said:
This post contains the faintest glimmer of truth but if you would like to know how wrong you are I can recommend some reading. It's a book called Metals in Boats, by a metallurgist named Vyv Cox.
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Nine quid from Amazon - what a bargain. Ordered! Who is this Cox guy anyway?
 
TQA said:
11 Years ago my boat was the subject of a no expense spared major refit. All hoses and hose clips were replaced. A substantial supply of spare clips formed part of the inventory when I bought her.

In the past 5 years 1 to 3 clips have failed each year. Not because they were over tightened or seized they just broke in silence and secretly.

This morning I came across another.

So all clips and most hoses are getting replaced.

Does anyone have a particular make or type of clip that is to be recommended.

If you have any hose clips of the type MURRAY made in the USA I would replace them with another make.
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I replace a lot too every year. Mine are now all 316 stainless, including the worm, but that even is not good enough. I buy the solid band type, not the perforated band as you have. In some areas I have the T bolt type, which are beefier. They all still fail. Alternatively, keep salt out of the boat and if you can’t, as I can’t, then get titanium hose clips. Five times the price, which is pretty ridiculous, but they probably won’t fail ever. It’s maybe a case of ship and ha’penny of tar. I haven’t taken my own advice yet, so no experience to offer.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Now there's weird. I bought it at £9.53, new, hardback, free delivery (Prime) just before 2pm and now, just after 8pm, it's up to £22.50 for the same thing.
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£22.50 is the official marked price. I believe that the cheaper ones sold by the likes of Amazon are review copies sold on when reviewing is complete.

Incidentally the review in my professional magazine for Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining scored it 10/10, best I have ever seen.
 
vyv_cox said:
£22.50 is the official marked price. I believe that the cheaper ones sold by the likes of Amazon are review copies sold on when reviewing is complete.
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I shall inspect it with interest when I get my hands on it. There was no sign of anything out-of-the-ordinary on Amazon when I bought it, ie it wasn't listed as second-hand, or a return.
 
Zing said:
I replace a lot too every year. Mine are now all 316 stainless, including the worm, but that even is not good enough. I buy the solid band type, not the perforated band as you have. In some areas I have the T bolt type, which are beefier. They all still fail. Alternatively, keep salt out of the boat and if you can’t, as I can’t, then get titanium hose clips. Five times the price, which is pretty ridiculous, but they probably won’t fail ever. It’s maybe a case of ship and ha’penny of tar. I haven’t taken my own advice yet, so no experience to offer.
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Why are your hose clips failing?
I don't see hose clips failing very often in anyone else's boat. You get the odd one that rusts solid and is a bugger to undo, but it keeps doing its job. And that's on an open boat where the hose clip was immersed in bilge water half the time.
Perhaps you have lots of hose that is the wrong size for the fittings?
Or your hoses are under stress?
 
Looking at the rust on the hose clip and the lost metal to corrosion it would appear it’s been sat in salt water for most of its life, frankly I am surprised it has lasted so long. Salt water inside a hull can have a higher salinity due to evaporation.
It does not appear to be galvanised.
its done it’s job, clean out your bilges and keep them dry.
 
lw395 said:
Why are your hose clips failing?
I don't see hose clips failing very often in anyone else's boat. You get the odd one that rusts solid and is a bugger to undo, but it keeps doing its job. And that's on an open boat where the hose clip was immersed in bilge water half the time.
Perhaps you have lots of hose that is the wrong size for the fittings?
Or your hoses are under stress?
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If it rusts solid it has not got long for this world. The cheaper ones have non stainless worms and fail quicker.

Sea water is the killer. If they get wet regularly then they die, or if the salt remains it’s the same. I have a few wet areas that cause most of my problems. I see sea water and imagine concentrated hydrochloric acid. It focuses the mind. It also helps you stay on the boat.
 
lw395 said:
Why are your hose clips failing?
I don't see hose clips failing very often in anyone else's boat. You get the odd one that rusts solid and is a bugger to undo, but it keeps doing its job. And that's on an open boat where the hose clip was immersed in bilge water half the time.
Perhaps you have lots of hose that is the wrong size for the fittings?
Or your hoses are under stress?
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All the failures occurred in the slotted part of the clip. No rhyme or reason to the failure pattern. No flooding with salt or fresh. But the boat has been in commission in the Caribbean for 10 years so a salty marine environment with high humidity. Little or no rust on the slotted part of the clip so this might be stainless, but plenty on the worm. I suspect if I was to crack test all the remaining clips I would find small cracks starting from the slots.

Hoses are the correct size for the fittings.

I am planning to replace my clips with JCS Hi-Torque Hi Grip clips which do not have slots and the worm is stainless.
 
I suspect stress-corrosion cracking, although the temperature is lower than is normally recognised for this failure. Certainly the stress level will be high in this perforated type of construction and the chlorides will be concentrated by evaporation, a common condition for the problem. More info on the website.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I shall inspect it with interest when I get my hands on it. There was no sign of anything out-of-the-ordinary on Amazon when I bought it, ie it wasn't listed as second-hand, or a return.
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The book arrived this morning, in perfect new condition. If it was a review copy, the reviewer hadn't read it, because it made that little creaking noise which books make once and once only when opened for the first time.
 
I think Amazon sometimes reduce the price of things because they're taking up shelf space.

If you use sites like PriceSpy then you'll often see that the lowest prices don't last very long. I once bought a socket set that was 40% below its usual price, an all-time low, and noticed the next day that the price had jumped right back up again. I think that perhaps their computers work out the cost of the pallet sitting in their warehouse with only one item on it, taking up space - providing they have another pallet of stock it makes sense to discount the old stock to make way for something else.

Your book was steeply discounted for a month, but went back up right after this thread was posted: https://keepa.com/#!product/2-1785002627
 
Going back to the OP, I suggest you need to read the thread on Scuttlebutt about making it illegal for you to replace the hose clips..

Unless trained and/or qualified to do so, safety critical maintenance should not be carried out by the owner / managing agent or skipper.
 
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