Hull skin fittings - glassing in only OK?

I think you'll find some bolts under there somewhere.

See my thread from a few weeks ago here

I've been digging out a few bolts on rudder glands and p-brackets. Even though made of bronze, the bolts had dissolved to nothing. No great effort to grind back the GRP (drill and wire brush), remove the fitting, sand, flowcoat (if desired) and refit with fresh, modern sealant, leaving the new bolts exposed.
 
BoatingBeginner said:
I think you'll find some bolts under there somewhere.

See my thread from a few weeks ago here

I've been digging out a few bolts on rudder glands and p-brackets. Even though made of bronze, the bolts had dissolved to nothing. No great effort to grind back the GRP (drill and wire brush), remove the fitting, sand, flowcoat (if desired) and refit with fresh, modern sealant, leaving the new bolts exposed.
Click to expand...

Mine do not have bolts ;)
 
LittleSister said:
Thanks, Tranona (and others). Very reassuring, and has saved me some time, sweat and money.

I was only worried about this as I'd previously only ever seen bolted/clamped through skin fittings, and assumed this might be some bodge which might be either (a) not safe, or (b) not acceptable to the surveyor when I come to get an insurance survey done before launching. The seacocks appear to have been in there for many years, and quite possibly since the boat was built in 1976 (somewhere very close to Landamores!).
Click to expand...

Not a bodge - very neat job. As suggested there are probably bolts and nuts under the GRP, looking at how much of the body is encapsulated. Note that somebody has replaced the bronze screws for the keep plate with stainless. Probably OK but the correct bronze ones are available from Blakes (at a price!).
 
No bolts or flanges on the skin fittings that were originally fitted by the builder of my boat. The only ones that have them are the log and the echo sounder, both later additions.

They consist of a heavy-sectioned bronze tube that is threaded on the inboard end where the normal globe valve would be fitted. The other end is knurled and was moulded directly into the fibreglass of the hull.

The boat is a Wauquiez Centurion 32 built in 1973 and will probably outlive me.
 
My boat is a Wauquiez Amphitrite 43 and has very thick knurled bronze tubes glassed into the hull and fitted with valves - no bolts, the advice from the French owners group at http://www.amphs.org/articles.php?lng=en&pg=867 is that they are extremely strong and should not cause any problems. "In the shipyard Wauquiez My advise is to keep the thruhulls. Why? The material is sinter bronze, quality of alternator bearings ; in addition, it has a thickness of 5 mm and is included in the polyester (knurled diagonally). The thruhull was positioned in the mold immediately after casting the gelcoat and the hull was built around (thickness of 5 cm) ; by the withdrawal of the polyester material, it was blocked " Please excuse the auto translation from French
 
LittleSister said:
Ok. Here's some pics.

There are two seacocks fitted like this (sink drain and head water intake). First pics show the holes from outside the hull, then two pics of each of the seacocks (one has black hose, the other white) inside the hull.
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What's all that green fur?
What causes that?
 
LittleSister said:
The boat's winter coat?;)



Moisture. Probably slight weep from the seacock/hose joint. Haven't yet investigated closely as I was expecting to have to remove both skin fittings.
Click to expand...

Sure it's not a weep between the GRP and the metal skin fitting?
??????
 
lw395 said:
Sure it's not a weep between the GRP and the metal skin fitting?
??????
Click to expand...

No, I'm not sure. As I said I haven't investigated that yet.

It is true that from the photographs there seems to be a slight ring of verdigris all the way around where the grp meets the bronze of the fittings. On the other hand there is very substantially more verdigris in the vicinity of the hose on both fittings, and one of the hoses can be seen in the photo to be distorted in the way of the Jubilee clips. There is also some staining around the top of the seacock fitting, so it may be the result of a slight leak there dripping down. Either way, there is not enough of a leak to represent any serious problem in itself.

When I get time and some daylight I will plunge my head in the lockers and have a closer look if I can (varifocals permitting!). If that is inconclusive I will clean off the fittings and observe closely any reappearance of staining once in use.
 
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