Near disaster - broken thru-hull fitting - your comments appreciated

scubaman said:
A short epilogue, hopefully, to my broken fitting experience.

When the fitting broke, due to holidays/slipway repair works/etc. I had to make quite a few phone calls to get somebody to lift the boat. And when the lift came, the guy who was supposed to change the fitting was no longer available, so I had to change it myself, which was fine as the lift guy was well experienced and gave me instructions on how to do it properly.

But as the boat was on slings and I was pressed for time, I didn't have enough time to go through all the remaining fittings properly. To achieve piece of mind I today took the boat to a local yard in Helsinki (thanks baylabayla for the tip on Hopeasalmi) and asked them to check them all, which they did. Everything was ok and I can now sleep better at night.

We did also have a look at the broken fitting and I'm not entirely convinced that dezincification was the reason behind its failure. Looking closer at the sheared surfaces, it would seem that it has been at least partially broken for a longer period of time and that sikaflex has kept it from leaking any more than what it has. Also, as I mentioned earlier, there is no evidence of brittleness.

All a bit academic, main thing is that all seems sorted now.
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Btw it is worth while to check the insurance policies. When I found out that my previous insurance company would not cover if the boat sinks at the dock by itself due to a failed through hull fitting, I changed the company immediately. The old company also had some strange wording about not covering a fire caused by a fire in the exhaus system (can you imagine!). At least Alandia covers these scenarios, also they do not have any wind limits nor end of season limitations. Rates are only marginally higher but the cover is not having these significant holes.
 
baylabayla3288 said:
Btw it is worth while to check the insurance policies. When I found out that my previous insurance company would not cover if the boat sinks at the dock by itself due to a failed through hull fitting, I changed the company immediately. The old company also had some strange wording about not covering a fire caused by a fire in the exhaus system (can you imagine!). At least Alandia covers these scenarios, also they do not have any wind limits nor end of season limitations. Rates are only marginally higher but the cover is not having these significant holes.
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Yes you are right. It really is worth reading the small print in any insurance policy to understand what is excluded. FWIW many forumites including me insure with this company http://www.yyachtinsurance.com/ because the policy is fair and has minimal exclusions. It also has the approval of our resident guru on these issues, jfm:)
 
When I looked into valves, I noted that a lot of bronze valves have brass balls whereas DZR valves didn't, so maybe worth considering that before just assuming bronze valves are always better than DZR.
 
baylabayla3288 said:
Btw it is worth while to check the insurance policies. When I found out that my previous insurance company would not cover if the boat sinks at the dock by itself due to a failed through hull fitting, I changed the company immediately. The old company also had some strange wording about not covering a fire caused by a fire in the exhaus system (can you imagine!). At least Alandia covers these scenarios, also they do not have any wind limits nor end of season limitations. Rates are only marginally higher but the cover is not having these significant holes.
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My company (Fennia) doesn't cover anything related to corrosion/etc. so had the boat sank, I wouldn't have held my hopes up regarding a compensation, hence the title. There are other clauses in their policy which have kept me from changing the company so far.

I reviewed my policy this spring along with Alandia. Only thing that caught my eye in their policy was that they do not cover any damages or losses that result from an engine failure. In other words, if ones engine breaks down and the boat sinks after drifting to rocks, they will not compensate. Did you read their terms the same way?

@petem; I suspect the reason is that eg. the swim platform lockers are so low down that to get any draining, it has to be under water. If it comes up, you could ask why they haven't combined the three separate drain pipes into one exit, which could have easily been done with a bit of extra hose.
 
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scubaman I reviewed my policy this spring along with Alandia. Only thing that caught my eye in their policy was that they do not cover any damages or losses that result from an engine failure. In other words said:
Yes indeed the Alandia text is not clear regarding the above scenario. So I called Alandia and they confirmed that regardless if a grounding is due to engine failure, navigational error or manuvering error (unless you ar drunk or under some other influens) the damage or loss is covered. The intention of the exclusion text is to say that the engine break down damage itself is not covered unless you have bought an extended warranty. Also costs of actions you take for preventing larger damage is covered. In case you manage to anchor they will cover the tow costs to a safe harbour etc. The guy from Alandia promised to review the text as the above is somewhat in contradiction with the current fine-print. Thanks SM for pointing this out!
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Thank you for the info BB! When you read the terms against that information, they sound a lot better. The current wording is indeed a bit misleading and I hope they review the text. if they do, I'll probably switch over to them.
 
Cleaned the teak on the bathing platform of our Phantom today, opened the platform lockers after and they were full of the dirty runoff water. I bailed out the lockers but having read this thread I was a bit nervous to mess with the seacocks for fear of creating a worse situation.

The locker and the scupper around the edge both have drains that come together in a T then go to one of the seacocks in the trim tab cutout. The locker is above the water line so I think it should drain, so must be a blockage between the T piece and the seacock, (and yes seacocks are in the open position).

I'm not sure how best to try and unblock this, didn't really want to try moving the seacocks until the next time she's out of the water. Any ideas? I need to check again later this week but I think a good portion of the piping and maybe the T is right around the water line.
 
Richard.C said:
Cleaned the teak on the bathing platform of our Phantom today, opened the platform lockers after and they were full of the dirty runoff water. I bailed out the lockers but having read this thread I was a bit nervous to mess with the seacocks for fear of creating a worse situation.

The locker and the scupper around the edge both have drains that come together in a T then go to one of the seacocks in the trim tab cutout. The locker is above the water line so I think it should drain, so must be a blockage between the T piece and the seacock, (and yes seacocks are in the open position).

I'm not sure how best to try and unblock this, didn't really want to try moving the seacocks until the next time she's out of the water. Any ideas? I need to check again later this week but I think a good portion of the piping and maybe the T is right around the water line.
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Have you tried to close the seacock? No need to lean on it or beat it with a big hammer, just try a reasonable amount of pressure and/or a light tap. If you can close the seacock that will allow you to try other remedies without fear of flooding the boat.

If the drain is above the waterline, access the line by pulling off a hose or whatever it takes, then get a wire coat hanger and poke down the hose to the seacock to clear the line.

If the hose is too long for the wire try blowing or sucking. Sucking can lead to an unpleasant surprise so I tend to use a wet/dry shop vac to suck on lines. You can also hook a water pump up to the hose and try to blast it out. If you do try that be ready to plug a line if it blows the hose off the seacock.

By the way, just in case, keep a wood or foam plug handy to seal the through hull in case the worst happens.
 
Richard.C said:
Thanks, this is the bit that makes me nervous!
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Looking back now it's not the end of the world should the fitting break. As the fittings are in the trim tab tunnel, it's quite an easy reach from the swim platform. If the fitting breaks, you can fit the plug from the outside so water pressure helps keep it in place. Once the wooden plug had a change to set, it was pretty much water tight.

Earlier in this thread Volvopaul suggested using brick acid to clean the hoses.

Mr. Muscle could work as well, I suppose.
 
scubaman said:
Looking back now it's not the end of the world should the fitting break. As the fittings are in the trim tab tunnel, it's quite an easy reach from the swim platform. If the fitting breaks, you can fit the plug from the outside so water pressure helps keep it in place. Once the wooden plug had a change to set, it was pretty much water tight.

Earlier in this thread Volvopaul suggested using brick acid to clean the hoses.

Mr. Muscle could work as well, I suppose.
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I didn't even look to see if I could reach from the platform. Coat hanger from the outside is I think the first step.
 
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