Trudesign load bearing collar.

[Lucy52]

I have removed a chromed brass ball valve from my engine cooling water intake and the through hull fitting. I asked the engineer at the Dean & Reddyhoff stand at SIBS who suggested that I replace them with Trudesign fittings as that is what they would use.
I am not interested in the rights or wrongs of this but I have a query regarding the load bearing collar, this improves the impact resitance of the through hull fitting against accidental damage and to meet American standards.
From anyone who has actual experience of using these fittings do you think it worth fitting the collar given that there is not normally any lose items flying around the engine bay and that the fitting covers up the through hull and its securing nut preventing inspection of these.

 

[sailorbenji]

No, we replaced all our thru-hulls with Trudesign a couple of years ago. I had the same question and asked Tru-Design direct...here their reply :

Without the collars the integral strength of the skin fitting and attached ball valve will comply with IMCI and Bureau Veritas - ISO 9093-2 ( a 1.500 N Load is applied 20mm to the most inward part of the assembly 10 times ) the only reason the load bearing collars were developed was to make the smaller diameters 1/2" 3/4" & 1" skin fittings & ball valve assemblies pass ABYC for the American market.

 

[Boathook]

Nice fittings. I fitted the 1.5" a few years ago. When you order get a backnut as well which will allow you have the handle where you can get at it.

 

[Norman_E]

Nice fittings. I fitted the 1.5" a few years ago. When you order get a backnut as well which will allow you have the handle where you can get at it.

I have all mine fitted without backnuts, but I did not use PTFE tape to seal the threads because the threads are actually a fairly loose fit. Instead I used Loctite SI 5331 LOCTITE SI 5331 which allows you to align fittings without breaking the seal for several hours after initial assembly. This was the method recommended by the yacht surveyor and technician who helped me replace all the old hull fittings and seacocks with Tru Design ones, which have proved an excellent choice.

 

[Poey50]

The collars are a PITA to fit as your have to torque them down with the ball valve which then creates a problem of ensuring the handle ends up in a sensible position. Do without them if you can and use a back-nut and Loctite 5331 (as above) or, even simpler - just the Loctite alone. I used the Loctite-only method and would do so again.

 

[vas]

same here, actually when I fitted them all, I made a silly mistake and tried to tighten up a 3/4in one before the Sika I was using was fully set, and it turned, and I didn't liked that and decided to remove it.
that was HARD, Initially I thought I'd try with a hammer to see how it flexes and how strong it is, yeah right... It would flex all right, wouldn't crack, wouldn't move, nothing.
Ended up swearing with a one inch chisel trying to cut it. Was v.hard work indeed and it took time.
I'm now of course much happier knowing how strong these things are!
so, yes, don't bother with the backnut

V.

 

[SiteSurfer]

I fitted Tru Design last summer, as I was placing the sea cocks under the sink in the heads, well away from feet I decided that the load bearing collars were superflous.
Fitting was achieved using the above (reccomended by TD in their manual) Loctite which allowed me to position the handle exactly where I needed it.

Very happy with the result indeed. Have recently changed the soil and input hose for the heads and the joints are still rock solid on the sea cocks.

 

[Lucy52]

Sorry for the late reply, having to work is such a waste of time.
Thanks to all for your constructive help, Sailorbenji for the email. I now know I am not mad and the collar is not needed. I was unhappy with the way I would need to fit it and hiding the skin fitting to boot. I will look into the back nut which I had missed and hope to enjoy a far nicer ball valve which won't corrode either. Now I'm thinking of changing them all. lol.