Trudesign skin fitting size

[Praxinoscope]

I usually agree fully with John Morris (except over the Kings College Carol Service) and I agree normally a half hour job, except when whoever installed the skin fittings for the cockpit drains on my boat, they must have fitted them on to wet resin as it took me several hours with drills and Dremel cutting discs to get the nuts off, and of course in the most awkward place to reach.
Fitted nice new Trudesign skin fittings and new pipework.

 

[LittleSister]

It will only take an hour

Putting a new skin fitting in an existing hole is a matter of minutes not days. It would take far longer to bung the hole up (unless you’d be happy with a softwood bung hammered into it for the summer and no sink to use…)

I disagree.

One can easily do it in such time, but only if you know what you're doing (preferably having done it before), have good access inside, have all the correct (and correct sized) fittings and hoses and sealant you need, aren't missing any of the tools you need, don't need to enlarge the hole, and nothing goes wrong.

I doubt the OP will meet all those criteria.

As someone wisely put it, it's not the job that takes the time, it's the complications.

 

[geem]

I disagree.

One can easily do it in such time, but only if you know what you're doing (preferably having done it before), have good access inside, have all the correct (and correct sized) fittings and hoses and sealant you need, aren't missing any of the tools you need, don't need to enlarge the hole, and nothing goes wrong.

I doubt the OP will meet all those criteria.

As someone wisely put it, it's not the job that takes the time, it's the complications.

The OP has shown photos. The access looks good. Maybe a wrongly assumed that anybody doing the job would ensure they had the tools and sealant needed at hand. Assuming you have basic DIY knowledge, the tools and the sealant, the actual fitting of the seacock is 1 hr

 

[contessaman]

I did all my seacocks last winter ( all 11 of them ! ) and fitted trudesign throughout. Im really pleased with them in every respect except for … the sizing. Instead of say a 1” valve having the option of many hose tails , one size valve equates to one size hose tail. i replaced the skin fittings and valves like for like before really realising this and it meant I had to replace just about every damned hose on the boat too. I should have worked backwards from the hose tail size , especially as I fitted the flush skin fittings anyway and bedded the whole thing down in epoxy so the previous size of hole in the hull was largely irrelevant

 

[LittleSister]

The OP has shown photos. The access looks good. Maybe a wrongly assumed that anybody doing the job would ensure they had the tools and sealant needed at hand. Assuming you have basic DIY knowledge, the tools and the sealant, the actual fitting of the seacock is 1 hr

I have experiences not dissimilar to those Praxiniscope reported in post #21, etc.

In any case doing a job you haven't done before (as the OP presumably hasn't) inevitably means that you can't with certainty 'ensure you have all the tools and sealant need to hand'.

You have assumed that the job is just changing skin fitting. The OP has been given contradictory advice in this thread, and still isn't clear what size fitting will be required and whether s/he needs to, or will, enlarge the hole.

It might take under an hour, but in my view there's a good chance it won't. I think telling them that it won't take more than an hour is misleading, and likely to cause stress and inconvenience to the OP if it does take longer.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I have experiences not dissimilar to those Praxiniscope reported in post #21, etc.

In any case doing a job you haven't done before (as the OP presumably hasn't) inevitably means that you can't with certainty 'ensure you have all the tools and sealant need to hand'.

You have assumed that the job is just changing skin fitting. The OP has been given contradictory advice in this thread, and still isn't clear what size fitting will be required and whether s/he needs to, or will, enlarge the hole.

It might take under an hour, but in my view there's a good chance it won't. I think telling them that it won't take more than an hour is misleading, and likely to cause stress and inconvenience to the OP if it does take longer.

That’s probably fair. I’m forgetting that I’ve fitted dozens of the things. (No exaggeration!) and I’ve got a lot of tools.

FWIW here’s the voice of some limited experience. Getting the old one off is very quick and easy with the careful use of a holesaw. (Get a hole saw of the size of the hole in that the old fitting is in and use it to cut a hole in a scrap bit of ply. Use this bit of ply held EXACTLY with the hole in it to locate the holesaw. Use the holesaw centred over the flange using the ply and cut carefully into the flange until you can knock the flange off. Alternatively plug the hole in the skin fitting and centre the holesaw using the drill in the centre of the hole saw into the wood you’ve plugged the hole with. Alternatively use a Dremel to cut away the flange or the nut on the inside MIGHT simply unscrew. (But I’ve never managed that myself; they’re always seized/damaged!!). If the threaded part is totally stuck cut a slot in it with a hacksaw blade and carefully punch it smaller. It should knock out easily then.

Clean up the hole and surrounding area. Pink Stuff or CIF and then Acetone.

I always use a backing plate on skin fittings but I know opinions differ. But they’re easy to make if you’ve got some hole saws of various sizes and a bit of scrap marine ply.). I always coat them with two coats of epoxy.

Fitting really ought to be straightforward. Bed it well onto mastic of your choiceI Best to wait for the mastic to cure before screwing on the seacock and hose tail. I used to use PTFE tape on the threads but recently I’ve used Loctite 577 and found it very effective.

Use a hot air gun or a mug of boiling water to soften the pipe to get it onto the hose tail. It takes a minute or two for the hose plastic to soften so be patient. Double clip with Jubilee clips back to back. Use a 7mm 1/4 drive socket and ratchet to tighten the Jubilee clips. It saves much cursing trying to use a screwdriver in some awkward place with the screwdriver slipping out of the slot all the time. You can get them tighter with the socket too, but be careful not to strip the thread…!

I hope that if you’ve never done it before some of the above might be helpful.

 

[Praxinoscope]

The photo’s in the OP do suggest that it would be a fairly straightforward job, and for once fairly accessible, plan ahead, have all the tools and mastic sealant ready for use and a willing slave to hold the new skin fitting in place as you tighten the nut.
It is possible to fit a skin fitting single handed but if you haven’t done one before it makes life a lot easier if you have some help.