Manifolds the way forward

[Emmalina]

Point being if a secondary hose clamp failed I wouldn't be ripping up my cabin sole to eliminate all my through hulls I can shut one then go find the problem.... And isn't it easier maintaining 1 through hull....

[atoll]

un less you are building the boat from scratch running all that new pipework is going to be a nightmare.

we have 2 heads with gravity operated holding tanks that are left open at sea,also 3 sinks,the boat is 63 ft,and sinks,heads 40ft apart,shallow flat bilges.

by all means have a manifold for the engine ,genset,a/c etc in the engine room.
but for waste utilities the more direct route is the best.

[sv.antea]

It seems to me most sailors exaggerate the danger of extra holes (properly installed through hulls) in the hull. Structurally, you could have hundred through hulls without weakening the hull appreciably. If you use good quality fittings and above all ABA type hose clamps, failure is very unlikely. The only reason I closed off or reduced the size of few through hulls on my boat was to (possibly foolishly) reduce drag (I race my Yankee 30). Otherwise, I like to have the intake through hull near to where the water is needed. As someone mentioned, water box solution would add a lot of hose runs.

[Capt.Alex]

The problem is that you can't run the A/C while you are cleaning out the strainer and servicing the thru hull... Also a clogged strainer shuts down everything.

[Emmalina]

Maybe I am lucky with my layout as i didn't need any extra hose apart from feeding the heads...
RE Capt Alex I can clean my strainer in about 2 mins only has four wing nuts on it. I know a lot of layouts have bits all over the place and your mass market Ben Jen's are full off heads and ac,s all over but I am happy with the results and 10000 miles later all is well.