Dear Forum,
Apologies in advance for this "long read".
Could you please kindly help me with this:
I've got my
Catalina 42 1992 last November. Besides ...well... "everything else" I am replacing now all thru-hulls and valves.
Previously/originally these were all Forespar Marelon thru-hulls and valves except two
bronze on holding
tanks macerators outlets.
Without any intent to start another "Marelon vs.
Bronze holy war" I'd would like to mention that:
1. All Marelon thru-hulls were in pretty good shape when I removed them.
2. A broken handle on one of the Marelon valves in a process of very careful "exercising" of it and a leak as an unpleasant "side-effect".
3. One valve completely broke in half on a very minor force applied while I was removing a hose. (Good for me that this happened while she was
on the hard. Otherwise .... <your imagination goes here>...).
4. One Marelon of "93 series" looked good ... but had periodical minor leak on open/close.
5. Bronze valve (I removed one) looks very good. After some exercising/lubing works smoothly. From the inside looks good as well. I don't see any disturbing signs. Bronze thru-hull also looks not bad.
So basically Forespar / Marelon valves currently is not an option (or an option that I will consider as absolutely the last one). Except that one "93 series" valve which has two barbs and I need exactly the same. Part number is 931233 which is not available online and should be ordered directly.)
So without Forespar I have these two options left (all 3/4 except one 1-1/2) :
1. TruDesign valves/thru-hulls. For example
TruDesign Ball Valve with
load bearing collar
2. Groco bronze flanged with the
backing plates;
Ordered both to try.
During "dry-fitting" I realized that I feel uncomfortable with TruDesign because that "load bearing collar" completely blocks any access to a thru-hull without complete
removal of the valve. Not sure why I don't like this. Probably because of a hypothetical case of a leak between a thru-hull and a
hull that I will not be able to temporary fix. Thru-hull's flange diameter is 1-2/3'' but Forespar 3/4 thru-hull fits OK. For now I don't consider TruDesign as an option for now.
With Croco valves I am having another problem:
Catalina has the "flush thru-hulls". Only Forespar has thru-hulls with a flange/head of that size (please see the images).
Outer flange/head diameters for comparison:
- Forespar is 2.430(61.72mm)
- Groco is 2".
I feel not very comfortable with a smaller one but was unable to find a bronze flush or mushroom 3/4" thru-hull with the similar flange size as Forespar.
Technically Forespar thru-hull looks and feels like has the same NPS thread as Croco flanged valve NPS thread. Given that Groco flanged valve will be on a backing plate a smaller flange
head should be OK.... r-r-r-ight
?
So my question is what should I do:
- Use a bronze thru-hull with a smaller flange?
- Use Marelon thru-hulls with a Groco bronze flanged valves?
- Other options ... ?
Any ideas/hints/thoughts/considerations are needed and appreciated.
Thank you.
P.S. Some other related thoughts. I ordered one backing plate from Groco and I didn't like it at all. This is an overpriced cut made of PVC panel that look similar to what I see in Home Depot. I honestly not sure how it will bond to an
adhesive but have some doubts about any "epoxy-based" one.
Got
these instead.
The
images to compare how both tru-hulls fit.
Linear Mode
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