Ever have one of those days?!?

[Fiveflat]

Tap your backing plate and thread it down on the thruhull maybe.

[IDBoating]

However, I believe I have a simpler solution. I'm going to experiment with it later this morning and see if works.

Happily, I was able to ease off the thruhull flange nuts without turning the thruhulls themselves or breaking their seal with the hull. This enables me to build traditional backing plates and bond them to the hull's inner surface, then use fresh flange nuts to secure everything.

As a side note, this also gave me the opportunity to confirm 100% fill of the annular ring around the thruhulls. There's little question of a solid watertight seal. Now the focus is on mechanical strength and integrity.

[IDBoating]

Here's a photo of the two handles, overlaid to show the misalignment.

Good news: I emailed some photos and spoke with Curtis at Specialty Fabricators this morning, and they say they will try to build up and ship out a replacement handle today - thankfully skipping their normal three week backlog.

I'll report back on what happens.

[chpthril]

How did you end up with such a short through hull that barely has enough threads after passing through a 101/250" thick hull?

What thickness backing plate are you trying to use? I don't see why a 1/8" aluminum plate bonded to the hull wouldn't work.

[IDBoating]

How did you end up with such a short through hull that barely has enough threads after passing through a 101/250" thick hull? What thickness backing plate are you trying to use? I don't see why a 1/8" aluminum plate bonded to the hull wouldn't work.

I installed the thruhulls, including sealant and flange nuts, before I considered the need to use backing plates due to the mass of the 209B pumps. I was reluctant to back off the flange nuts fearing I would damage the seal or - worst case - spin the thruhull and damage the gelcoat on the exterior. So I was working on a backing plate solution that accommodated the flange nut as-is, but that approach ended up consuming too much of the thread distance.

So, as noted earlier, I very carefully backed off the flange nuts, which means:

This enables me to build traditional backing plates and bond them to the hull's inner surface, then use fresh flange nuts to secure everything.

Thanks!

[IDBoating]

Here's the finished product:



I knocked out three backing plates from 5/16th's aluminum plate. Three inches square each, with appropriately sized holes for the two one inch thruhulls and the one 3/4 incher. Each is rotated to best accommodate nearby objects (fuel tank, fuel line). They are bedded in FiberTech epoxy, intended to insure a perfectly level interface between the plate and the irregular hull surface (but not necessarily act as an adhesive).

After yesterday's frustrations, today was a much better day! Making progress, one step at a time....

[IDBoating]

Good news: I emailed some photos and spoke with Curtis at Specialty Fabricators this morning, and they say they will try to build up and ship out a replacement handle today - thankfully skipping their normal three week backlog.

I'll report back on what happens.

As he promised, Curtis at Specialty Fabricators built up and shipped a new handle. It arrived today and is exactly the proper size. He mentioned that they changed the center-to-center distance for the Tige handle that uses that part number a while back, and presumes they used the old dimensions when making my custom handle.

Sorry it happened, but glad to report that Specialty Fabricators takes care of their customers!