Where to drill thru-hulls
- Divecoz
- Admiral
- Posts: 3803
- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:54 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: PORT CHARLOTTE FLORIDA 05 M Mercury 50 H.P. Big Foot Bill at Boats 4 Sail is my Hero
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
If Your Boat hangs out with lots of other boats in the water ( Marina... Mooring Fields etc..) and Unless the majority of those boats around you are Small Outboard driven runabouts?? Chances are ? The vast majority of the boats have 1 or more Below the water line Thru-hulls..
Can you use a hose tossed over the side for your wash down? Certainly you can, with the right pump.. What would you think if the dealer showed you that as a dealer or factory installed Option? But by all means it works.. Most A/C units Built In.. have one .. most inboards have at least one for cooling.. If you have a Pump over head ... you surely have that one beneath the water line.. My Experience has been? The Bigger The Boat ...the more of those you will find..
In 5 years of being in a Marina with over 1000 boats with thru-hulls ? I am unaware of any sinking because of thru-hulls.. Should you check them and inspect them once or twice a year? I do..I have seen a lot more issues with Oppss who forget to put the transom plug in!! Thank Goodness we dont have those.. Was I nervous with the first hole ? Yes I was.. It went fine, and remains to be fine , and then I cut another one... As for Now ? Both are fine..
I took my time, laying out where they would go.. Measure 10 times .....drill Once!!.. Prep properly.. Install using the proper sealant and devices.. I have the proper Bronze lockout for the head and Both have SS Ball Valves attached directly to the thru-hulls..
Its Not A Big Deal.. Its is or can be a Very Simple Procedure.. Its been done for a long long time, this is not something new..
Like so much else in life.. If your not comfortable with doing it , or having it? DONT!
Can you use a hose tossed over the side for your wash down? Certainly you can, with the right pump.. What would you think if the dealer showed you that as a dealer or factory installed Option? But by all means it works.. Most A/C units Built In.. have one .. most inboards have at least one for cooling.. If you have a Pump over head ... you surely have that one beneath the water line.. My Experience has been? The Bigger The Boat ...the more of those you will find..
In 5 years of being in a Marina with over 1000 boats with thru-hulls ? I am unaware of any sinking because of thru-hulls.. Should you check them and inspect them once or twice a year? I do..I have seen a lot more issues with Oppss who forget to put the transom plug in!! Thank Goodness we dont have those.. Was I nervous with the first hole ? Yes I was.. It went fine, and remains to be fine , and then I cut another one... As for Now ? Both are fine..
I took my time, laying out where they would go.. Measure 10 times .....drill Once!!.. Prep properly.. Install using the proper sealant and devices.. I have the proper Bronze lockout for the head and Both have SS Ball Valves attached directly to the thru-hulls..
Its Not A Big Deal.. Its is or can be a Very Simple Procedure.. Its been done for a long long time, this is not something new..
Like so much else in life.. If your not comfortable with doing it , or having it? DONT!
- Mac26Mpaul
- Admiral
- Posts: 1066
- Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:36 am
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Gold Coast, Australia 26M "Little Annie" Etec 50
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
yeah, I agree with that. I dont see what the big deal is with through hulls. I'v got a couple for my head. Works fine and hasn't sunk in its four years of life either
My boat is currently moored in amongst about 50 other boats, all no doubt with through hulls..
Jeez, I thought our insurance companies were bad! Would they really get out of paying over there if a boat sunk, and it was found to have a through hull

Jeez, I thought our insurance companies were bad! Would they really get out of paying over there if a boat sunk, and it was found to have a through hull
- robbarnes1965
- Captain
- Posts: 563
- Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:58 am
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: (BYC)Montreal, Qc Macgregor 26m-2007 "Miss Coco" - after my daughter, 50hp Honda
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
My depth/knot through hull has never been a problem except for the almost annual destruction of the little paddles for the speedometer getting crush putting it on the trailer (yacht club staff, not me - but that doesn't mean I would not do it). Best to check where to locate it as to have as little contact with the supports on the trailer as possible.
- Crikey
- Admiral
- Posts: 1833
- Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:43 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Washago, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, Earth, Singularity.Suzuki DF60A. Boat name: Crikey!
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
It'd be great to have top, stern, bow and side profile drawings to copy from our (this) site for illustrating many of the locations, such as this post talks about, with arrows or notes - per Sumner - added afterwards by the users. I saw a beautiful sharp picture series of an X in a posting recently, but failed to relocate it by the time I did this reply. Our resources menu would be a great location to cut and paste these from. The blurry manuals have zilch!
Members - can these be located? Mod's - can this be facilitated?
(sorry for the mini hijack!)
Ross
Members - can these be located? Mod's - can this be facilitated?
(sorry for the mini hijack!)
Ross
- Divecoz
- Admiral
- Posts: 3803
- Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 2:54 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: PORT CHARLOTTE FLORIDA 05 M Mercury 50 H.P. Big Foot Bill at Boats 4 Sail is my Hero
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
Crickey.. Sorry am STILL not doing pictures.. My Two are forward ( all my stuff.. is in and around the V berth) 1 Port 1 starboard.. Both about 1 foot beneath the boot strip.. Both about? 6 ' aft of the bow.. The Hull is very thick at that point.. about 3/4" give or take.. Embedded with IIRC 3M 5200.. Thru-hulls themselves are High Quality Bronze.. Water Pickup ( deck wash) http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... sNum=50647 has a "slotted" strainer.. Egress for the head is just an open port..
- Crikey
- Admiral
- Posts: 1833
- Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:43 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26M
- Location: Washago, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, Earth, Singularity.Suzuki DF60A. Boat name: Crikey!
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
No, it wasn't about the lack of pictures - if it were me, you'd have to drag me kicking and screaming to get me to climb into my boat right now!
My little bit of petulant whining concerns some better visualization resources for everybody who access this site. If we were all able to share the same layout drawings for questions and mods, things would become much easier for so many users - myself included. Actual pictures are something else.
R
My little bit of petulant whining concerns some better visualization resources for everybody who access this site. If we were all able to share the same layout drawings for questions and mods, things would become much easier for so many users - myself included. Actual pictures are something else.
R
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Boblee
- Admiral
- Posts: 1702
- Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 5:08 am
- Location: Berrigan, Riverina Australia boatless at present
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
My water inlet is a throw over the side so it can be used for a variety of sources and the only underwater inlet was the original galley/motor well outlet which I converted to a bilge pump outlet and and made a new higher and larger outlet for the Galley.
Yes I know the original galley outlet is not below the water line but it was when I beached the nose which dropped the stern and that would be ok but we spilt some milk inside and I had a great idea to dilute what we couldn't wipe up and pump it out with the bilge pump and worked great but then went ashore for a while and found when the pump stopped with the hose full of water?????
Yep you guessed it, it siphoned water back into the boat and we got wet feet when we stepped in later and lucky the boat couldn't bottom out any lower like eg on a steep bank, it now has a valve on it and an air loop.
Yes I know the original galley outlet is not below the water line but it was when I beached the nose which dropped the stern and that would be ok but we spilt some milk inside and I had a great idea to dilute what we couldn't wipe up and pump it out with the bilge pump and worked great but then went ashore for a while and found when the pump stopped with the hose full of water?????
Yep you guessed it, it siphoned water back into the boat and we got wet feet when we stepped in later and lucky the boat couldn't bottom out any lower like eg on a steep bank, it now has a valve on it and an air loop.
- yukonbob
- Admiral
- Posts: 1918
- Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:54 pm
- Sailboat: Other
- Location: Whitehorse Yukon
Re: Where to drill thru-hulls
Got to thinking what the stats were on thru hulls and I found this...very interesting.
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/guide/boat_7.html
http://www.boatus.com/foundation/guide/boat_7.html
