Good Source For Hose Fittings?

[Maine Sail]

Jim,

The clamps on the other page are likely AWAB hose clamps and they are all I use on my boat. They don't have the perforations in the band but rather stamped gears and as such are much more reliable. Is your thru-hull 1/2"?

I really prefer the "sweep" elbows as in the full flow ones you showed. They are easier to snake and will also plug up less frequently than a regular "tight turn" 90 degree elbow..

If I can get down to Hamilton today, I need to, I will screw some fittings together with the strainer and write down the PN's for you..

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by halekai36

Jim,

The clamps on the other page are likely AWAB hose clamps and they are all I use on my boat. They don't have the perforations in the band but rather stamped gears and as such are much more reliable.

May be, but they're something like $2-$3 apiece! $30 for 10 hose clamps?

Originally Posted by halekai36

Is your thru-hull 1/2"?

Wellll... It would seem our entire raw water system is... kind of a hack. Friend at ours sail club looked at it Sunday and pointed-out that the thru-hull is actually 3/8". That's adapted up to 1/2" for the ballcock. The adapter off that has a 1/2" NPT fitting and what looks like a 3/8" right-angle hose barb. Being as a 3/4" male-male adapter that I use on a hose extension for feeding the system a bucket-full of anti-freeze for winterization fits in, I believe the hose is 3/4". The Oberdorfer pump I believe has 1/2" fittings.

I plan to "standardize" on 1/2" up to the strainer, and on the strainer's output. Then when I decide what to do with/about the impeller/pump, I'll probably address the hose up to that.

Originally Posted by halekai36

I really prefer the "sweep" elbows as in the full flow ones you showed. They are easier to snake and will also plug up less frequently than a regular "tight turn" 90 degree elbow..

That's what I figured.

It also appears the Groco straight .50" adapter is "full flow," as compared to the alternate straight hose barbs.

Originally Posted by halekai36

If I can get down to Hamilton today, I need to, I will screw some fittings together with the strainer and write down the PN's for you..

That would be terrific! Thanks, Hal!

I can just imagine receiving a box-o-parts and finding that one bit doesn't fit/match w/the others. Arrrrgh!

The WM just a couple miles down from our boat is expanding. Right now all they have is Groco strainers, and expensive at that. Not a real wide selection of adaptors and so-forth in the store. I'm hoping that they'll have a much wider selection of such things after they expand. They may be a bit (?) more expensive, but they sure are convenient.

Jim

[sailaway21]

If I might chime in here with a couple of observations.

The spin-down filter on your well, which I'm hoping is after the pressure tank, doesn't have nearly the job to do that your raw water strainer does-unless you've a particularly old well accompanied by a high mineral content.

NEVER thread a metal fitting (male) into a plastic fitting (female). If you must use plastic and metal fittings together the plastic should always thread into the metal, ie...male plastic with female metal. It usually takes a few other fittings to do things that way but you're much less likely to have a plastic failure (cracking) some time later and end up with a boat or basement full of water! Don't ask me how I know this and, btw, each and every one I've seen fail was "just fine" for months if not a year prior to it's failing and putting 4' of water in the basement.

I understand your desire not to enlarge the hole in the boat for the thru-hull, Jim. What I would do, along with using the wire stiffened hose as this is a suction line, is to use the maximum diameter hose called for by the system. It appears that the strainer has 1" input, I'd run 1" all the way down to the thru-hull and adapt down at that point to 1/2" or 3/8" as necessary. Flow restrictions, otherwise known as suction head, are a function not only of pipe diameter but pipe length as well. Increasing the diameter over a given length makes the flow significantly better, especially going up from 1/2" to 1", even over the relatively short run you have to make.

If you can sweep your flexible hose, versus using a elbo/90 degree bend, you'll be doing much better. Note that while the elbo may be a "full flow" that that rating does not account for the male adapters (hose barbs) which you have to install into the elbo to adapt it to hose, and they're going to produce head loss. It's generally a good practise to use as few elbos as you can get away with, instead sweeping your hose to make the turns.

No matter how tempting, do not ever use those gray plastic hose barbs you see at the hardware store-the ones with thread on one end and an elbo or male adapter on the other-when threading into anything metal. When you go to remove them in a week or a year, you'll have to melt them out, in essence, from where they attach. Those things belong on outdoor sprinkler lines, preferably with a home owner whose nothing better to do than spend his time repairing it.

As you can see, the best route is to not use plastic at all!

[Maine Sail]

Jim,

Here are the part numbers:

Strainer - PKO-493004PLB or the Hamilton stock # 127070

Full Flow 1/2" Barbed Elbow - GRO-FFC500 or stock # 153308
Full Flow 1/2" Straight barb - GRO-FF500 or stock # 150344

PLEASE take note that full flow fittings use the next size up hose. A 1/2" NPT thread "full flow" barb fitting takes a 3/4" hose!!!

The AWAB hose clamps to fit 3/4" hose are:

AWB 19-28 or Hamilton stock number 102618

Once you use an AWAB hose clamp you'll see why they cost more and probably will never go back to using IDEAL clamps..

Sorry no links as this is from my phone..

[sailaway21]

As halekai mentions, not all hose clamps are created equal. When reading the box for any brand one will note that, "stainless steel band" is not the same as saying "all stainless steel". Most clamps use somewhat deceptive marketing to hide their cheapness in quality.

Elbos with one size up for hose fittings are a really good idea if you have to use elbos. Try not to if you can. Sweeping flows better and clogs less. Of course, on a boat, it's not like you have too many options given the space considerations!

[SEMIJim]

Ok, stuff on order. Hal, thanks very much for personally checking those parts out for me. Very much appreciated. I hope I can return the favour some day.

Hal, Sway, on the advice of Ken, over at Hamilton Marine, who was also very helpful, I went with the less-expensive (ok, "cheaper" ) clamps. He was quite emphatic that the more-than-twice-as-expensive clamps were over-kill in this application. He assured me the less expensive hose clamps are all SS, just not as thick as their more expensive counterparts.

Ordered at least a foot more hose than I expect I'll need. Ordered an extra of each of the fittings I'll need. Should end up with four spare hose clamps. All this over-ordering will ensure that: 1. The project will go smoothly and 2. I'll never need any of the spare parts .

I'll let y'all know how it goes

Jim