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Elbow fittings below the waterline

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  olson34 
#1 · (Edited)
I went to great pains to ensure that my boat's cockpit drains could absorb a direct nuclear strike and not result in sinking the boat... I used 1/2" G10 backing plates bedded nicely, through-bolted Groco flange adapters, and installed the biggest honking Groco in-line 1-1/2" ball valves I've seen. Then I installed brand new wire-reinforced high-end exhaust host which just about needed an acetylene torch to cut through.

Where it's NOT bulletproof is the cockpit drains themselves. They are pretty much just nice quality sink drains / tailpieces. I couldn't quite justify the $400 perko fittings, so I kept it stock. The downside of this install is that the hose needs to make a pretty stiff bend due to the layout of the cockpit drains and location of the seacocks. And the nuclear-blast resistant exhaist hose puts a lot of pressure on those drain tailpieces.

I am thinking that it may improve the install if I installed an elbow fitting to help with the bend. Is there such a thing as a below-waterline rated elbow fitting for 1-1/2" hose that won't (significantly) reduce the integrity of my set up?

The other thing I've looked for is a tailpiece which has an integral 45 or 90 degree bend, but again, I can't find them.

Does the community have any collective wisdom that can help this mildly troubled installation, and allow me to tweak it for the better?
 
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#2 ·
For a low-pressure installation like that you might be able to get a 45 deg hose-to-hose barbed fitting to provide some offset (depends on the overall distance you have to work with... you'd need two per drain to get from vertical to vertical. Properly clamped they should be OK, although it is, of course, adding quite a few 'joints' into the system.

Probably less risky, though, than a permanently stressed mis-aligned connection.
 
#3 ·
I have a 90-degree tailpiece on the seacock end, so that part is ok. I'd only need one fitting per line at the cockpit drain end right under the drain itself.

The part I'm not sure about is what fittings are considered safe for below-waterline applications? There are ABYC codes about seacocks being able to withstand sustained 500lb loads, and hoses needing to be rated appropriately. I don't want to just throw any fitting in there and blow all the effort I went to in order to "do it right".
 
#5 ·
Perko 1-1/2 35 bucks not bad for a forever part
I have a 90 degree fitting at the seacock end. I'm looking for a 90 or 45 degree hose barb to hose barb fitting for the cockpit drain side. Some of the nicer bronze cockpit drains have 45 degree offset hose barbs while mine goes straight down.

I'm looking for something I can use in-line with my below water-level hoses that would meet the appropriate ABYC standards.
 
#6 ·
When our boat was built in '88, they used a female-thread to hose barb 90 degree fitting for each of our two large cockpit drains. I checked them just a couple years ago when re-doing all of the transom hoses and fittings. Like other Marelon fittings, they are heavily-engineered and still rock solid.
The current model on the Forespar site looks like it might be like #901010 on this page:
Boat Marine Plumbing Elbow

When I removed a mix of cast plastic fittings and one Marelon fitting from the transom, the only one that was completely solid was the Marelon - the others all cracked, chipped or broke apart when I had to wrench on 'em to get the inside nut off of each.
Since these were all above-water exits, I replaced them with SS. I can send you a back channel link to that project if you wish.
LB

ps: trivia: before we bought our prior boat, a Niagara 26 that we sailed for a decade, we looked at a really nice CS-27 up in Vancouver. Ray Wall design, IIRC, and we might have bought it but could not come up the $$. :)
 
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