Thru hull fitting on side of boat??

[Fishfried]

I’m considering putting the livewell drain in the side of the boat below waterline about 4” above the bottom of the boat. My concern is the possibility of hitting a stump or rock and having it crack or break. The reason for having it 6’ from the transom on the side of the boat is just to not have to run the drain line 6’ to the transom. What are your thoughts?
I’m pointing to where the thru hull fitting with my tape measure.

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Use a stainless fitting. Attwood makes em, they are low profile and unlikely to snag on said stump or rock.

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[Fishfried]

Ok, I’ll look for one. Thanks!

 

[Scott F]

I’d use plastic. Even though there is a greater chance of it cracking than a stainless one would, a stainless fitting would react with the aluminum hull and have a greater chance of leaking where it corrodes the aluminum.

 

[MrGiggles]

I did that on a 14' Alumacraft.

The livewell was just ahead of the middle bench, and I did not want a big hole in the transom, or another hose running the length of the boat.

I used a bronze thru-hull, with a brass ball valve right after, in the event of a plastic fitting failure (or you wanted to use the livewell as a cooler or dry storage), you could prevent lake water from entering. I did not want any plastic after the valve for the reason you mentioned.

There is only one brand of plastic fitting I know of that is approved for below the water line, which is Marelon. I still don't know if I trust them.

Both bronze and stainless are reactive with aluminum, but it's really only a big issue in saltwater.

I was confident that it would take a serious hit to dislodge that heavy 3/4 bronze fitting, a hit that hard would probably damage the hull anyway, fitting or not.

Keep in mind that the livewell will fill through the drain to the outside waterline if the bottom is lower than that.

 

[Fishfried]

I have some plugs that fit a 3/4” thru hull fitting. I’ll have it plugged when not in use, from inside the livewell.
Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Weldorthemagnificent]

Use 5200 to seal between the fitting and the hull. Should alleviate any corrosion concerns.

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[turbotodd]

It's done all the time on even factory built boats. Thru-hulls on the side are very common. Mine were all plastic and even I couldn't knock them loose/off/broken and I fished a lake that was FULL of stumps/trees/junk. I mean you can't go 100 foot without hitting one. I think you'll be fine with either one, plastic (actually I think they're PVC but whatever), OR stainless/brass/bronze. Generally they're going to bounce off before anything rips them off, unless it's a sharp enough rock hit just perfect.

 

[randyo3629]

What are these fittings for? There’s one on the left side of the boat next to the live well, there’s one on the left side of the transom down near the bottom and there’s one on the transom next to the drain plug

 

[MrGiggles]

What are these fittings for? There’s one on the left side of the boat next to the live well, there’s one on the left side of the transom down near the bottom and there’s one on the transom next to the drain plug

Most likely, one for the livewell pump, another for the drain, and the other is the bilge pump outlet.

 

[DaleH]

Use 5200 to seal between the fitting and the hull. Should alleviate any corrosion concerns.

Less 5200 can attack unprimed/prepped tin.

If really worried, buy a Marlon one, a marine superplastic, more ductile (Impact resistant) than SS.

 

[turbotodd]

my old boat had a pair of plastic thru-hulls, one on each side

I beat that poor boat against every rock stump tree boat ramp garbage, trailer, you name it never once broke a thru-hull

interestingly enough, that boat had a bronze thru-hull on the transom for the rear livewell. That one leaked after an outing on the local lake, which is FULL of stumps, fallen trees, etc.

plastic thru-hulls typically just glide across tree stumps. Similarly, people are "scared" of the plastic skid plates on side-by-side vehicles and atv's that are used solely off-road. The two I had, first thing I noticed about the plastic is that they just glide across stuff rather than bending them and hanging up on 'em. A lot of airboats use plastic on the entire bottom of the hull for this reason, just glides across "stuff". Only time I could see one being an issue via breakage is if they are uv damaged, thus inspection every once in a while would be nice thing to do.

if you use some 5200 on them when installing, seems like even if you cracked it, it ain't gonna leak much. You'd have to completely break it out of the hull for it to be a big problem and if you managed to do that with 5200 as the sealant, probably likely that you have other issues as well

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

If the aluminum is painted, 5200 is fine.