I'll second this (below). If you want the satisfaction of making it
just right, pull the through hulls and put in seacocks. It isn't that
big a job. However, I just stuck a ball valve on top of a through
hull for the convenience (holding tank pump out). Despite all the
theory about the thread mismatch and all the strain coming on just one
or two threads, there is enough give in the metal that, with some pipe
dope, it's solid. The yard that worked on my boat last year has been
doing it for 20 years and never had a problem.

--

Roger Long



"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 21:42:21 GMT, Gary
wrote:

All of this
is unneccesary. Mine worked fine, (and so have yours) for almost 40
years. Gary Mull was a good designer.

I agree. Install good quality ball valves on top of the existing
thru
hulls, use reinforced hose rated for underwater service, and call it
a
day. I had virtually the same configuration on my old Cal-34. We
replaced the original gate valves with ball valves at the request of
my insurance company and everything has been fine for 20 years
since.