Well Lloyd since you've made your decision. Then replace every thru hull
when you pull your boat. 20 years is a long time for bronze.

I would suspect that after 20 years the clog you are talking about caused by
galvanic action.

Jack

"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 22:48:45 +0000, Lloyd Sumpter wrote:

Hi,

Finally got that old hose off with a hacksaw and a fair amount of
flame. Problem is, I STILL haven't found the blockage! I usually find
that
if the blockage is in the thruhull, opening the valve with the hose off
gives a blast of reverse water that clears it. This time, NOTHING! not a
trickle.


Update: I got my Lady to dive in and bang away at it from the outside (no
sign of barnys or other growth). She confirmed what I suspected: she hit
something solid, as I did when I was poking with a wire from the inside.

The valve is stuck closed, and the lever is broken.

There's no way I'm messing with this while it's in the water (I can just
see me reefing on a 2-ft pipewrench to try to get the fitting free and
cracking the thruhull itself...). So, I "closed" the valve and capped the
fitting, then used the sink thruhull (3/4") for the holding tank outlet.
Not too big a stretch: the macerator outlet is 1". I converted the outlet
hose from 1 1/2" to 1" as well, to reduce the backwash when the pump
stops. I figure if it has to go through a foot of 1" hose, why not 10 ft?

I'll make do with the smaller thruhull until I haul the boat, then "get
serious" with the bigger one.

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36: now with (working!) 35 gal holding tank!