- This topic has 12 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Bob,
I’m leery of Perko, too. It seems their cast bronze drain plug housing uses a brass plug. Mixing metals in such a crucial fitting doesn’t seem like a good idea to me. I just emailed Roger at Bristol Bronze. Will let you know when/if he replies.
Thanks,
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Tor,
I've never gotten Roger to respond to an email, but (as I'm sure you know) he Loves to answer the phone.John
On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 3:33 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Bob,
I'm leery of Perko, too. It seems their cast bronze drain plug housing uses a brass plug. Mixing metals in such a crucial fitting doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I just emailed Roger at Bristol Bronze. Will let you know when/if he replies.
Thanks,
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Well, John, I guess it’s a whole new e-world now. Here, within a couple of hours of my query and on a Sunday!, no less, is Roger’s reply:
quote
Dear Tor,
Thanks for the e-mail and for your interest in Bristol Bronze. We do not presently make the drain plug that you are looking for, however we probably could. You would need to supply us an original, in any metal, to use as a master. I agree with you about the stuff on the market today. It is usually made from scrap alloy 360 brass and cast in S.E. Asia.
Roger W.
Bristol Bronze
401-625-5224
end quote
So there you have it. I’m not looking for a custom made piece, but I certainly do appreciate Roger’s personal and nearly instant reply.Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
I don’t know why anyone would to put a hole in a good Pearson keel. I use my Wet & Dry shop vac and can suck out all the bilge water in no time. I flush my bilges with freash water and vac the mess about twice a year. I live a 1/4 oil-absorbent sheet in the bilge at all times and the vac likes to suck that down also. Best of all I can do it in the water. Also I have a holding tank in that space and still can under it to get all the water out.
-
Tor,
Good to hear modern times is finally coming to RI. When I lived in Newport in the early 80s they were just getting around to replacing the wooden water mains. The Navy made me put in my own phone line at my office at the Naval Underwater Service Center (NUSC). I had the only touch tone phone in the whole building. This was the main computer center for the base. That is I had the only touch tone phone until one of the trust worthy Navy employees stole it out of my office – touch tone had just come to RI and the phones were considered prestige items.Roger is a great guy and a really good fabricator. I am really pleased he's finally figured out how to work email as well.
John
On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Well, John, I guess it's a whole new e-world now. Here, within a couple of hours of my query and on a Sunday!, no less, is Roger's reply:
quote
Dear Tor,
Thanks for the e-mail and for your interest in Bristol Bronze. We do not presently make the drain plug that you are looking for, however we probably could. You would need to supply us an original, in any metal, to use as a master. I agree with you about the stuff on the market today. It is usually made from scrap alloy 360 brass and cast in S.E. Asia.
Roger W.
Bristol Bronze
401-625-5224
end quote
So there you have it. I'm not looking for a custom made piece, but I certainly do appreciate Roger's personal and nearly instant reply.Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Oops, NUSC=Naval Underwater Systems Center
On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 9:04 PM, John Stevenson < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Tor,
Good to hear modern times is finally coming to RI. When I lived in Newport in the early 80s they were just getting around to replacing the wooden water mains. The Navy made me put in my own phone line at my office at the Naval Underwater Service Center (NUSC). I had the only touch tone phone in the whole building. This was the main computer center for the base. That is I had the only touch tone phone until one of the trust worthy Navy employees stole it out of my office – touch tone had just come to RI and the phones were considered prestige items.Roger is a great guy and a really good fabricator. I am really pleased he's finally figured out how to work email as well.
John
On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 6:00 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:Well, John, I guess it's a whole new e-world now. Here, within a couple of hours of my query and on a Sunday!, no less, is Roger's reply:
quote
Dear Tor,
Thanks for the e-mail and for your interest in Bristol Bronze. We do not presently make the drain plug that you are looking for, however we probably could. You would need to supply us an original, in any metal, to use as a master. I agree with you about the stuff on the market today. It is usually made from scrap alloy 360 brass and cast in S.E. Asia.
Roger W.
Bristol Bronze
401-625-5224
end quote
So there you have it. I'm not looking for a custom made piece, but I certainly do appreciate Roger's personal and nearly instant reply.Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Don,
I keep my bilge dry and spotless, too – when I’m aboard. The garboard drain plug is for when the boat is stored on the hard. Water will find it’s way in and collect in the sump. Normally, the electric bilge pump can handle that… as long as the batteries remain charged, but that’s a Murphy just waiting to happen. In the course of a 6-month winter the amount of water ingress may be surprising in these good old boats, plus there’s always the chance of the unanticipated. For example:
I’m on the hard now, and just a few days ago the deck drains all got clogged shut when a passing front shook a ton of leaves and seeds out of an overhanging tree and washed all of it into the scuppers. My electric bilge pump discharge hose shares the drain with the forward starboard scupper. When the water backed up inside the drain, it flooded into the bilge pump hose and fed a lot of water into the bilge sump through the pump. The pump couldn’t pump it back out because the drain was clogged. I arrived back aboard to the beeping of my bilge pump sound signal. Luckily, I was early enough to rescue the tired pump and straighten things out. However, if this had happened while the boat was unattended it could’ve been a real mess. Unless, of course, the boat had a garboard drain plug.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
In case anyone is interested, I did try to ask Perko if their “bronze” garboard drain plug fitting is indeed made from cheap Asian scraps, and why they sell this fitting with a brass plug. I got some bored secretary who said she’d have someone call me back.
Well, that never happened, so I called Groco, who also makes a bronze garboard drain plug. I immediately got a smart, interested engineer on the phone who explained they have those fittings made to their specs in China, that Groco regularly lab-tests the stuff the Chinese shop ships them to ensure consistent quality, and that as a result the fittings are absolutely, definitely 100% silicon bronze made to Groco specs, including the plug. So, how much do they charge for this marvel of modern multi-national manufacturing? $9.00! Guess what I bought for my installation. Even though the packing & shipping charge doubled the price, it was still less than West Marine’s Perko shot-in-the-dark.
Here are three photos of the installation in progress. On the inside, the drain hole is located near the farthest lower starboard forward corner of the deep bilge sump. There is 1-1/8″ of solid fiberglass there, so I was able to recess the piece inside and out. When the 4200 bedding compound is dry, I’ll cover the outer flange with thickened epoxy and then bottom pain so that only the plug remains visible.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Jeez, Tor. Now you've really done it. You've completely destroyed the aerodynamic shape of the keel Just think of the disturbed water flow on the bottom of the keel You'll probably have to put an end plate on the keel to reduce the vortex drag.
Neat idea and implementation. My only caveat is I would like someway to insure that plug doesn't start working its way out. Have you planned anything in that manner, other than some loctite and torquing the plug down with long socket wrench?
John
On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:In case anyone is interested, I did try to ask Perko if their “bronze” garboard drain plug fitting is indeed made from cheap Asian scraps, and why they sell this fitting with a brass plug. I got some bored secretary who said she'd have someone call me back.
Well, that never happened, so I called Groco, who also makes a bronze garboard drain plug. I immediately got a smart, interested engineer on the phone who explained they have those fittings made to their specs in China, that Groco regularly lab-tests the stuff the Chinese shop ships them to ensure consistent quality, and that as a result the fittings are absolutely, definitely 100% silicon bronze made to Groco specs, including the plug. So, how much do they charge for this marvel of modern multi-national manufacturing? $9.00! Guess what I bought for my installation. Even though the packing & shipping charge doubled the price, it was still less than West Marine's Perko shot-in-the-dark.
Here are three photos of the installation in progress. On the inside, the drain hole is located near the farthest lower starboard forward corner of the deep bilge sump. There is 1-1/8″ of solid fiberglass there, so I was able to recess the piece inside and out. When the 4200 bedding compound is dry, I'll cover the outer flange with thickened epoxy and then bottom pain so that only the plug remains visible.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
-
Hi Tor,
That's a nice job, man!
I didn't know Groco made the garboard plug. I do know they have a good reputation and their metals are what they say they are.
I'm not sure how Perko stays in the market since most of their stuff is chromed zinc alloy, otherwise known as pot metal. Their stuff corrodes, electrolysizes (if that's a word, which my spell checker assures me it isn't) and generally breaks very easily.
I won't buy a Perko anything for fear of catastrophic failure at the worst possible time. Hell, I'll go to Home Depot for something before I get a Perko thing, or use a bit of twine and chewing gum…
Bob
—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Hull #8Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Well, John, if the boat pulls to starboard I’ll know why. As for securing the plug, I figure Teflon grease and fingertip-tightening should do it.
A boat stored in this boat yard a few years ago, which did not have a garboard drain plug, managed to half-fill with rain water while the owners were away for most of a year. The result was a 2-year rebuild, including a new cabin sole and mostly new interior, and mold & mildew that will never, ever go away. Everything in a boat is a trade-off, and every hole below the waterline is a calculated risk. I eventually plan to store my boat on the hard in tropical places for half the year while I go do other fun things. The drain plug is one step towards ensuring I return to a habitable vessel.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Yeah, I kind of get that impression of Perko, too. I’ve called them a couple of times in the past year or so and never gotten any useful response. Groco, on the other hand, has been awesome on the two occasions I contacted them, and their 31-year-old seacocks are still keeping Mother Ocean outside of Silver Heels’ hull to this day.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.