Some scheduled time off work arrived, my family departed on a get away and i jumped into our fine vessel for some below waterline welding and cutting. The weeks jobs included removal of every through hull (welded pipe to hull) and replacement and/or relocation of that through hull as well as the subsequent patching of the hull. The 1 1/4 cockpit drains were replaced with thick walled 2″ pipe
I chose to use sch 80 pipe nipples (thick wall) with 1/8″ doubler “donut” plate on the outside.

A doubler plate (a second layer of steel which is generally asking for trouble) is a controversial thing and an external one even more so. After much research and review I found that workboats, tugs etc often had this arrangement, when well sealed would provide the through hull with incredible support with any weld pulling outwards.. so this is what i did.

I patched the hull in the same manor since the largest of the patches was 7″ round, i overlayed the patch by 1/8″ (hull plate thickness) a little clunky looking but as strong as a dumptruck.

The following pictures show some of the work, though i took very few nearing the completion of these projects as my family’s return was imminent, and my body was growing weary.