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I am hoping Weatherly may read this or another person who seals the drain tubes with something other than the rubber "O" ring. I have removed all my through hull drain tubes. I purchased extra pipe/tubing from McMaster and cut some sacrificial pieces to drive out the old ones. Worked beautifully.

I read a response from Weatherly a while back where he considers the O ring method pretty chintzi and he seals them in place. I believe he uses BoatLife. Any others have alternative methods. I have the system down for creating the outside bell. I installed my first tube with a combination of BoatLife and the O ring but will love to hear alternative methods that may be better than O ring or.....hear how the O ring is fine and continue the course.

Garris

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Garris, I use both the o ring and Sikkaflex 291 in black. I coat the inside of the hole, spread it thoroughly to seal the foam and apply it to the tube as I install it into the hole. As you can imagine, it is a messy operation. To make the flares, I use the air chisel method. I find this is the best way to form a bell shape when the hole is off angle. Clean up with stove alcohol. I know there are many ways to skin this cat but this works for me.

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I used both O rings and 3M 4200.

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Thanks fellows, that was my procedure with the first tube I did but I used BoatLife's "LifeSeal". This time I was going to work a little of the material onto the foam and let it "go off". The first time I loaded it up I had to remove the tube and clean it up. I found that really loading it up with the sealant wet sort of lubricated the rubber ring and distorted the seating/bedding of the rubber. I guess I will "stay the coarse".
Garris

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For someone like me who is petrified of screwing up a drain tube installation is there another option? I am in San Diego (Carlsbad).....any recommendations on who where might do the job and about how much I might pay for two drain tubes installed.

I have a 13ft 1991 Super Sport Limited.....as best I can tell my train tubes are intact (by running my fingers in and around the tube).....is the another way to inspect?

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I thought my teansom drain tube was ok too because it looked ok and I couldn't feel anything wrong. I changed it anyway because I wanted the practice before replacing the tube on my Montauk 17. I found several small holes but the boat spends the sumner in a garage in SW Florida so I guess whatever water got in there had evaporated. I had to grind one of the flaring tools because of the transom angle but ultimately finished the outside flare off with the ball part of a ball peen hammer sitting on the partial flare and tapping the head of the hammer with another one. I used "O" rings and the 3M 4200 May not have been necessary but over the years several chips in the gelcoat beneath the "O" ring concerned me and now I'm pretty sure it's totally waterproof being full of marine bedding compound. Cheap insurance. I also think the "O" rings cushion the flare to gelcoat joint and help the flare to curve around toward the surface.

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I would say replace the tubes. I did all of mine. The first one I removed seemed intact but is was not. I actually removed the tube because I wanted to repair the gel coat around it. Once removed I saw that the interior of the tube appeared good but the outside portion which was in the foam had failed. I believe that the interior of the tube dries out and keeps the surface. A subtle failure wets the foam and never dries. Damages the tube from the outside in. That is why I am replacing all my tubes.

All the fellows that are after the "perfect bell"....I did my removal by delicately grinding the bell off of the most accessible side of the tube (4 inch angle grinder with cutting blade). I was actually able to remove the old "O" ring partially intact. I then tapped out the tube with some sacrificial lengths of the replacement tubing. One side had the original bell intact. Let's just say some looked better than the others. Its function is to hold the the gasket tight and a slightly deeper bell on one side than the other seemed to be acceptable.

Garris