Any 1/2" Left Hand Thread Plugs in UK?

[abrogard]

I am in Australia. Got an old aluminium dinghy the other day with the drain plug missing.
Had big hassles trying to figure out what size screw or plug was required and finally got
it figured: a 1/2" metal threaded plug just like those used to plug the end of
1/2" pipe.

BUT: In Left Hand Thread.

I can't find any such thing anywhere in Aus, though I 'm told it once was used by
gas fitting plumbers.

I'd be prepared to buy it from UK and have it emailed out.

Do you still have them in UK?

Or is there an Aussie plumber reading who can help me out?

 

[Mike Jackson]

I'd suggest your best bet is to try a machine shop with a good lathe. They may be able to machine one for you.

 

[abrogard]

Been there, done that, couple of hours ago - take the boat to him so's he can check the thread pitch and he'll do it.. no trouble... $50.

I guess I'll take out the whole fitting and fit something else. I've been reluctant to do it because I've never worked with aluminium, nor with boats. But I guess the job'll work out okay with metal reinforced epoxy and if I've got to plug too large a gap then I suppose I can epoxy in a sliver or two of aluminium.

$10 fitting. $10 of epoxy. Learn something.

Bit surprising how the thing can't be found though. As I understand it they were common on gas pipes. 1/2" gas pipe I suppose, running mainly from an outdoor tank hereabouts. It wouldn't have been municipal piped gas throughout the town, though it may well have been in different parts of Australia.

Well gas is still much used.

But the fittings have changed I suppose. You'd expect there to be a modern equivalent, though, wouldn't you? Adaptors and whatnot to join the old gal pipe to modern stuff, whatever it is.

But I haven't found a plumber or tradey anywhere that knows anything about it.

So there you go... time marches on.....

 

[WaterTight]

i'd have paid the £25 to just be done with it. it's probably why i've never got any money.

 

[WaterTight]

Hmm 50 Aus $ = £32.97 apparently.

Well if you went to an English plumbers merchants and they had one - unusual as it is - I honestly wouldn't be suprised if that's the least it cost.

 

[abrogard]

What, for one of these? Or a left hand threaded version? I'd imagine they'd be happy to give it away - a relic of bygone days... junk at the bottom of some tradie's bag.

This rht version cost me maybe $1.50, I forget.



And yes, I don't spend money just to be done with it. I go the other way round. Do without. Find an alternative. Shop around for cheaper. Learn to make it myself. And I consider all of that sort of sensible life skills that I try to teach to my kids....

 

[Rusty333]

I used this type, on mine....could only find on U.S ebay

 

[REDSAW]

what make of boat? they look simular to the sea nymph type.

can you drill the hole out to accept a female brass flange coupler, fit 2 rubber washers and use the right hand thread?

 

[abrogard]

Don't know the make. Or the age. Someone suggested a De Havilland I believe, at one time. All rivetted fittings, like the seats, a bit of a worry to me but I guess okay. Wish I could weld aluminium though, I'd go right round it and weld it all up.

Still, I'm making more of it than it needs, it's only a trivial little dinghy really - just my latest toy/obsession. 🙂

Pics of the whole scene for those who've been kind enough to have an interest and try to help. Perhaps you can see enough of the lines of the boat to identify it. And maybe my pic of the drain plug thing shows what I'm saying about it looking like a home made idea...

 

[tamz]

Try somewhere where they sell bottled gas or a welders shop. Propane, acetylene etc uses left hand threads. Normally 5/8" threads but there are other sizes.

 

[mcniven]

buy a new boat, with a jet ski attached to it, and a chef... i like a good chef.

 

[mcniven]

in all seriousness.. youve maybe used more electricity powering up the pc or the cost in fuel running around welders/gas men/plumbers to find the part! theres some local guy willing to help out and gurantee his work for £30!

what do u do if u get a plug, and make an even bigger mess of it! spend even more trying to fix the whole plug area.

 

[REDSAW]

take the big nut off and bung it permanently, then use a scoop to bail out?.

 

[abrogard]

Ho, ho, ho... That's for the jokes. 🙂

But in all seriousness - are you guys plumbers? Then you'd be of a mind to fix problems yourself rather than go buy someone else to do it, wouldn't you?

Sure I've wasted money in gas, time, pc electricity - but it all goes under the heading of 'tuition' or 'work experience' doesn't it?

Gotta see everything in context, I guess. I used to ask a serles of dumb questions on welding forums and got more than one person asking me why I didn't get someone else to do it - to fix the welding problem I had.

But I was learning. And I did learn a certain amount. Now, two sets of gates later, six tables, one boat trailer modication, one car tailgate repair, body repairs and a number of other items - I am streets ahead of the game. Streets ahead.

See. That's the context those questions were asked within. The context of my life and my needs, then, now and future.

What about your context? What about the old England? I read an English magazine: The Spectator and I see/hear the news. Sounds terrible. Sounds like the whole country is dying a death. How's things really, for the real people of the country, rather than for those whackers living off the fat?

 

[tamz]

You want the truth. It's ****. We have turned into a nation of winging self centred ******* who expect everything for nothing and we are governed by a bunch idiots who couldn't run a manage!

 

[abrogard]

It certainly looks like it's screwed, alright. You know I've been a non-political labour supporter all my life. I mean it was by default. Inherited from my parents. Backed by a couple of minutes thought that said 'labour' = work = me therefore 'I am Labour'.

But now I find myself unable to comprehend what Labour governments do, here and in UK. and I find myself reading magazines like The Spectator and Quadrant and similar which, I'm told, are Liberal or Conservative or something - definitely not 'Labour' anyway.

But it is only in those magazines that I see sensible reporting and discussion.

Which ain't to say that's all I find.

I find they are often quite paranoid about 'the people', being the mass of the population, being supposedly 'Labour' supporters, being the mass on the dole, being the 'force' that they think is pushing all governments of any persuasion into the same idiot actions.

In particular they are down on what we call 'dole bludgers' in Australia - people on Social Security, sometimes whole families who've been there nearly all their lives...

And I'm sorry to see that because it is a sweeping generalisation which is always a logical falsity and it lets down the quality of their otherwise excellent appraisal of the situation.

And because I've been there, I've done that, I've been a dole bludger and I've known many of them - even there in England where I spent some time.

And what the rich or the 'middle class' or the thousands/millions of secure public servants or whatever - all those who choose to denigrate this 'dole bludging mob' don't realise is two major things: 1. It is far, far from easy to get into employment. Far from easy. And almost impossible to get into something as cushy and secure as millions of govt employees have and totally impossible to get into something as comfy and satisfying as those in the better situations have. They are urged to do it, condemned for not doing it, yet the urgers and condemners for vastly the most part never did it for themselves but rather fell into something good and easy for little effort on their own part. I've been there. Done all that. Both sides of it.

2. Those people represent 'people'. Probably represent more purely what 'people' are in the world. True people. Real people. Natural people. Non-greedy, non-pushing, non-insecure, non-driven. Accepting, happy, natural people.

Though condemned for accepting so much 'given' to them for free the fact is they've got virtually nothing, they endure severe constraints in many areas in an objective sense and subjectively this situation is exacerbated continually by the inevitable increasing disparity between the haves and have nots as our material culture constantly invents new things to have - which they can't have.

But they don't rise in revolt.

All over the world. Generally. I think they have, here and there, from time to time.

There are, I think, a number of nations that have experienced this phenomenon or something very like it. Malaya - with Chinese, Indians and Malays had the Malays the poor 'accepting' bottom class subject to the wealthy Chinese bankers and Indian businessmen. The Malays, I think (with my poor historical understanding) eventually had to rise up and remind everyone (including themselves?) that this was their country and take it back for themselves.

I think this has happened in a number of places. The indigenes are basically happy to be at home. The imports are driven by a need to prove themselves, to acquire wealth, status, position, security - to find their own way to 'be at home' - which sometimes they never reach. Instead remaining on their mad treadmill.

Well the same thing happens in a homogenous country, I think. It doesn't have to be a division amongst races, immigrants and indigenes. It can be a division between some kind of hereditary classes or even between recent, new, adopted attitudes or 'classes'.

However it happens the point is that it happens and it divides a society and it is obvious as the nose on your face that it is always assumed that the neurotic driven personality or paradigm is correct and the accepting, docile mob are lazy bludging no gooders.

But is is just not true. Rather, I think, the truth is the other way round.

Myself I always think of a litter of pigs. Ever seen one? Go look. The little buggers are so strong, incredibly strong little packets of meat from the word go. And they fight for the front tit. And the closer to the front the more milk and the bigger and stronger you get and the more milk you get and the bigger and stronger....

But we value politeness and sanity, calm and reason, orderly queuing, and stepping out of the way of the greedy pushing piglet and letting it into the front tit is more in my nature than otherwise. Mine and millions more, I think. And I would have it be universal if I could.

So I have stepped out of the way all my life. I do not compete that savagely. I have acquired. I have a degree. I have various skills/competences. I have worked in many fields, held many jobs and acquitted myself quite well in most of them. I am far from being a useless dole bludger. But I don't push and I'm not neurotically insecure and/or blind to the sheer pleasure of being alive in my country.

And during my time I have sometimes been lucky and I've gotten into a couple or so of lucky jobs, cushy jobs and I've seen how it is in there and who is in there, what kind of people, what they do and how they think. And I notice it is only moments before they accept their luck as their right and only yet a few more moments before they draw the corollary that those who don't have that luck don't have it because they have no right to it..... And so on...

And it is sad, isn't it? Because it is the masses who can offer the insecure the security they are hunting for (and which they daily grow more in need of as their fear of those masses gets awakened and nurtured by the growing critical state of the world and their own inability to understand it and fix it...) and it is those 'insecure' who can offer the masses the freedom from curtailment and constraint that they would wish for, need, desire, could well use... For, after all, they, the 'insecure', are the overlords in fact, on a daily basis (except for this idea that the masses are pushing all the programmes, all the ideas, of any government today) and it is they who are deciding how the world will be built, what will be built, etc.... they've got the steering wheel, haven't they?

Both sides should see the other side's point of view.

Meantime I can see 'whinging self centred ******* who expect everything for nothing' on both sides of the social divide, on both sides of politics.

The moderator's going to trash this for being off the point...

🙂

 

[justlead1]

Save your self a few bob. Use the cork out of the bottle of wine you drank whilst writing the above. Bon Voyage

 

[mcniven]

whats labour got to do with ure boat leakin in australlia! we cant blame them for everything!!

 

[PlumbBobBob]

no, but we can blame them for quite a lot!

 

[mcniven]

id say things r worse now steveb than ever, i know the old arguement regarding labour got us into it, but right now were being drowned with the rest of the world

 

[Joncpi]

Have you tried townandcountrypumpsandpipes.com.au? Or some local boat chandlers?
Alternatively you could buy a 1/2" BSP lefthand thread die or dienut (you dont need to buy a wrench if using a dienut, you can use a spanner, but it doesn't adjust so cutting a good thread on steel can be a bit difficult sometimes) and some brass (as it easier to cut a thread on brass than stainless steel)
The brass needs to be 20mm diameter, cut a piece off about 50mm long maybe and then cut a square shape on one end say 20mm deep. Then you can clamp this in a vice, and cut the thread on the other end. Not sure but you may even be able to get a lefthand tapered thread die. Otherwise, if you can only get a parallel thread die, just use PTFE tape or Loctite 55, if you have that down under, to seal it. If you want to be really clever you could drill a small hole through the square end and thread a cable or string through it so it's not lost if you have to take it out.

 

[Joncpi]

Hi, another thought occurred to me just as I finished writing. Is it possible that the thread in this drain hole is not 1/2" BSP LH but in fact 7/8ths 14UNF lefthand? Outside diameter of 1/2"BSP is 0.825" and pitch is 0.0714" and 7/8 14UNF is O.D 0.8752 and pitch 0.07143" In which case you should simply be able to buy a 7/8ths UNF lefthand thread bolt to solve your problem.

 

[abrogard]

It could well be. I'll try to get one on Monday. I was hoping those pictures of the fitting I put up on post #9 would help with identification - thinking that big six sided nut would help somehow. But it doesn't seem to have rung a bell with anyone.

And failing the 7/8th UNF I'll go the dienut and see how that works. Thanks very much for your help, it is spot on.

🙂

 

[Ged Simpson]

Why not find a bolt that will just fit through the hole with an oversize steel and rubber washer to seal from the inside of the boat and tighten with a washer and nut on the outside. Seems to me a cheap and simple fix.

 

[Dannypipe]

I used this type, on mine....could only find on U.S ebayView attachment 4807

I have a set of these, I bought them from a small independant merchants a few years ago and have been on the lookout for another set ever since. Very handy.

If anyone has a link, please put it up!!

 

[abrogard]

I like that, Ged. I well might try it. The cheapest, simplest fix is actually a rubber bung, which is what I've got in now.

Plastic actually, sold for the job, no guidance on sizes, the one I've put in goes right into the hole, nothing sticking out.

I'm just nervous about their ability to keep the water out and keep themselves in.

But I don't think anyone who actually takes to the water regularly in dinghies and such worries about it at all. I rather think rubber bungs or even a cloth wrapped stick bashed in are pretty common. I'm just a worry wart.

AND: I like to track things down. Seems to me this would have been a very, very common piece of gear this bloke used for a bung when he built the boat, back then, when, maybe 20 years ago?

So your idea suits me. I get to keep this fitting so's I can keep 'tracking it down' and yet I get something as secure as a nut and bolt to keep the water out. Good one. 🙂

But I'm hoping this 7/8th UNF will fix it. Isn't that amazing - 7/8th being the same as 1/2? 3/8th taken up! We'll see.

 

[markfxy]

they use left hand threads in France you could try on an expat forum see if anyones got one

 

[Joncpi]

But I'm hoping this 7/8th UNF will fix it. Isn't that amazing - 7/8th being the same as 1/2? 3/8th taken up! We'll see.

I will now probably bore you to death, but that because British Standard Pipe (BSP) thread is measured by the internal diameter of the pipe. Whereas bolt threads such as British Standard Whitworth (BSW); British Standard Fine (BSF); Metric Coarse (MM) to name a few, are measured on the outside diameter.
The other thing I would suggest, but you have probably already thought of this, and if you can find it, is that you buy either a brass UNF bolt or a stainless one. A steel bolt will obviously rust very quickly in salt water.

 

[abrogard]

No, you don't bore me, far, far from it. You got me reading more, such as: Unified Thread Standard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - which got me even more interested/confused/headachey. It's all fascinating. Too late for me now but I wish I'd been trained as an engineer or somesuch.

Let's see what happens Monday. 🙂

p.s. Nope, I wouldn't have thought of the brass or stainless.... I have to do everything wrong the first time.

 

[abrogard]

And here we are on Monday.... with nothing but failure.

Left Hand Threaded bolts are totally unavailable in Australia it seems.

In these days of computers you don't have to look around much - find one major supplier on the web, contact them, they speak for the stock on hand at all of their stores throughout the country...

Do that a few times, follow every lead they give you... pretty soon you can be sure you've got it covered...

That's what I did and the answer is - 'No'. Can't be done. Can't be got.

Not even the die nut.

Going to have to take it out and put in something new.

Thanks for all the attempts at help.

🙂

 

[Phil]

Are you sure its a left hand thread? Not just because you guys are upside down?

:ciappa:

Sorry bad joke!

Right I'm of to work to earn tax money for the government to spend on housing imigrants.

 

[abrogard]

Yes, I'm sure, Phil - I stood on my head when I looked at it to correct for the difference in hemispheres...

🙂

 

[REDSAW]

if it were my boat and i wanted to keep it as it was built and money an issue, then i would make one with a lead rod heated up and screwed in. as there is no stress then the lead will do made to immitate a bolt.

otherwise, then if it were the 'real thing' you were after, then i would order one from here.....
i think its a national pattent thread (npt) 1/2''

if you require, then i can pick it up for you and pop over to fit it at travel cost, if you like.lol.

Garboard Drain Plug Only 520041-1 - SeaDog Line Drain Plugs and Tubes @ MarineEngine.com

 

[tamz]

That must be the one Red. The op has been getting Garboard and gas board mixed up :lol:

 

[abrogard]

Hey, I wonder if that is it? Shame they won't send me one but apparently they don't ship international orders for parts, only manuals, else I'd buy one to try it. National Pipe Thread. Could come in a left hand version, too, though the garboard drain plug they're selling there makes no mention of being left hand.

Would that hot lead rod thing work or would it just plug the thing permanently?

 

[REDSAW]

Hey, I wonder if that is it? Shame they won't send me one but apparently they don't ship international orders for parts, only manuals, else I'd buy one to try it. National Pipe Thread. Could come in a left hand version, too, though the garboard drain plug they're selling there makes no mention of being left hand.

Would that hot lead rod thing work or would it just plug the thing permanently?

study the picture closely, it is a left hand thread.!. apparently to stop it working loose. if you do some reading on the other plugs etc.
the lead 'billet' will work if you get it shaved down to the right diameter then heat it as you screw it in. there is no tensile properties needed in the application so lead is fine and once inserted will unscrew with ease.

like i said, pay my fair and i will pick one up for you.!.

optionally, try emailing one of these to check. looks the same stock to me?.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/dsc/i.html?_n...=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313&LH_TitleDesc=1

 

[abrogard]

You're an excellent researcher and observer, aren't you? On looking again, especially at that bottom item, with the cross piece, it is left hand threaded okay, I agree.

And that's a great swag of things you've found on eBay. I've emailed one of the vendors asking if his plug is left hand thread, because close inspection of those pics doesn't seem to show left hand thread to me.

I think you might have cracked the case, eh? Good for you.

If this doesn't work out I'll replace it with whatever. Someone somewhere objected to my using epoxy but reading threads associated with that garboard plug thing I see other people have used it alright.

I note those garboard things seem to be set up for screwing (countersunk heads) to timber. I wonder if there's stuff somewhere made for fastening to the thin sheet aluminium of a tinny? You'd think so.

And what metals would it be okay to use on the dinghy? Anything at all?

Anyone care to pronounce on the 'rubber bung' thing? Is a rubber bung in the drain hole of a dinghy quite good enough?

 

[tamz]

The rubber bung wouldn't trouble me There is very little pressure on it so it is very unlikely ever to "pop" out. Even if it did just stick it back in again. If it worries you take a life vest and watch a couple of Johnny Weissmuller films.

 

[REDSAW]

if you look back on the site they do a leaver bung to size that fits bait-wells.

 

[abrogard]

Alright guys - here's the red-faced confession - I DIDN'T CHECK PROPERLY.

And here's the result of checking properly - IT IS NOT LEFT HAND

And here's the result of trying again, carefully - THE HALF INCH PLUG FITS

And here's the result of persevering a little more - A FINE UNF (?) DOES THE JOB.

Sorry. Apologies. And many thanks for all who tried to help me. I learned a lot about bolts and sizes and about boats - that stuff about garboard plugs is a little beauty. I'm happy about it all. But I was wrong. Careless, hurried, slapdash, wrong.

I started this thing months ago. Have a box of bolts of different sizes I got when dashing around town here bugging everyone asking for bolts that might fit.

Here's what happened today:

After talking to a really great guy at E.J.Milde here in Adelaide where they seem to be the definitive boat fixings people, I learned there's no chance of it being a left hand garboard drain. They don't stock 'em. There's none.

So went to the boat with a candle and stuck it in the hole to try get a thread impression to settle that question.

To my surprise the only way I could screw it in and out was clockwise, right hand thread. Trying the other way just stripped wax off the candle...

And to my surprise the candle sticking out of the hole was angled way over to the right.

Made me think maybe I'd been bashing away at starting a bolt in the thread without lining it up properly - expecting it to be at right angles to the transom.

So I got WD40 and I got a sharp scriber point and I scraped the thread and lubricated it and tried the 1/2" plug again.

It went in About a turn and a half.

I messed with it and lubricated and tried a bit of force and I got it to 2 full turns. Then 2.5.

I looked in the box of bolts and I found the fine thread bolt and I tried it. It went 3 full turns easily and seemed to fill the thread to the end - the thread starts on the inside of the boat and only goes halfway through the tube.

So that seems to be it.

The problem never existed. The problem is me. As usual.

I hope I haven't caused anyone any trouble, burning midnight oil trying to help, or even just wasting thinking time...

Thanks again. Sorry.

Don't know what else to say....

Where's one of those funny emoticons

😳

 

[Phil]

mmm...

Its a good thing you didn't get one made then! I think we've all learnt something here..........

Happy boating.

 

[abrogard]

I reckon. And someone on another forum says the fitting looks like a 'barrel union' from the pipe fitting world. Finally an ID!

All the best to everyone. Especially Yorkshire. My family is from East Yorkshire.

 

[REDSAW]

donk!

 

[Dannypipe]

Yeah that does look like a 'barrel' plug. Barrel is just slang for steel pipe. Think I have a few of those plugs kicking around in my shed.

 

[tamz]

Better get yourself a brass plug. That iron one will rust quickly.

 

[SimonJohns]

Just had a thought. Have you ever heard of POLYMORPH

That may be a very quick and better fix

 

[abrogard]

Yep, brass plug.

I asked but our main nut&bolt supplier here didn't have anything but steel. And two inches the shortest. So I've got this great black steel thing sticking out of the hole at the moment. 🙂

I'll find one somewhere.

It is a 3/4" UNF. If this is a standard 'barrel union' type thing surely there's a standard plug for it?

The 1/2" plug would be a good candidate except it only goes in a little way and then gets difficult. The UNF goes in much better.

But I've been reading about threads. Maybe it is a pipe thread with that cunning trick of increasing the threads per inch so's the plug by design jams into the threads, creating a watertight fastening?

Maybe. Maybe not. The UNF wouldn't go in so well if that was the case, would it?

And rust, corrosion. Yes, good point. But what about the pipe itself? It is going to rust as quickly as any plug isn't it? I suppose it just means I must service the thing well after every use. WD40 I suppose. Is there something better?

 

[Joncpi]

Sorry but I had not looked at the photos you had attached when originally asking for help. But I now have. What someone has welded into your transom is almost certainly half of a pipe union.. If you were to clean it all up, which I would not advise, you would almost certainly find the larger hex. nut would be loose. It is intended to be screwed onto another "male" part in order to join two pipes together in such a way as they can be dismantled easily to remove say a valve or pump from the line. Anyway putting that aside I would say that your boat has had a 1/2" NPT pipe union welded into it. This is the most common thread type used in America for pipe threading. As you know they have a distinct aversion to using anything English or European e.g BSW & Metric threads for bolts or BSP for pipes so they came up with their own. ANC for bolts and NPT for pipework. So it looks as though who ever made your boat also used a pipe union from America. 1/2" NPT has an outside diameter of 0.840" compared to the 0.825" of a BSP thread.
I would now look on line and find a supplier of a 1/2" NPT brass or stainless plug. Try speedflow.com.au, not sure what material they are.

 

[abrogard]

Thank you for that. I will follow your suggestion. Including not cleaning up the area. I can see why you say it. Though it is going to have to be done sooner or later.

But later. We took the boat for an initial test launch yesterday and she's shipping water through the bottom somewhere. Probably loose or missing rivets. I'm pondering/gathering info on whether to abandon the rivetting and get it all welded up.

The UNF bolt we've got in there at the moment seemed to hold the water out okay, no seepage. I don't know what size it is, don't know how to measure it. My cheapo calipers seem to say it has 11/16th overall diameter across the top of the threads. It might be 3/4" UNF, I guess, fitting where a 1/2" BSP fits - and doing a better job of it.

I downloaded Speedflow's catalogue and I see they have a plug part number 932-12 which is 'npt 3/4' and I guess that might be what I need?

I will talk to them.

Thanks for your help.

regards,

ab

 

[REDSAW]

i was going to go into business building these type boats for fishing a couple of years ago.
got the jig gear drawings and everything, only to discover the 1051 alloy grade sheets were not available in anything bigger than 8 foot sheets!!!!?????????.

as for the seams leaking, you can get alloy sticks that you apply like brazing with a plumbing torch. i had been assured by the manufacturer of the rods they are approved for the application.

 

[abrogard]

By God, that's a good clue, Redsaw. It reminds me of something very much like that I looked into some years ago. I'll search it out again. If I remember I found it hiding in the guise of 'aluminium welding', which it isn't, really, because it is more like brazing, as you say.

That could be just the thing. I could fix the whole thing myself maybe.

I don't quite follow why the 8' sheets put an end to your project. Is it because it is not on to join sheets?

 

[Joncpi]

NPT 3/4" will be too big. (just over 1" OD) I think you need the 1/2" NPT plug (OD about 13/16") (same as 1/2" BSP)

 

[REDSAW]

yea, i wanted to build min 14' upto 18' boats with casting deck etc.
cant seem to be satisfied with a craft with a mid weakness by joining the sheets. one day?.

here is a link. - Durafix UK Ltd

 

[abrogard]

Thanks for the link. I see the Australian distributor and I think I'll get some rods and give it a try. I don't have an oxy set or oxy experience so I'll be using propane or butane - I hope it really works just as well with them?

Have you experience of it?

It is the thing I ran across some years ago. It seemed so good I couldn't believe it. Thought it must be some sort of a trick else it'd be in use everywhere. Can't help feeling somewhat the same now...

Perhaps it is in use everywhere....

Found two holes in the boat so far. Missing rivets. That might be enough to account for the amount of water it was taking on. Block them and I could be okay.

$50 for a set of these rods might be cheap for such a fix. Also long wanted to do some aluminium work and been bothered by the problem of fastening the stuff. This could be the answer...

🙂