Hello from Florida! I've been working on this 34' Marinette Rivercruiser houseboat now for years. It's like 20 separate little projects, but overall it's a huge undertaking, see my photo-sharing site: http://s1216.photobucket...dd377/projecthouseboat/ But first:
My most recent little project is an idea on how to draw water up from the thru-hull into the boat to be used by a washdown pump or in the galley where I can use lake water (if needed for rinsing etc.) pulling it up with a manual diaphragm pump. With my boat all the water intake strainers have been welded over and I do not want to make any holes in the lower hull itself. I have 2 thru-hulls I can use: one for sink and shower drainage, and then this other one which I plan on using for drawing water up from lake if needed. The thru-hull holes appear to be at the water line (possibly above it a bit.) I purchased one of the 90 deg Maeleron hard line thru-hull fittings from Hamilton Marine already and it's installed (see pic 1.) I was looking around for fittings trying to see how I could do this and have come up with using a 90 degree Maeleron with the threaded Attwood one shown in the picture(#2.) That Attwood fitting which has the threaded ends is the only one I've been able to find. I wish I could find one like that but made of Maeleron. By using those two together I can have a hard-line going out and down (like a siphon) as well as a hard-line going inside and up(to the galley/washdown pump etc.) but I still wonder if this will fly (a surveyor would probably shake his head.) Actually the idea seems a little Kludged/Jerry rigged but I can't think of how else to do it and NOT drill any holes through the bottom of the hull. I wish I could find a thru-hull that's threaded on the INSIDE so I can screw in a 90 degree down turn to siphon up water when needed, and then remove/unscrew it when not used, but I haven't found one. Do you know of anything like that Attwood fitting (preferably made of Maeleron?) Opinions and criticisms welcomed.

First pic of black 90 deg. is one I got from Hamilton Marine. Second pic. is close up of threaded Attwood fitting. Third pic. is of overview/sketch of water draw up idea and 4th pic is close up of thru-hull area. http://s1216.photobucket...oat/Thru%20hull%20idea/

Thanks for any help on this, Roger from Mt. Dora, FL

Thanks for the one response, actually yes I did weld the engine exhaust holes and drains shut because I'm going with an outboard (did you see the pictures?) I have 2 thru-hulls to use: 1 for shower, a/c drip and galley drains, and 2/second for...well I can't think of a reason to have another one except drawing in water from lake for wash-down and rinsing. My bilge thru-hull/drains are going to be higher up above the water line. I've actually been REconsidering this whole idea... It's probably not a good idea to have a 90 deg. hard-line jutting out from the side of the hull at the water-line since that could be broken off...it would sort of stick out far enough to be a drag and in addition a bounce off from another boat or a knock against a dock would break it right off...so what I will do is have a normal thru-hull identical to the one used for sink drain and route a flexible tube down and out to the water. When not needed I could just pull it back enough for it not to be sticking out. I will sketch this out soon enough to show this concept.

Just to give you more projects, there is now a houseboat on Lake Powell that draws lake water and converts it to hydrogen on demand and mixes it with the gas to greatly increase fuel efficiency. HOD it is called and lots of folks are watching it. it was built by Destination Yachts in Indiana in cooperation with the HOD company that has done installs on other projects, but not boats.
Gary Kramer