I had not been putting much thought into which brand of float hardware I would be getting; up until today, it was a bit of a tossup between Beckson and Tempress. I even ordered one of Tempress' 6" deck plates and it looked basically fine, although not much different than the Beckson ones I can see down at the local Fisheries Supply. Then today I saw on the Yahoo F-boat forum, that Ian recently posted a comment that he considered the Ronstan PNP40 to be a good design, because the screw-in part has a overlapping lid that covers up the threads and screw holes. Who am I to argue -- so I'm going to order enough of those for both floats. The wide lip also has the advantage that it hides the screws -- I had mild esthetic concerns about those being visible all the time.
For the large float deck hatches, I am considering this Tempress model. It also has a wide lip that hides the screws when closed.
I am still looking for a vent cover for the transom pressure relief hole, although I am also wondering why there isn't some wiz-bang pressure relief valve for that application, that would also keep out water. Of course, a simple hole has the advantage that it is low-tech, and not much can go wrong (I wonder how loud of a sound does an over-pressured float make when it blows up in the sun? :).
Lastly I need to think about which screws to use. I know they are "just" screws, but I'd like to get decent ones that will not go all rusty after one season -- am I being naiive? McMaster has a wide selection of screws in 316 stainless steel, which is one of the variants Ian recommends in the building manual. And I can get them in my favorite square-head drive configuration. Anyone know of a better option?
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2 comments:
The Ronstan port looks cool. Almost wish I would have seen that before I ordered the Becksons - but I'm sure these will be as good as they can be.
For the float vent, I went with Ian's suggestion on the SeaDog micro vents. They look good. Very simple, nothing really to go wrong. I like the idea of things being simple.
For fasteners I was just going to make a list of everything needed, add some spares, and order a bunch from McMaster when the time approaches.
The improvement level in the Ronstan is probably insignificant for these small deck hatches, I agree. I did see Ian's suggestion re the SeaDog microvent...but was hoping to find one made from white plastic, as opposed to the chrome\stainless steel model (331360). Not a deal-breaker though.
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