Deck Plate options????

[Bryan A.]

I need to cut two holes in the deck of my boat to acess the tops of the tanks. I plan on going with the traditional pie plate stye. The deck is glass over plywood and I want to use the most watertite and less intrusive possible. What have people had experience with, screw in or pry out?
I have had both at one time or another on various boats. I am again, looking for opinions or suggestions or better solutions for this one. The tanks are totally sealed under the deck righ now and want to avoid intruducing water into that area. Thanks in advance.

[Capt Chuck]

Bryan

These Armstong type seem to be the way too go. They came standard on my Potter Bracket. I replaced them with (2) off-white in color. I have the original white ones you see in the picture below in my garage which are in perfect shape. They are for 8" cut out. Retail $24 each. PM me if your interested and I'll make you a deal you can't refuse

Here's the web site-----> Armstrong

[warthog5]

While the Armstrong's are hand's down the best as far as watertite, they protrude from the surface and will be toe stubber's.

[Bryan A.]

Will they seal against the non-skid surface of my deck? The deck is plywood with glass so I guess I would have to seal the edge. How high do they stick up? I am interested. My plan so far it to go witht the screw out type and recess them slightly into the deck because they will be in a walking area. I figured I would check here for better ideas first.

[strick]

They stick up about 1/4 inch. They seal to the nonskid on my bracket fine. You can recess them like you were talking. I have one of their large hatches and it is recessed in a walking area.





strick

[Capt Chuck]

While the Armstrong's are hand's down the best as far as watertite, they protrude from the surface and will be toe stubber's.

I walk all over mine on the bracket barefoot all the time without any toe stubbing. They do stick up 1/4" but are beveled downward.
As Strick mentioned you can always recess/countersink them like below

[Bryan A.]

What does the bottom look like? From the pictures on the site it looks like a plastic bar about 3"x8"x1/2" or so. I am not sure at this point how much clearance I have between the deck and the tank. Need to cut first but it should be fine. What would be an advantage of going with this rather than say the beckson type?

Chuck you have a PM.

[warthog5]

You are correct. It has a T- bar on it. It also has a snap ring on the shaft so you can't turn the T to much and loose the T-bar on the bottom.

What would be an advantage of going with this rather than say the beckson type?

They don't leak.

[Bryan A.]

They are on the way. Thanks Capt. Chuck.

[Bryan A.]

Finally got to this job, it's only been three months. I needed to acess the pick up tubes in my forward tanks in order to run new lines and a second separator/filter. A few monts ago you guys talked me into the armstrongs and Capt. Chuck generously sold me some from his inventory. After plenty of measuring, some of which started last year, I decided on a test hole of 2" to get me in the ball park then fine tuned the placement after I knew excactly where the fitting was.
Then I used my handy Rotozip with the circle atachment to cut some 7" holes in a deck that I redid only 3 years ago. Hard making the first incision into a completed project. But all is well and they should work out fine. Check out the pics.







Finally here is the objective. Access. The tanks are made by Sunrise marine and the stamps say 58 gallons and have a date stamp of 1982. The hull is registered as an 86' and I was told the 4 tanks are 50 gallons each with a total capacity of 200 gallons, I wonder if the back ones are smaller. Anyone know Whitewaters or Sunrise marine? Other Tom if you are out there what were your old tanks like in your 25?


In the future I may try flush mounting these like Capt. Chuck posted but for now I need to get this boat WET!
Thanks eveyone for all the help.