Im one of those guys who likes to close all his thru-hulls when hes away from the boat. Getting to the engine thru-hull is almost as bad as getting to the head thru-hull (see my recent photo artical on that project).

On the Cherubini 33, that requires removing everything stored in the quarterberth, crawling in, removing the access panel, blindly reaching in and fumbling for the thru-hull lever, then flipping it.

This is what it looked like on my boat (with side panels removed). The lever moved athwartships. (I had already loosened the hose before I remembered to take photos, ignore the loose hose).

The Way It Was

First I rotated the fitting until the lever rotation axis lined up with the aft edge of the nav station footwell (just eyeball it). Actually it was snugged down too tight to rotate futher, so I removed it, added a 1/2 brass coupling and close nipple which gave me just enough play to rotate it the extra 30 degrees or so.

The New Angle

Using 3/8 aluminum rod (from Home Depot), I made an extension arm similiar to the one for my head thru-hull. First I drilled and tapped one end to accept a 10-24 screw. Second, I heated the end with a propane torch and bent it to 90 degrees. Third I temporarily connected the arm, determined the correct length and cut it to length. Finally I drilled out a knob I had floating around, its just press fitted on.

The Remote Arm

A 3/4 10-24 screw, a washer on either side of the handle, and into the end of the arm. A little lock-tite assures no unexpected separations. Blue lock-tite can be broken with a little effort, the Red stuff is like 3Ms 5200 or diamonds...forever.

In the photo the valve is in the closed position, theres plenty of clearance between the arm and brass elbow though it might not appear that way.

This is how the arm connects

This is roughly where I wanted the control arm to exit the engine compartment.

I modified the engine side cover years ago. Its two main pieces, plus the access panels. You will need to make some modifications to fit your boat, but that should be easy.

Rough positioning

The strip of wood has a groove against the fiberglass which the rear side panel fits into. To hold the arm in place when the panels are removed I simply screwed a wire tie in place, and looped it around the arm.

From the engine side

..thru-hull in open (lever out) position. Not obvious, but even fully out its well out of the way, and below the quarterberth insert..it ifs being used. Exits just below the edge of rear side panel

From the footwell..

The trim was removed, a small notch was made. About 3/4 wide and 1 tall, panel inserts and removes without displacing the arm.

Front side panel in place.

A 1/2 drum sander mounted in a dremel tool, a few minutes of measuring, a few more minutes of sanding/grinding, and the trim panel is back in place. The front panel still comes on and off easily.

Trim Panel

..with both panels in place, lever in the open position.

Another view..

...to show the whole picture. Valve in open position. Opening the panel below the nav desk allows you an easy view of the valve.

Rear panel removed...