Tackling Thru-hull Repairs on Takara

Updating Takara’s transducer called for eliminating one thru-hull fitting and making a second one smaller. Here’s how it was done.

When I retired three years ago, I had plans to do a lot of camping. We have a small travel trailer that we love, yet there are times when camping alone that I prefer to keep things simple by leaving the trailer at home. Sleeping in the back of my small SUV works fine for me. There is even room to bring my canine pal along. One of the challenges with car camping is getting fresh air without allowing mosquitoes in for their blood-letting endeavors. I decided to devise a simple window screen that can be easily attached and removed. The screen panels that I came up with can be made in a weekend. The thing I like most about them (besides the fact that they keep the mosquitoes out) is that they store flat and unnoticed under the mat in the back of my car. My plan was to design a screen frame that was thin enough to fit between the car windows and the rubber seal that the window slides up and down as the windows are raised and lowered. The window screen frame would need to be no more than 1/16" thick. The window screens (pictured) work extremely well. While you can purchase window screens for cars online, to me these look like a one-size-fits-all approach that is bulky and timeconsuming to install. I made a set of custom window screens for each of our cars. One set of screen frames were made from leftover fiberglass scraps and epoxy. The other set of frames were made with 1/16" thick cardboard (not corrugated) that I saturated with epoxy. Once the epoxy on the frames was cured, sanded smooth, and painted, I glued a flexible plastic window screen to the inside of the frame with West System® G/5® Five-minute Epoxy. I think you’ll agree that they look good. Best of all, they store flat and out of the way when not in use. If you are interested in making a set for your vehicle, here’s how.