Home / Products / Marine Hoses & Fittings
Marine Hoses & Fittings
Marine hose that meets the marking
USCG approved fuel hose, fill and vent, wet exhaust, bilge, water and hydraulic steering, with stainless fittings and clamps that survive the environment. Stocked at both Long Island counters and cut to length while you wait, with the Oakdale shop covering the south shore marinas.
Why It Is Different
On a boat the marking is the specification
Marine fuel hose is one of the few places where the printing along the hose is not just helpful information. It is the specification, and on an inspected or insured vessel it is what a surveyor reads to decide whether the line belongs where it is fitted.
The reason is fire. A fuel line inside an engine compartment has to keep containing fuel for a period while it burns, and hose is classified on whether it does that. Permeation is the second half of it, because fuel vapour passing straight through a hose wall is both a fume problem in a closed bilge and an emissions one.
Beyond fuel, nearly every system on a boat has its own hose type. Wet exhaust has to take heat and support its own weight full of water. Bilge hose has to resist collapse under suction. Sanitation hose has to resist odour permeation, which is the difference between a boat that smells and one that does not. None of them substitute for each other.
Then there is the salt, which quietly destroys the fittings long before the hose gives up. Everything below assumes the hose is only half the job.
Marking Decoder
What is printed on your hose?
Type what you can read along the side of the hose, or tap an example. Anything recognised gets explained. Worn markings are the usual reason a hose gets replaced without anyone knowing what it was.
This explains terminology, it does not approve an installation. Which hose type is required where depends on the vessel, the system and the rules that apply to it. Bring the old hose or the specification to the counter, and take anything inspected or insured past your surveyor before you rely on it.
By System
Six lines, six different hoses
Almost nothing on a boat shares a hose with anything else. These are the ones that come across the counter, and what makes each of them its own problem.
Fuel feed and distribution
The line from tank to engine. The most tightly specified hose on the boat, because it sits where a fire would start. Type and class are both printed along it, and both matter to whoever inspects the vessel.
Fuel fill and vent
Larger bore, lower pressure, still specified. Fill hose has to take the deck fitting loads and the vent has to stay clear so the tank breathes properly during filling. Both get their own marking.
Wet exhaust
Carries hot gas and cooling water together, so it needs heat resistance and enough wall stiffness not to sag when full. Sagging exhaust hose traps water, and trapped water finds its way back toward the engine.
Bilge and pump lines
Runs under vacuum, so it needs a reinforcement that stops the bore collapsing when the pump pulls. Smooth bore matters too, because corrugated hose robs flow on a system that already has very little to spare.
Sanitation and holding tank
The one where permeation is the whole conversation. Odour passes through cheap hose wall over time and no amount of cleaning fixes it. Purpose built sanitation hose is the only real answer.
Hydraulic steering
Modest pressure but an unforgiving environment, and the fittings corrode long before the hose does. Stainless ends are a few dollars more and change how long the assembly lasts. Built at the counter like any other hydraulic assembly.
The Salt
Fittings fail before hose does
On a boat the hose is rarely what gives up first. Corrosion at the connections gets there years earlier, and most of it is avoidable at the point of purchase.
Buying It
Cut, fitted and gone the same visit
Bring the old hose if you can
The marking on the piece you are replacing tells us the type, the class and the bore in one go, which removes all the guesswork. If it has worn off, tell us the vessel, the system and where the line runs and we will work from that.
Fuel work in particular is worth getting exactly right, and the wider compliance side of fuel transfer sits on fleet fuel transfer hoses.
Marina and boatyard accounts
Fuel dock dispensing hose, yard washdown, repower work and the steering assemblies that come with it. For yards running the same replacements every season we hold the specification on file and can build spares ahead of the haul-out rush rather than during it.
Dispensing components, nozzles, swivels and breakaways are covered on pump hoses and nozzles.
Before You Buy
Common questions
No. Marine fuel hose is classified on fire resistance and permeation and carries a marking that says so, and automotive hose does not. On an inspected or insured vessel that marking is what a surveyor looks for. It is also the reason the hose exists, because a fuel line in a closed engine compartment is a different risk from one under a car.
Fire resistance. Type A is tested to keep containing fuel while burning for a set period, Type B is not. The number after it separates fuel feed lines from fill and vent lines. Which one your installation requires depends on the vessel and where the line runs, so confirm it against your application rather than matching whatever came off.
Bring it in with the details of the boat and where the line runs. Bore, wall thickness and construction all narrow it down, and knowing which system it served usually settles the rest. Worn markings are common on anything more than a few seasons old, and it is a large part of why replacing a fuel line is worth doing before it becomes urgent.
Yes, and on a boat they are worth the difference every time. Ask about the clamp screws specifically, because clamps sold as stainless often have a plated carbon steel screw that rusts and seizes. All stainless including the screw is what you want on anything you may need to remove again.
Yes, built to length with the ends the helm and cylinder require, and with stainless fittings where you want them. Bring the old assembly if you have it. Steering lines are one of the most common marine jobs across the Oakdale counter through the season.
Yes, including fuel dock dispensing hose and the seasonal replacements yards go through. For accounts we hold the specification on file so reorders never need measuring again, and build spares ahead of the season rather than during it. Ask at either counter or through the contact page.
Get It Matched
Bring the piece you cut out
The marking, the bore and the system it served answer nearly everything. Oakdale is the closer counter for most of the south shore, and both shops carry the range.