For most people who spend time on the water, complexity is the enemy. What matters is gear that does its job reliably, holds up through seasons of salt and sun, and doesn't become a maintenance headache the moment something goes wrong. Scanstrut's new Connect range appears to have been built with exactly that philosophy in mind, and the Cold Water Outlet is a good illustration of what the range is trying to achieve.
The premise is straightforward. Rather than hunting for a hose and routing it across the cockpit every time you need to wash down after a day out, the Cold Water Outlet provides a dedicated, permanent fitting that keeps everything tidy and accessible. Lift the lid, clip in the hose, and you're ready to rinse off the deck, the dive gear, the rods, or anything else carrying a coating of salt and bait. The kit includes a three metre coiled hose and a stainless sprayer that offers both a focused jet for stubborn residue and a gentler shower pattern for general rinsing.
The fitting sits flush to the surface, the lid closes securely while underway, and the whole unit has the kind of solidity that suggests it won't start corroding or seizing after a couple of hard summers. Scanstrut has used stainless steel and nickel plated brass throughout, and the fitting is rated IP68 and IP69K with the lid closed, meaning water ingress isn't a concern under normal boating conditions.
Getting it fitted doesn't require a shipwright. A 38mm holesaw does the work, a built-in gasket handles the seal, and a pressure rating of 115 PSI means it will handle most onboard pump setups without complaint, whether you're running a trailer boat or something with a more involved system below decks.
The Cold Water Outlet is just one piece of something larger. The Connect range is designed to cover water, power, and solar fittings, all sharing the same aesthetic and build standards. For anyone who has ended up with a mismatched collection of fittings across the boat over the years, having a unified system to draw from makes a real difference to how the finished result looks and feels.
No grand innovation is being claimed here, and that's arguably the point. A well-executed fitting that handles a common task without drama, built to last, and easy to install, is exactly what most Kiwi boaties are after when outfitting or upgrading a boat.
