Seacocks- Marelon or Bronze

[bidet]

Our boat has the factory Marelon seacocks, several have become very difficult to open and close. can I replace them with the bronze seacocks or should I stay with the marelon. one guy was telling me about lightning strikes blowing holes in the bottoms with the bronze type. I know the marelon will be less corrosive but the bronze is much cheaper.

Bill

[Jeff_H]

A couple of quick points:

Marelon, like bronze, needs to be kept lubricated. There are special lubes for the purpose and with lubrication the valves in question probably do not need replacement.

Bronze thru hulls when bonded can lead to damage to the glass in the vicinty of the thru-hull when struck by lightning.

Good quality bronze fittings are generally substanially more expensive than Marelon. Brass which is not suitable for below waterline use is generally less expensive than Marelon so be careful that you are not looking at Brass instead of bronze fittings.

Jeff

[bidet]

Jeff, the Bronze seacocks I mentioned can be found at West Marine. they looked like bronze to me but may be brass castings that are machined. the marelon seacock at West Marine for my seastrainer is $99.00, bronze (or brass) is about $39.00. since I am replacing several the savings could be substantial but not at the cost of safety. I will check on the type of metal.

Thanks
Bill