Seacocks - Again

[MeCaptainBinky]

Meralon or Brass

Round or triangle

We are going offshore -
Can we do meralon?
Will triangle base seacocks work?

What are the drawbacks of meralon?

What are the drawbacks of Brass?

Thanks Captain Binky

[arf145]

Someone is going to jump on you and say that brass is absolutely not suitable for boat seacocks, but I suspect you mean bronze, a whole different metal, and the only one of the two metals meant for that purpose on a boat.

[CalebD]

No jumping on coming from me. Just read up on this website created by a member here about thru hulls and absorb as much as you can. Then decide and act.
Seacock & Thru-Hull Primer/Pre Information Photo Gallery by Maine Sailing at pbase.com
Replacing Thru-Hulls and Seacocks Photo Gallery by Maine Sailing at pbase.com
My hat is off to others who share their experiences with others and try to help some of the less mechanically inclined not make ALL the mistakes that there are to make.
Thanks Hale Kai, er, Mainesail.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

Meralon or Brass

Marelon or Bronze and NOT brass. Either is good but Marelon can be quirky and of course Bronze can corrode..

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

Round or triangle

Does not matter as long as it has a flange that can be bolted or screwed into the backing block.

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

We are going offshore -
Can we do meralon?
Will triangle base seacocks work?

Marelon is fine but it MUST be lubed yearly, which can be a PITA, and they must be exercised regularly. There are many reported failures of Marelon handles due to lack of maintenance/use.. I had three failures early on with Marelon and I was lubing them and exercising them. I'd use them today, I believe they addressed the failure issues, but the company pissed me off so badly and refused to stand behind the product, even with KNOWN defects, that I won't buy any Forespar products if it can be avoided..

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

What are the drawbacks of meralon?

Other than yearly lubing, which requires removing the hose on the inside and using a flux brush to apply a grease to the ball and then lubing the outside in the same manner, nothing. I do believe they have their handle failures under control unless you don't maintain them.

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

What are the drawbacks of Brass?

There are many types of Brass but suffice it to say you should not be able to find a "brass" flanged seacock from any of the big suppliers, Spartan, Buck Algonquin, Groco or Apollo and they will all be bronze if they have a flange.

You do not want to use any brass, unless it's marine rated red brass, bellow the waterline and this includes the fittings and hose barbs associated with the bronze seacock. Most brass these days is yellow brass or cheaper that has a very high zinc content and we all know what happens to a zinc...

You may want to strongly consider a Groco bronze flanged seacock adapter. If a seacock should fail you can replace it in just about any country in about 5 minutes even with the boat in the water..

Someone has already linked to my seacock articles so I won't reapet that here.. Good luck!

[MeCaptainBinky]

Yes, I meant Brass - thanks for reading betwen the lines...

[sailingdog]

You mean you meant BRONZE, right???

Originally Posted by MeCaptainBinky

Yes, I meant Brass - thanks for reading betwen the lines...

BTW, it would help if you said what kind of boat you have. Using BRONZE through-hulls on a steel or aluminum boat can cause serious galvanic corrosion issues that you may or may not want to deal with.

[MeCaptainBinky]

The word brass seems to be stuck in my mind - yes, of course I mean bronze - but I was not aware of the variety of bronze's in use - thanks!

The Vessel is a fiberglass partialy cored hull - thick. 50 feet long, 13 feet wide, 6 foot deep fin keel, skeg rudder with BRONZE seacocks - no brand name. 80's vintage - solid vessel. Want to avoid the $150+ cost per seacock if something else will work - I am going offshore, perhaps Hawaii, Fiji, Australia From US.

[sailingdog]

Make sure that anything installed in cored areas of the deck are properly potted to prevent the core from delaminating.

[MeCaptainBinky]

Potted, please explain,

What I have done thusfar, is used West Systems and Colodial Silca mix to seal the cored portion at each through hull, I dug into the cored area slightly and then back filled with the West.

[sailingdog]

Binky-

Don't forget to do the same for the fastener holes.