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OK, I admit it. I went too far and fell into the trap of trying too hard to free up a frozen seacock. In my case I had tried everything else...hammering, tapping, spraying more high power oil, etc. Finally I used my piece of plastic extender tubing and went all out. For one brief minute I thought I had scored, as the handle in the tube began going back and forth ever more freely. Alas I had merely broken off the handle. I believe this spartan is what is called a flange type, as there are bolts. My question is whether, by unscrewing the bolts, I can lift off the top portion without having to completely rebuild the entire fitting and thus leaving everything else intact. The second question pertains to whether, if that is correct, I can replace the spartan seacock top with a compatible seacock using the same bolt holes.
Any other advice will be most welcome. I have the boat (a Sabre 28 with Volvo Penta MD7A Diesel engine) on the market and am trying to keep expenses to a minimum.
And yes, I should have paid closer attention to the various salient and other guides I reviewed before attempting to unfreeze the frozen. I'll attach two photos...the before breakage and the after breakage. That should provide a view of the base.
That's the most disgusting bilge I've seen since ...... this morning. Suggest you clean it up as it will be a bigger deterrent to a sale than a broken handle.
I have the same Spartan seacocks on my boat, and I am afraid you are going to have to replace the entire assembly. These seacocks are installed by screwing a mushroom fitting through the hull from the outside into the seacock and then sealing it in place with an appropriate compound. To remove it you will need to unscrew the mushroom which will break the seal. At that point you can get a new seacock from Spartan, or you can buy a more conventional one. You may find the Spartan easier to install because the hole is the right size and you should be able to reuse the mushroom.
At this point the seacock is toast. The barrels are matched to the seacocks, and even if you got it out you would not be able to just replace the barrel. I broke the threads on one of mine on the nut end last summer and Spartan does not sell just the barrels.
I have had these seize on me before, and I was able to get them free by inserting a plug from outside the hull, removing the hose and filling up the body of the seacock with penetrating oil and leaving it for an extended time.
I also notice that you were trying to loosen the seacock without undoing the nuts on the side opposite the handle. Sometimes simply undoing the nut can free these, or make them much easier to free.
Just in case you are not familiar, Spartan sells both a lapping compound and seacock grease, and I recommend disassembling all spartan seacocks, lapping them and lubricating them once a year to avoid this sort of problem in the future. robinhoodmarinecenter.com/seacock-grease/seacock-grease/
I have the same Spartan seacocks on my boat, and I am afraid you are going to have to replace the entire assembly. These seacocks are installed by screwing a mushroom fitting through the hull from the outside into the seacock and then sealing it in place with an appropriate compound. To remove it you will need to unscrew the mushroom which will break the seal. At that point you can get a new seacock from Spartan, or you can buy a more conventional one. You may find the Spartan easier to install because the hole is the right size and you should be able to reuse the mushroom.
At this point the seacock is toast. The barrels are matched to the seacocks, and even if you got it out you would not be able to just replace the barrel. I broke the threads on one of mine on the nut end last summer and Spartan does not sell just the barrels.
I have had these seize on me before, and I was able to get them free by inserting a plug from outside the hull, removing the hose and filling up the body of the seacock with penetrating oil and leaving it for an extended time.
I also notice that you were trying to loosen the seacock without undoing the nuts on the side opposite the handle. Sometimes simply undoing the nut can free these, or make them much easier to free.
Just in case you are not familiar, Spartan sells both a lapping compound and seacock grease, and I recommend disassembling all spartan seacocks, lapping them and lubricating them once a year to avoid this sort of problem in the future. robinhoodmarinecenter.com/seacock-grease/seacock-grease/
Screw unscrewing it. If you manage to "unscrew" that, you should buy some lottery tickets. And the "mushroom" is less than 10 bucks. Replace it. I stopped messing around trying to "undo" through hulls years ago. With the boat in the yard, take a grinder, CAREFULLY (I got good at it teaching others to do it). Cut four notches in the "mushroom" (the actual through hull flange) radiating out from the center of the thru hull. Drive in with an old screwdriver toward the middle, pop the whole thing out from the inside. I've done it in less than 2 minutes. The caution is to avoid munging up the hole much. Clean up, fix the hole with thickened hard West System with some fibers in it, find the right size thru hull and valve combination, done. I can't recall seeing a hull backing plate in your photos. Add a West System loaded (including the hole and edges) wood backing plate and it will outlive you.
I have seacocks that look like that, but I have never got my head down close enough to inspect them. Because of where we live, they do get operated at least twice per year and so far they move freely. But maybe they need more attention???
I found these links that may be helpful to Rofuhu:
Roduhu: Given the price of a replacement valve, I can see why you might consider replacing the seacock with something different, perhaps less expensive! Unfortunately, the body will not lift off if you remove the nuts. This because it is held in place by the thru-hull. If the bolts were cut off below the flanges, it might be possible to unscrew it. I don't think you want to go there!
Is there any possibility you could buy just a new plug and repair the valve in place? The cone would have to be honed in place. You might ask Spartan if this is feasible.
A less expensive but sound and approved alternative would be to install a Forespar Marelon seacock and thru hull. Buck Algonquin also have a reasonably priced ball type seacocks and thru-hulls.
Otherwise you could do as some boat builders did. Install a bronze thru hull plus a bronze ball valve and barbed tailpiece. Just make sure ball valve has straight NPS thread to match the thru hull . These are hard to find! Groco have a solution that allows use of an NPT ball valve. https://www.groco.net/products/fittings/thru-hull-fittings/ibvf-flange-adaptor/ibvf-750
The trick was to loosen the nuts on the other side of the handle and then tap the barrel out. If you do that and then clean and lube the barrel, you may be able to use the seacock in spite of the broken handle.
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