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Seacock - thoughts? W Photo

1701 Views 17 Replies 10 Participants Last post by boatpoker, 6 d ago

BenCT

Discussion Starter · 2 mo ago

4

New boat. The gate valve is spinning. Sounds like possibly an easy fix. But is leading me down the path of questioning whether I should just replace the gate valve with a ball valve. Also that leads me down the rabbit hole should this have a flange? It looks like a solid setup with those connectors and wooden platform, but I’m a novice. Any thoughts?

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BenCT

Discussion Starter · #2 · 2 mo ago

I forgot to mention this is from my cockpit drain.

pcmm

· #3 · 2 mo ago

There is nothing good in that photo. Yes really you should have a proper flanged base seacock. What you have there is considered unsafe now and poor workmanship ( this is obviously an older boat) . Ideally you want a nicely sized backing block made of fiberglass or G10, a new thruhull, flanged seacock and new tail piece. One for each cockpit drain as if this one is failed, the others are not far from it too.

Reactions: 2

bristol299bob

· #4 · 2 mo ago

well, yes, you should replace them with a proper seacock, with a g10, fiberglass, etc, backing plate, and a flange.

are these below the static waterline? how many thru hulls do you have? is the boat in the water?

boatpoker

· #5 · 2 mo ago

How did you get insurance with that in your survey report ?
All six of the 79' - 81' C&C 36's we surveyed had six below the waterline brass throughulls with gate valves. The underwriters demanded they be replaced with proper seacocks.

Reactions: 2

marcjsmith

· #6 · 2 mo ago

it looks like you have a backing plate on it. and the condition of the thruhull appears good...green, but other wise good. take a wire brush or a dremel wire wheel and see if you got any pink under the green...

If you are in the water and the current thru hull is not leaking. I'd plug the thru hull from the outside remove the valve and replace with a quality valve. Personally I'd go Marelon or similar. key is to be very careful that you don't distrub the current seal with the existing thruhull and the hull. IE have some method of ensuring that the thruhull doesn't rotate as you try to remove the valve.

If you are out of the water. I would remove thru hull, remove existing thruhull and current backing plate. Replace using modern material. g10, coosa etc as the backing plate. and then a valve thruhull combo, like marelon 93 series

and then never have to worry about it again other than regular cycling of the valve

Reactions: 2

SanderO

· #7 · 2 mo ago

2

The thru hulls on my boat are penetrating both the hull and the GRP shower liner head sole... and are bolted without a wood plate. I think the GRP is sufficient in this case. Opinions?

Wood Natural material Paint Gas Wood stain

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MarkofSeaLife

· #8 · 2 mo ago

If you do decide to replace them next haul-out then .... heres how I did them: With a huge amount of strategic planning and to do them all at once, using experienced yard labor.

I ordered all the parts and 'built' them on the saloon table tagging each bit with a clear numbered system. Mine was more difficult in that space is exact. Beneteau. I could not buy fancy Marelon or a different type of fitting as space did not allow it. Before you change any footprint make sure it will fit.

Rectangle Wood Font Material property Tints and shades

See in the photo fitting Number 10 goes in Hole Number 10. It might sound stupid but with 13 seacocks to do its 13 through hulls, 13 seacocks, 13 bends, 13 hose barbs... and loads of different sizes, see 9 and 10 and different from 6, 7 and 8.
The yard guys would not have done that. I had to be there 100% of the time handing them the correct bit, every bit, for the whole job. It was long, difficult and hot in the tropics.

Doing them all at once was the only way. Cutting the old ones off was one sweep of the angle grinder...

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BenCT

Discussion Starter · #9 · 2 mo ago

bristol299bob said:
well, yes, you should replace them with a proper seacock, with a g10, fiberglass, etc, backing plate, and a flange.

are these below the static waterline? how many thru hulls do you have? is the boat in the water?

Yes they are below the waterline. The boat is on the hard. Some of the valves are tapered and one is a tapered valve. I will post some more photos.

JPS27

· #10 · 2 mo ago

2

Lot of good information offered. I would concur to get those replaced. It's a good diy project. I did all of mine according to marinehowto and I used fiberglass backing plates fitted for the groco flanged seacocks I chose to use. And at that point in boat ownership I was a rank novice at diy projects. I just went slow and asked for advice here and there. I did not drill through the hull but instead cuts the heads off of silicon bronze bolts. I felt very confident with them and they were a popular upgrade to prospective buyers when I sold my boat. The original backing plates came off with a tap of the hammer and to the eye the didn't look at flimsy! (edit: Patrick at groco was very helpful in making sure I bought the right pieces for what I needed...tapered, straight, 45degree fittings and so on)

Water Vertebrate Fluid Automotive tire Mammal

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sail2awe

· #11 · 2 mo ago

Looks like a good post to share this scary (to me) but possible working useful device for replacing seacocks while boat is in the water.

Reactions: 1

BenCT

Discussion Starter · #12 · 2 mo ago

JPS27 said:
Lot of good information offered. I would concur to get those replaced. It's a good diy project. I did all of mine according to marinehowto and I used fiberglass backing plates fitted for the groco flanged seacocks I chose to use. And at that point in boat ownership I was a rank novice at diy projects. I just went slow and asked for advice here and there. I did not drill through the hull but instead cuts the heads off of silicon bronze bolts. I felt very confident with them and they were a popular upgrade to prospective buyers when I sold my boat. The original backing plates came off with a tap of the hammer and to the eye the didn't look at flimsy! (edit: Patrick at groco was very helpful in making sure I bought the right pieces for what I needed...tapered, straight, 45degree fittings and so on)
View attachment 147348 View attachment 147349

Looks good. Great job and thanks for the photos.

marcjsmith

· #13 · 2 mo ago

sail2awe said:
Looks like a good post to share this scary (to me) but possible working useful device for replacing seacocks while boat is in the water.

LIES....that video is a complete lie. removing a hose from a barb with no cussing, no heat no screw driver slipping off the head of the hose clamp and poking a hole in your hand...
and the seacock easily unscrews from the thruhull.

what a web a lies

you want some pucker factor, how about repalcing a thruhull while in the water

Reactions: 1

capta

· #14 · 2 mo ago

I've replaced a number of thruhulls while in the water, over the years. To do this you must expect a considerable amount of water to enter the boat, so do not try it if you tend to panic easily. However, if you have a cored hull and the thruhull was installed without having the coring around the hole replaced with epoxy, then you will have to do that out of the water.
Personally, I prefer the real, silicon bronze thruhulls with the cone shaped valve over ball valves, as they can be lapped and reused for many, many years.

Reactions: 1

BenCT

Discussion Starter · #15 · 1 mo ago

Replacing seacocks with a new flanged ball valve seacock. It has 3 hole for bolts in the flange. I assume those bolts only go through the g10 glass backing plate and not through the hull. Am I correct?

bristol299bob

· #16 · 1 mo ago

BenCT said:
t has 3 hole for bolts in the flange. I assume those bolts only go through the g10 glass backing plate and not through the hull. Am I correct?

Although some folks do thru-bolt the backing plate through the hull, I choose to do it as you say, with threaded g10 backing plates, epoxied to the hull.

take care to :
- keep the epoxy out of the threaded holes so you can remove the bolts in the future if you need to.
- ensure that the backing plate is precisely centered over the hole in the hull
- check and double check the orientation of the seacock.

BenCT

Discussion Starter · #17 · 7 d ago

In the end I replaced 4 of my 6 seacocks. All the gate valves are gone. I used the Groco backing plates, w 5200 used to attach to hull (Groco suggested). The thru hulls used 5200 all of the seacocks are flanged. The ones I didn’t replace had ball valves and backing plates are in great condition. One is a tapered valve with a bronze backing plate. Will add photos soon.

boatpoker

· #18 · 6 d ago

Did your insurance company not require you to get rid of those gate valves when you bought the boat ?

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