Seacock servicing

The seacock (a/c cooling water) in the pic below is getting progressively more difficult to turn. It will soon be haulout time and I intend to service it. Any advice on dismantling would be appreciated? The core (bit that moves) appears to be tapered. No maker's name that I can see.

Edit: Ooops! sorry, posted in the wrong category.*I can't find how to move or delete, so here it stays.

T.I.A.
Mike


-- Edited by Shoalwaters on Wednesday 10th of August 2011 02:20:32 PM

Normally there are removable plugs on one or both sides of the seacock body. You open the seacock, remove a plug, and force waterproof grease into the hole until you can jam no more of it in while you work the seacock back and forth a little bit to distribute the grease between the body and the barrel. Don't do this with the seacock closed because you'll probably just fill up the the hole through the middle of the barrel with grease. If the seacock has a plug on both sides of the body, use the same procedure on both sides. I just force the grease in with my finger. I suppose you could get all technical and install a grease fitting but I'm not that interested.

But that's all there is to it.* I can't think of any reason to take the thing apart unless it's leaking and you can't adjust the leak out with the adjustment nut.* They're pretty simple devices and the bronze ones are pretty bulletproof.


-- Edited by Marin on Wednesday 10th of August 2011 02:40:23 PM

thank you David for this practical website, very helpful.

That one looks like the old school type seacock*where if you loosen the nut to the point where it covers the threads, then tap it, and the handle and cone will loosen as a single unit and can be removed.* Then you can grease it properly and reinstall.* I like long fiber grease.

Replace it...it's old.

One man's opinion.

Damm... so am I!

If it was mine...I'd replace it along with the thru-hull. Get rid of the nylon bushing and use a properly sized tail piece. Replace the hose on the suction side of the water pump with a 'hard wall type' and use solid ss hose clamps.

I had all the sea cock below the water line taken out and filled in except for the two for the engines and one for everything else, and all with in easy reach.* When at anchor or the dock all through hulls are closed.* 9 total.* So you might want to eliminate it?*
*
The next haul out going to take out 3 above the water line and move 2 higher up the hull as they are at the water line.* When are anchor or the dock only the 6 bilge pump through hulls are open.*

These are old and a pain in the, well...you know. Do yourself a big favor and replace it when you haul out. We just removed the last one on our last haul out and we are happy campers. Here is the last to go,
http://trawler-beach-house.blogspot.com/2011/03/red-and-blue-and-teal.html
Chuck

It's a bronze valve. That's what they look like after awhile. All eleven of the seacocks in our GB look like that and did when we bought the boat 13 years ago and probably did when the boat was five years old or less. Assuming it's in good internal condition the one pictured probably has a hundred years of life in it yet as long as its lubed and serviced properly.

And I'm glad to see that the hose is properly clamped with double clamps.


-- Edited by Marin on Thursday 11th of August 2011 11:20:26 AM

I have a tapered bronze water intake valve It is very stiff I was prepared to replace it but after reading this...I will service it Thanks

If you do replace the rubber cone seacocks, there's a good market for them on E-Bay since they're not being made any more. Lots of people need spares.

I don't understand why some of you are saying 'replace it cause it's old.*

those type of seacocks will out last just about everyone here. Just do some minimal servicing on it ,waterproof grease once every few years. If it is getting stiff take it apart clean it grease it and put it back together, just remember to not over-tighten the big nut that holds it together. I just finished doing 4 of mine that looked much worse but now look new. Scotch-brite and brasso. Do you really need to spend money on a pretty new valve that is designed to fail in a few years!*

Thanks to all who responded. I have decided to keep the existing seacock, dismantle, clean, and lubricate as several of you have suggested.

I really don't understand the comments that new valves will fail in a few years. As a service tech for over 30 years I have never seen a new style valve fail that an old style bronze valve would not have also failed. For any of the advisors on the board, can you give me one example that you personally witnessed where the new valves failed and why? Too many times we hear this going around the net so many times we believe it. As to electrolysis, solid bronze valves are just as susceptible as the bronze valves with SS balls. The old style are much more maintenance, will and do jam, requiring a lot of banging on the valve, which can break it, and if not seated properly, leak. Both our boats, including our sailboat which we cruised for 17 years, had the old style and after a few years of dealing with them, they all where replaced. The new valves were NEVER a problem even after ten or more years. Yes, keep them if you like but be sure it is for the right reasons. Chuck


-- Edited by Capn Chuck on Sunday 14th of August 2011 11:36:20 AM

DavidM wrote:
Capn Chuck:

I had an 1-1/2" Apollo bronze ball valve fail on my Island PacketCat. The body threads holding the ball failed and the valve fell apart. The only thing keeping the sea out was the nylon seat. If it popped out, there would have been an 1-1/2" gush of water in the engine room. The valve was bonded with #8 wire to the boat's bonding system. There was another 1-1/2 Appolo valve on the boat in similar service and it still is going strong with no apparant corrosion. Maybe the bonding wire was loose or corroded and not making good contact.

So, they do fail!!!

A tapered seat seacock would not have failed with that much corrosion.

David

Click to expand...

*Sorry David but more than likely, whatever cause the valve to fail would have done the same to an all bronze valve. There is just not that much difference in the galvanic table to say that because there was stainless present this valve failed. the fact that your second valve was not affected is a pretty good statement that something else was going on. I can give you several first hand examples of older all bronze valves coming apart in my hand. Not because they were all bronze but because outside sources caused a problem. Chuck


-- Edited by Capn Chuck on Sunday 14th of August 2011 06:33:24 PM

Lets put the electrolysis issue aside for a moment and consider another issue with the older bronze valves. Over the year we have had a couple of dozen, yes dozen, instances where the owner, or myself or another tech has loosened the nut on the side of the valve to either open or close the valve. The entire end of the cone fell off leaving nothing to hold in the cone. We used large hose clamps to keep everything in place until the boat could be hauled to have the valve replaced. Never had anything like that happen with the newer valves. Again, my point is , by all means keep the older ones if you are comfortable with them. But do it for the right reasons. Chuck

My experience is the same as Capn Chuck's.*I also had*thru-hulls sanded thin from years of bottom sanding. For my piece of mind and my boat*I replaced all of the underwater thru-hulls and seacocks. All of the the above water ones were removed, serviced and re-bedded.

Bolted flanges on solid fiberglass bases for the new ones. Thru-hulls mounted in new epoxy glassed bottom.

Here's a picture of the new ones being fitting to the new bases before installation.

That's the exact same seacock I have

I have to do a haul out latter this year for an insurance survey. When I showed a picture of my sea cock to the shipwright that is going to do some servicing on my boat he recognised the seacock. He told me how bullet proof it was and how to properly service it and use it. He said you loosen the nut on the opposite side of the handle to open and close the seacock and to exercise it regularly. You then tighten the nut when it is in the open position or tighten the nut when you close it at the end of the season. I probably own the same make and build of the posters boat.

grahamdouglass said:

I have to do a haul out latter this year for an insurance survey. When I showed a picture of my sea cock to the shipwright that is going to do some servicing on my boat he recognised the seacock. He told me how bullet proof it was and how to properly service it and use it. He said you loosen the nut on the opposite side of the handle to open and close the seacock and to exercise it regularly. You then tighten the nut when it is in the open position or tighten the nut when you close it at the end of the season. I probably own the same make and build of the posters boat.

Click to expand...

Did he mention the zerk plug?
If so, what size?
Can the hull valve be service without hauling the boat?

He said you just add grease to the hole when you take out the nut. Then you screw in the nut. My sea cock has an extra spring loaded grease adaptor. I didn't know what it was till the shipwright, who had never seen one of those either, guessed it was a springloaded grease adaptor. You probably could add a zerk grease adaptor, but loosening the nut and adding grease probably does a more through job. Before adding the grease, and especially if it is really stuck, using PB blaster or Seafoam deep seep to loosen things up and then adding grease will probably do the job.

If you can move the seacock while in the water you can probably exercise it with grease, but to properly service the seaccock you have to be out of the water, disassemble the seacock and clean things up.

Shaolwaters has another post on seacocks here:https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s31/stuck-seacock-20880.html

I can't recall the grease, it was white beginning with M.

grahamdouglass said:

He said you just add grease to the hole when you take out the nut. Then you screw in the nut. My sea cock has an extra spring loaded grease adaptor. I didn't know what it was till the shipwright, who had never seen one of those either, guessed it was a springloaded grease adaptor. You probably could add a zerk grease adaptor, but loosening the nut and adding grease probably does a more through job. Before adding the grease, and especially if it is really stuck, using PB blaster or Seafoam deep seep to loosen things up and then adding grease will probably do the job.

Click to expand...

What grease does he recommend ?

Considering the price of a haul out just for the seacock service AND that the body is good , I'd take a swim with a bung.
Or, ever heard of a "collision mat" ?

I phoned and talked to one of the techs at Graco and he advised using Molykote 111 and nothing else. It’s expensive stuff!

Jim

JDCAVE said:

I phoned and talked to one of the techs at Graco and he advised using Molykote 111 and nothing else. It’s expensive stuff!

Jim

Click to expand...

It is a boat…