Bronze Thru hulls and real seacocks

Thanks Oliver!
I wish they would let me be a sponsor like I am on Cruisers Forum. Then I could plug myself!

This is just an opinion from looking at them but I think the older Forespar Marlon Seacocks were under built. The stem connecting the ball would twist off when the ball jammed.


They now make a much heavier design but only seem to market it to boat builders. I couldn't even find it on their website. It's their 93 Series. It is in their catalog marked OEM sales only.

When I previewed this post I saw that Capt Bill brought up the 93 series already.

For now, I'll stick with my bronze seacocks. They're 25 years old and work fine.

Groco had a recall on their seacocks a few years ago due to poor metalergy. They offered no help on hauling or labor to customers. Turns out they were made in Asia. Fool me once...... no more Groco for me.

Brooksie, that was about ten years ago. There was no urgent need to replace the valves. Groco suggested they be replaced on your next regular haul out.
The BV series are made in the USA. The FBV are imported.

There have been no problems with either the BV or FBV seacocks ever since.

"This is just an opinion from looking at them but I think the older Forespar Marlon Seacocks were under built. The stem connecting the ball would twist off when the ball jammed."

I see your point. But then I've lost count of the metal sea cocks I've seen/found with their handles missing or broken off over the years.

No matter what they are made of they all need regular use and maintenance.

Regular exercising of these valves will go a long way toward longevity of service. An open/ close policy keeps things working.

Groco is good stuff.

Marelon is good stuff. Emotionally I still can't bring myself to use it, but objectively I probably should. For some reason I can't make objective decisions with it. It's not like the old plastic above water through hull's that got brittle/fractured and broke off one by one.

Oh well, I'm cautious that way. Believe it or not, this was the first year i've ever bought 3m 4000/4200. I stocked up on 101 years ago and finally ran out. Only thing wrong with that product was the cost to mfg. I let the rest of you go first on most new products until such time they are not new before I get my hands wet. I've also stocked up on butyl tape, which is long proven, not sure why we don't use more of it. Anyhow, I digress.

If you use Marelon, I'd still strongly suggest using bronze hardware not stainless. I see too many using stainless below the water line and I'm not a fan of it where it can suffer from crevice corrosion.