Seacock maintenance

[Mike Davis]

For the past 6 seasons, I have removed my seacocks, cleaned and greased them. I'm wondering if it's necessary to do that every season. All of them are opening and closing with ease. What do you do?
Mike Davis CD31

[Megunticook]

Keep it up-you're doing the right thing. When I bought my boat the previous owner had neglected to do that and I spent many hours freeing it up.

[Vincent]

I have let them go two seasons, but only because I did not haul the boat. If the boat gets hauled, I take them apart, inspect and re grease them. So far, no problems going two seasons. I would rather not take them apart while the boat is in the water if I can help it.

[knights.mark]

I too have done this faithfully every season. And when I acquired the boat, suffered initially because this apparently hadn't been done. That said I am considering going to an every-other-year schedule. I think as long as they are checked and actuated periodically during the season this should work. I am considering keeping on board a few expandable plugs sized to fit the thru-hull exterior openings; that way if maintenance should become necessary in-season, a plug could be installed and the seacock pulled at acceptably low risk. McMaster Carr for example sells a wide range of plug sizes, pretty inexpensively.
Mark Knights
CD36

[Sea Hunt Video]

When I became the caretaker of S/V Bali Ha'i in 2011 three (3) of the seacocks in the engine compartment (2 scupper drain seacocks and a sink seacock) were frozen solid. The scupper drain seacocks were frozen "open" and the sink seacock frozen "closed". I kept promising I would timely remove, clean and grease them. That was more than 6 years ago

S/V Bali Ha'i is currently on a trailer. I have been trying to work on just one of the 3 engine compartment seacocks to remove it. It is VERY difficult. At least for me, there is no room to be able to access the nuts, etc. I keep trying and keep failing. For those who have a Cape Dory 25D you can appreciate how impossible it is (at least for me) to service the scupper drain seacocks. I have read a lot about Mr. Alberg and have great respect for his naval architectural skills. However, when it comes to the placement of the engine compartment seacocks on a Cape Dory 25D, he sadly gets a "D-".

[Steve Laume]

Raven gets a short haul every other year, to do the bottom, buff and wax the top sides and regrease the sea cocks. I use NAPA red grease and have never had any problems with them working freely on a two year schedule. I did go three years on time and although the bottom was pretty fowl, even with scrubbing, and the top sides looked bad the sea cocks still worked fine. Every other year seems like a good schedule for the sea cocks. Just use good grease and don't tighten them down so hard that you squeeze it all out, Steve.

[JD-MDR]

The seacock for my engine cooling was so loose I took it apart to clean and grease it. I don't want to tighten it too much but It seems to have no friction at all. Is that normal? I have to agree with Roberto, not on the seacocks but the chain/backing plates are a nightmare.

[Steve Laume]

The seacock for my engine cooling was so loose I took it apart to clean and grease it. I don't want to tighten it too much but It seems to have no friction at all. Is that normal? I have to agree with Roberto, not on the seacocks but the chain/backing plates are a nightmare.

I set up the head intake loose enough to auto close one year. The idea was that it would only be opened for a brief time when in use. I would not want the engine intake to be that loose. If it were ever to fall closed while you were running the engine, it would be a major problem. All you need to do is snug it up a bit to keep it in place. I am always amazed at how well the tapered cone design works but it does take a bit of time to learn how they should be adjusted and to gain confidence in your ability to do so properly, Steve.

[Joe Myerson]

I do mine every other year, but that does make the head intake hard to move by the end of the second year. I might adopt Steve's approach this time.

--Joe

[Jim Walsh]

I just do it every year. I only have one, of six, which is in a truly awkward position. It's not possible to use both hands on it at the same time. I used to maintain my seacocks every other year but I spend every winter on the hard so I just make it an annual maintenance item. Were I to skip a year it wouldn't be earth shattering. I have a little tub of Spartan seacock grease which lives on the boat. It's come in handy for other uses many times over the years. I also keep the exact wrenches I need in my engine spares so I never have to search for the precise tool best for this application. The Spartan seacock wrench is also a valuable member of my onboard tools.
We should all ensure we have plugs to fit each seacock. In addition I have one of those one-size-fits-all foam emergency plugs, just in case.

[JD-MDR]

Steve, I understand that I should be able to snug up the valve by tightening the bolt but I'm really having to crank hard. It doesn't seem right. Maybe that washer isn't thick enough or the valve is bad?
John D

[jbenagh]

It sounds like you might be bottoming the nut on the threads. You should be able to see if this will happen by completely removing both nuts and assembling everything without the first nut. Look at the diagram in the CD manual; there are some washers that you might be missing. If you see the end of the threads the nut will bottom out before tightening the adjustment. You can add an additional bronze washer or two to extend the threads but I think what that indicates is that it has been lapped too much and may be getting too thin.

Jeff

[Pembquist]

This is on my list. Do you guys use the lapping kit from Spartan or do you do something else? Also I think I asked last year but how do you all feel about backer plates. My boat has no sign of having ever had any, when it is hauled out I can see how thick the hull is at the seacocks but I don't know if they are strictly necessary on a solid fiberglass hull. What say you@

[Jim Walsh]

Steve, I understand that I should be able to snug up the valve by tightening the bolt but I'm really having to crank hard. It doesn't seem right. Maybe that washer isn't thick enough or the valve is bad?
John D

This is the best tutorial I'm aware of.
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/tape ... e_seacocks

[Steve Laume]

I must admit that I have never lapped any of my seacocks in the 12 years I have owned Raven. They do not look perfect but they never leak either. I think you could probably over do it and destroy them if you get to carried away. The Grease does an amazing job of keeping them sealed.

I did make myself some specialized wrenches. I took combination wrench and cut off the box end then ran the open end on a belt sander until I had a nice thin wrench. Then I sprayed it with cold galvanizing compound and it lives in my tool box. I also keep a deep socket of the proper size for the small nut and a ratchet that I cut half the handle off of so it fits in some of the tight spots a bit better.

The last advice I have to offer is to metal stamp each handle with it's location. That way you can take them all out to work on them at the same time without worry of mixing them up. It is a whole lot easier to take them all ashore and clean them out then go back aboard to grease them and put them back.

The last advise would be to keep some band aids on hand and some sort of cold drink to celebrate with when you are done, Steve.