rebuilt seacock too loose - won't stay open

[RichMason]

I spent last Saturday regreasing some sticky seacocks on the cockpit drains. One went together fine with plenty of adjustment. The other was very stiff before I took it apart but then would not tighten enough to stay in the open position after I put it back together. I have the nuts as tight as they will go and the washer is in correctly but it just won't tighten anymore. Can the nuts bottom out after years of wear or is this a sign of not enough grease (I wasn't stingy with the Moreys). Would adding a washer under the nut fix the problem?

[Jay Kanavos]

Rich,

I had a similar problem this spring when I greased my seacocks. What happened was that the washers looked like they were on right, but the flat inner indentation was not fully lined up and the washer wasn't seated properly.

To fix it, I had to take it completely apart, reset the washer, and put it all back together in my hands to get the feel for how it should go together. Have patience and ensure that the washer is seated properly and can be pushed in tight. I could always tell that it wasn't seated properly if I tightened it up and the protruding notch on the outside of the washer kept moving as I tightened it up. Very frustrating!!

BTW, I wouldn't add any extra washers.

Jay

[Mark Yashinsky]

Take the plug and washer out of the barrel and assemble the two.
W/ the washer correctly aligned on the plug, take a permanent Sharpie and run a line across the threads on the plug and up onto the washer.
Reassemble the seacock, using your line to make SURE the washer is correct, even while tightening the nuts. The plug may not be in far enough in the barrel to initially to allow the washer to correctly seat on the plug.

While the plug and washer are out, check to see if you mangled the end of either, where they match up. If misaligned and you cranked down on the nut, ...

[Guest]

After you have verified that the washer is indeed installed correctly then check and see if the plug and barrel have been honed a lot then the plug is too far down on the barrel. Also this can be caused by normal 20 years of wear. This will prevent the seacock from being adjusted correctly.

I had the problem on one of my large seacocks. To fix it I took the plug to a machinist friend who turned the barrel thread end down about 1/8" and refiled the flat. This should give me another 20 years of life out of the seacock. Yes the wholes done quite line up any more... so what.

Boyd
s/v TERN
CD30 MKII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

[RMeigel]

Put a plastic wire tie around the handle and the hose - not too tight, just enough to hold the handle in place. If you need to close the seacock, just slip the wire tie off and the handle will flop into the closed position.

[Parfait's Provider]

As someone has already mentioned, getting the washer aligned with the barrel can be problematic. It does feel "right," but it isn't and that leads to a very loose fit. If you are very liberal with the grease, you shouldn't be able to put the assembly together correctly; it takes only a smidgeon and most of that will get squeezed out of a properly fitting seacock when the barrel is tightened. For some reason or other, probably known as the "law of putting together," the washers come off the barrel a lot easier than they go on. I think that there may be manufacturing burrs on the washer that keep it from sliding on easily; I have certainly de-burred more than one washer. All this is not very good news if you have already launched, but it seems possible that you can readjust the washer and barrel without hauling since you really don't need to pull the barrel out to de-burr the washer. Certainly a second pair of hands would be helpful.

[Neil Gordon]

All this is not very good news if you have already launched, but it seems possible that you can readjust the washer and barrel without hauling since you really don't need to pull the barrel out to de-burr the washer. Certainly a second pair of hands would be helpful.

The second pair of hands is to run for help while the first pair holds his hands over the hole in the boat? I agree that a helper is useful for lots of tasks, but I can barely get one set of hands in touch with my seacocks.

[Steve Laume]

Early in our first season with the Typhoon we found of all things, a little rubber Dutch boy on the beach. He was only about an inch and a half tall but was kind of cute and he wound up stuffed in that crack at the head of the combing board. He kind of became a good luck charm. Thinking about the ledgend and how usefull his thumb was in the dike we figured he couldn't be a bad guy to have on board. Every once in a while the dog would grab him and try to chew him up but other wise he just hung out. I think he would be the only crew member that might be able to fit in and help out around the seacocks. You could jamb his little head right in there! It sure couldn't hurt to have someone else on board to keep an eye on things while you were fussing with a washer. I have kept the seacock on the head purposely lose so it does close by itself. It is one that gets inspected on a regular basis so I will notice if it begins to weep. I prefer it to be kept closed at all times when not in use and this way I do not have to rely on guests to leave it in the proper possition. It will go there itself. Engine and cockpit drains are tied open with new hoses and clamps. All others are operated as needed. Have fun, Steve.

[RichMason]

Thanks for all of the tips. The boat is still on the hard so I'll have a few hours to fix this before it goes in. I assume by washer alignment people are referring not to a notch or keyway but rather to the wear pattern from the previous installation. I looked at a 3/4 seacock and I can't see a keyway or other such indexing feature. I'm sure the problem will become manifest when I take it apart tomorrow.

Best,

[Stan W.]

I assume by washer alignment people are referring not to a notch or keyway but rather to the wear pattern from the previous installation. I looked at a 3/4 seacock and I can't see a keyway or other such indexing feature. I'm sure the problem will become manifest when I take it apart tomorrow.

There is a flat machined at the base of the threads on the plug. The washer has a D shaped hole. The straight side of the D on the washer must line up with the flat on the plug.

Your boat may be like mine in that the 1 1/2" seacocks are Spartans and the 3/4" seacocks are Wilcox-Crittendens. They are not completely identical. IMHO the Spartans are better made and easier to adjust. Wilcox-Crittenden is no longer in the seacock business.