replacing seacocks in a Typhoon

[vtsailor]

Can anyone provide a detail on what is involved in replacing frozen seacocks (from the cockpit). The existing ones look like the type that are on your house to turn your hose on- round not a lever type. The ones on the Typhoon I'm looking at are frozen open.
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New Jersey Dispensary

[Doug Fallin]

I would replace these old gate valves ASAP. If you are unsure of how to do it, hire someone who is knowledgeable. The peace of mine you will acheive is priceless.

[Efrost]

A competent marine technician shouldn't charge you more than about an hour a seacock worth of labor to replace the ones you have. Then you would have the price of the new seacocks added to that. All in all, if you are not sure how to do it, the peace of mind you would have from a pro doing the job is worth it.

[vtsailor]

I like to tackle projects myself, but I understand the wisdom in hiring someone who "knows" what they're doing. You can't put a price on peace of mind.
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VAPORGENIE

[Paul D.]

VTSailor,

Do them yourself! It is simple. I did them in '98 with help from this board.

You will need

All sizes are ¾”
West Marine Part # Part
402570 bronze thru-hull
106783 45 degree bronze “ell”, Female to Male
195420 “Appolo” brand bronze ball valve
113003 Grocco full flow tailpiece (uses 1” ID hose)
282285 1” ID hose (buy a 3’ section)
115655 8 ea. #316 Stainless hose clamps (don’t use the cheap
price ones – they rust too quick; and double clamp hoses at both ends)

Unscrew the old ones and clean off the through hull fitting checking for condition. Dry fit all the pieces and then take apart and rebed with a polysulfide like 3M 101 or similar.

The job took me two hours, the tough part was finding the fittings which these part numbers are from the guy who helped me back then.

Best of luck,
Paul

[Vodnik]

I guess it depends on your budget. I'm frugal (ok, and cheap), but very mindful of safety and doing things right. I got some great tips from this board and just did it myself. Get the right 3M caulk, but the good, expsensive seacocks and take your time. It's not a big job really, and in fact was a lot easier than I made it out to be, but picturing myself a mile offshore in a blow made me do a very thorough job. Ping the board with questions -- it's true what all the posters say - it's a great board.

[JPortland]

Having read this post, I've decided to replace my old equipment.
Here's the question: Must the thru-hull be replaced? I understand that I'm down in there replacing everything else, but if it looks okay, should I bother with it?
-Thanks so much, Jeff

[RIKanaka]

I refitted the valves on my Typhoon last spring using pretty much the same hardware as Paul D. did (I didn't use the 45 degree elbow which would have made it easier installing, rather than kinking, the hose into it's S-shape).

I do have some concerns though with regard to the apparent mismatch between the threads on the thru-hulls and the ball valves. The thru-hulls are NPS-threaded, i.e., straight, non-tapered threads, designed to work with true seacocks, which are also straight-threaded. The Conbraco/Apollo ball valves are NPT-threaded, i.e., tapered. They do tighten progressively as you cinch them down on the thru-hull threads but really only thread securely on the first few threads of the thru-hull, not on the entirely length of the mating surfaces as they would when matched with other NPT fittings.

This arrangement on my TY (NPS thru-hull with NPT ball valve) worked without leaking for me last summer and I probably won't get around to changing the ball valve before launching this year, but if I were to do it all over again, which I likely will next spring, I would use true seacocks or, if they exist, ball valves with straight threads to match the thru-hulls.

[Brian2]

There is quite a difference between the Appollo ball valve vs. the Appollo seacock. I don't think the ball valve is recommended for salt water, and is definitely not recommended for use as a seacock, and a seacock also has a flanged base for securing to the hull via a backing plate.

[RIKanaka]

There are flanged-based ball valves (referred to by Conbraco/Apollo as a "seaflange valve") which some people use as seacocks, there are in-line ball valves with no base at all that some (myself included) attach to the thru-hull (not recommended, as they are more suited to plumbing). Both have chromium-plated bronze or brass balls.

[winthrop fisher]

Hi... i help allot of people in here do that it will cost you around $75 to take it out and replace it. the hard part is getting the old out...
but ever one else has said it all. take your time...winthrop

[Greg Ross]

Here are a couple of Images on how the factory was trimming the Ty in 1985, these shots are from IRIE;
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1 ... pDrain.JPG
and
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1 ... pDrain.JPG
These are Spartan seacocks if I recall.
If you're patient you could probably acquire a pair of these on eBay for about 25-$30. each. Experienced seacocks show up there constantly since there's such a steady supply of Hurricane ravaged boats these days!
If you do install a seacock and since they're serviceable you have to orientate them so there's space to pull the barrel-ie; handle faces inward with this type valve.
I don't like the idea of involving any fittings like 45 degs in the assembly if you don't really need to. If you get plugged up you can usually feed a flexible prod of some kind down through if a water flush dosn't clear it. Wire reinforced hose holds its' shape quite well and doen't collapse readily as can be seen in the Pics.
My 2 cents
IRIE is available for sale BTW, posted over in the CD "For Sale" area. The new (to me) Ericson cutter is launching in the next week and a half. Yippee!