I remain in sick bay (more accurately, modified duty) with some of my normal foolish activities curtailed. One important activity I had wanted to try to perform was removing, servicing and reinstalling four (4) of the seacocks on S/V Bali Ha’i. For reasons I fully and sadly appreciate, I have delayed and delayed doing this task.
While not currently fully active physically, my brain is still marginally functional. I have been thinking about the two (2) cockpit drain seacocks on my Cape Dory 25D. They are both frozen in the open position. I do not think they were ever serviced by the prior caretaker and I have not serviced them since assuming caretaker status. So far, no amount of effort to loosen the handles has worked.
Frankly, beginning about two (2) weeks ago (after consumption of 2-3 Guinness) I started trying to understand the need for seacocks for the cockpit scupper drain hoses. I am a rookie at a lot of this stuff and readily admit there may be one or more very good reasons for cockpit drain seacocks. I just cannot think of one.
As I understand the rules the cockpit seacocks are supposed to ALWAYS remain open, especially when no one is aboard, so that water does not fill the cockpit from a closed seacock.
I then started thinking about what would happen, and what I would do, if there was a leak in the seacock or the connecting scupper drain hose. I worked my way down from the scupper drain to the backing plate for the seacock and the thru hull fitting.
From what little I know, I think that a leak or crack in the connecting scupper drain hose would start out as small. I check the cockpit drain hoses, water in the engine sump, etc., on a regular basis so I assume I would notice the beginnings of a small crack or leak in a scupper drain hose.
Wrapping some type of tape (I have several rolls of Rescue Tape aboard) should temporarily stop the leak. I suppose you could close the seacock (if the handle worked) while wrapping the hose with tape but I am not sure what significant benefit you would achieve by this. Gravity will always determine the water level in the hose. If it is a major break in the hose then one of the wood plugs sold at West Marine (and other chandlers) could easily be pushed into the scupper drain hose to staunch the flow of seawater. I have several bags of variously sized wood plugs stored aft near the engine compartment and forward in the marine head.
Moving down to the seacock itself, from what I can see of their design (mine are original Spartan Marine bronze circa 1982), again I would think it would probably be a small leak - perhaps by excessive wear on the seacock cone or a leak from the flange nut, the body of the seacock, etc. Regardless of the leak location, assuming it is a quality seacock, in my mind it would not be a catastrophic failure of the seacock. I would notice “weeping” in the seacock and make temporary repairs with Rescue Tape or similar. The only time closing the seacock would help is if the leak in the seacock was from a place ABOVE the hole in the seacock cone. If the leak is BELOW this cone hole then “closing” the seacock would not stop the leak. At least I do not think so.
Of course, the seacock itself could break away from the backing plate and/or interior fiberglass hull. If that happened then the only solution is very large plugs. Closing the seacock would be useless. I have two of the large orange/red cones (“True Plug”) that should plug a hole up to about 3" in diameter.
I am trying to understand if there is any true safety purpose to a seacock for the cockpit scupper drains. I understand the need/desire for a seacock for the engine raw water intake and the galley sink drain hose seacock and the marine head intake seacock. All of these are generally “closed” except when needed.
The two cockpit scupper seacocks remain a mystery to me. What useful purpose do they serve
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