How good is Morey's Red? We last greased the seacocks on Parfait a year ago. Two weekends ago, I went to open the sink drain seacock and it was stuck; it hadn't been opened in three or four months. I had noticed that it was getting a bit stiff earlier, but hadn't done a thing about it.
Against all advice, I loosened the nuts on the barrel and gave them a tap with the closest hammer. The seacock loosened up and I was able to operate it with minimal leakage. After a bit of redistribution of the Morey's red inside the seacock by working the handle, I tightened the barrell up a bit, to the point where there was no dripping at all. I monititored it for the rest of the weekend and it continued to be dry and work like a charm.
Needless to say, the next time we haul, we will be regreasing the seacocks, all of them, but this was a pleasant surprise and saved an unscheduled trip to the travellift. There are days when we wish for 5 ft. tides, but that didn't turn out to be one of them.
If you need more info on Morey's Red, search this site's archives for it. If that doesn't work, contact me directly. No, I get no commission. $7 will buy a long-life supply.
Keep on sailing,
Ken Coit
CD/36 Parfait
Hailing Port: Raleigh, NC
Sailing from: Beaufort, NC
parfaitNOSPAM@nc.rr.com
Seacocks and Morey's Red
Moderator: Jim Walsh
-
Larry DeMers
Re: Seacocks and Morey's Red ..or Spartan
Guys,
Well, ok, but any seacock grease really, will do that. The grease just got smushed out of the seacock from use, and tightening, and temp variations etc. How large of a container does Morey's come in? Cartridge?
Defender carries Spartan Seacock Grease..made specificaly for the very item you are greasing. It's $9.95 for a lifetime supply. But the supply is about 6 in. tall, so I suspect Moreys has more material for the $$, even though it's rather academic.
I grease my seacocks yearly, but honestly could get by with doing it every 2-3. One thing occurs to me. When doing your seacock maintenance, be careful of tightening the inside shoulder nut too tightly, as it will squish (now there be a nautical term..) the lube right out of the seacock.
Here's a way to gauge how tight you are turning that inside shoulder nut:Use the shoulder of the handle movement stop washer(my term, and proud of it! heh) as a guide. As this washer is placed over the threaded shaft of the seacock, and skooshed up to the seacock barrel, there is a keyed mating collar on the seacock that will fit the washer in only one position. This washer will not engage this mating collar if the seacock plug is not engaging the barrel fully. In other words, if there is too much lube on the two surfaces, the plug will not go all the way in, and the washer will not engage the keyed collar. So put some more muscle to the plug to force a bit more out (this is for adjusting small amounts of goop..if you really were ultra-generous with it, you may have to physically remove some) and *continually* try to mate that keyed washer to the seacock. You do not want to tighten the nut against this washer when it is out of alignment with the seacock. Distortion of the washer could result.
Eventually, the plug will settle in, and the washer will just engage. That is the ideal amount of lube on the barrel. Now the whole shebang rotates on a layer of grease.
A slippery topic..
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Lake Superior
demers@sgi.com
Well, ok, but any seacock grease really, will do that. The grease just got smushed out of the seacock from use, and tightening, and temp variations etc. How large of a container does Morey's come in? Cartridge?
Defender carries Spartan Seacock Grease..made specificaly for the very item you are greasing. It's $9.95 for a lifetime supply. But the supply is about 6 in. tall, so I suspect Moreys has more material for the $$, even though it's rather academic.
I grease my seacocks yearly, but honestly could get by with doing it every 2-3. One thing occurs to me. When doing your seacock maintenance, be careful of tightening the inside shoulder nut too tightly, as it will squish (now there be a nautical term..) the lube right out of the seacock.
Here's a way to gauge how tight you are turning that inside shoulder nut:Use the shoulder of the handle movement stop washer(my term, and proud of it! heh) as a guide. As this washer is placed over the threaded shaft of the seacock, and skooshed up to the seacock barrel, there is a keyed mating collar on the seacock that will fit the washer in only one position. This washer will not engage this mating collar if the seacock plug is not engaging the barrel fully. In other words, if there is too much lube on the two surfaces, the plug will not go all the way in, and the washer will not engage the keyed collar. So put some more muscle to the plug to force a bit more out (this is for adjusting small amounts of goop..if you really were ultra-generous with it, you may have to physically remove some) and *continually* try to mate that keyed washer to the seacock. You do not want to tighten the nut against this washer when it is out of alignment with the seacock. Distortion of the washer could result.
Eventually, the plug will settle in, and the washer will just engage. That is the ideal amount of lube on the barrel. Now the whole shebang rotates on a layer of grease.
A slippery topic..
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Lake Superior
Ken Coit wrote: How good is Morey's Red? We last greased the seacocks on Parfait a year ago. Two weekends ago, I went to open the sink drain seacock and it was stuck; it hadn't been opened in three or four months. I had noticed that it was getting a bit stiff earlier, but hadn't done a thing about it.
Against all advice, I loosened the nuts on the barrel and gave them a tap with the closest hammer. The seacock loosened up and I was able to operate it with minimal leakage. After a bit of redistribution of the Morey's red inside the seacock by working the handle, I tightened the barrell up a bit, to the point where there was no dripping at all. I monititored it for the rest of the weekend and it continued to be dry and work like a charm.
Needless to say, the next time we haul, we will be regreasing the seacocks, all of them, but this was a pleasant surprise and saved an unscheduled trip to the travellift. There are days when we wish for 5 ft. tides, but that didn't turn out to be one of them.
If you need more info on Morey's Red, search this site's archives for it. If that doesn't work, contact me directly. No, I get no commission. $7 will buy a long-life supply.
Keep on sailing,
Ken Coit
CD/36 Parfait
Hailing Port: Raleigh, NC
Sailing from: Beaufort, NC
demers@sgi.com