Broken Seacock - repair options?

[dph123]

I went down to the boat to diagnose an overheating problem. I started at the seawater intake. I started to take off the hose to check for a blockage and the fitting broke. It was heavily corroded. See the attached pictures. My question is can this be repaired in the water by replacing the top part of the fitting above the valve, or does the boat need to be hauled to replace the seacock?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Skipper]

Yes just replace the elbow fitting. Make sure metals and threads match.
Unless the corrosion has infiltrated the valve as well, in which case it will need replacing. Out of the water of course. Possibly the thru hull too.
If you torque the bad fitting, and snap off the valve, you're in a world of hurt. Or water. Have a plug standing by. Or better, have a professional inspect it.
BY THE WAY: Is that really a seacock? Looks like a gate valve. If it's a gate valve, it does not meet ABYC standards, and is dangerous as a below-waterline fitting. Haul the boat and replace the whole thing with approved equipment.
Edit: what was attached to that fitting. The hose?
The more I look at your pics, the fishier it seems.
Talk to the yard.

 

[jssailem]

DPH Thruhulls on boats do where out and need to be replaced. How old in the boat? You are likely looking at a valve that is that old. Safety would dictate replacing the through hull at the next haul out. It is likely that the gate valve (it is hard to tell from the picture) is also corroded.

Do your self a favor. Get a good ball valve and have it installed (OUT OF THE WATER). Or in satall it your self. Here is a link on how... (https://marinehowto.com/installing-a-seacock-in-a-new-location/)

Here is another link that may explain why you are doing this.
(https://marinehowto.com/seacock-and-thru-hull-primer/)

You will thank your self for being a good alive boat owner with many more years of use.

 

[dph123]

Thanks, Skipper. It is a seacock. The upper part you see in my hand was connected to the seacock, the lower portion was connected to the hose. When I took the hose off the pipe the hose was on snapped off. When I tried to take off the fitting (hoping I could just replace the pipe) the whole thing just crumbled off. I am grateful this happened because the connection was prone to fail any time.

Because of the potential for disaster I am going to have a professional do the work. But would like to avoid a tow and haul.

 

[BigEasy]

DP,
You can change the valve & tailpiece without hauling out. Tap a wooden plug into the thru hull from the bottom of the hull (outside the boat.). Remove the broken tailpiece & valve. Attach the new ball valve with sealer of choice & let it set. Open the valve and insert a long screw driver thru the valve until it contacts the wooden plug in the thru hull; hit the screwdriver handle with a rubber mallet until you drive out the wood plug from the thru hull. Now you have water flowing thru the open valve; simply remove the screw driver and close the valve to shutoff the water flow. Now you can dry off the components, apply sealant to the tailpiece and thread it into the valve. Let the sealant set and reattach your hose and clamp it with 2 SS hose clamps. Did this once when a valve handle shaft broke off inside the ball valve & had no way to shutoff the leaking valve. Trick is to drive the wood plug into the thru hull so that it doesn't leak but not so tight that you can't drive the plug out with the screw driver. Also, you want to gather all the materials and do this within a day; if not, the wood plug will swell and you may not be able to knock it out with the screw driver. Then you would have to dive again and knock the plug out with a hammer. (Guess how I learned that!!!). If you need to have your bottom & prop cleaned, you can get the diver to tap in the wood plug while he is cleaning the bottom. Don't forget to retrieve your wood plug! I gotta tell you, seeing the condition of your broken tailpiece, I would be very concerned about the condition of the thru hull fitting. Of course you would need a haulout to replace the thru hull & inspect / replace the others as needed.

 

[capta]

Because of the potential for disaster I am going to have a professional do the work. But would like to avoid a tow and haul.

Absolutely and totally the correct way to go.

 

[kloudie1]

Looks almost like the elbow and the adapter (male pipe thread to male hose barb might be brass instead of bronze? Your nearest fine chandlery should have the parts to get it working long enough to get the boat to the yard.. The a new bronze ell and a new bronze adapter on existing valve would do it but have a plug handy and be careful in holding the valve so it doesn't put a lot of strain on the thru-hull tailpiece.. Easy's suggestion of a plug before doing anything is a great one !

 

[seadaddler]

Warning when you try to take the elbo off the whole thru hull will turn
even the part that goes thruthe hull and you need to put a large pipe wrench on the value to keep it from turn and maybe spray some liquid wrench to help loosen up.
I just did replace and lube all my thru hulls while my boat was out of the water and believe me my boat is 2007 and they were very hard to remove and I used very large wrenches and still was very hard to keep from everything from turning.
Nick

 

[LeslieTroyer]

I could easily be mistaken but the valve looks like a gate valve. If so you should replace it with a ball valve.

Les

 

[BigEasy]

Looks like it's a ball valve screwed onto a straight thru hull fitting.
Not really a seacock.

 

[dph123]

Thanks, all. After looking closely at the fitting I have no confidence in it, or the thru hull. I am going to haul it out and replace the whole thing.

 

[jssailem]

Sounds like a well thought out plan. Good for you...

 

[seadaddler]

Good idea to change out the whole thing.
I did mine with my last haul and took all 6 thru hulls off and lubed them all but replaced 2 and replaced all backing plates also and coated the backing plates with epoxy

 

[BigEasy]

Good! After looking at the valve & thru hull fitting again, I think that is the best course of action. This is a project you can do yourself in the yard. Grind off the external mushroom outside the hull and pull out the entire valve & tailpiece from inside the cabin after disconnecting the hose. No need to try to wrench or cutoff those corroded fittings inside the hull. Bed the new fittings with 3M 4200 and you should be good for at least 10 years. Might as well change all of them if they look like the one that broke. There was a recent thread on this site discussing removal of thru hull fittings. Don't forget to use all bronze fittings---not going to find them in the big box stores, so you will have to get them from a marine chandlery. Might be able to get a deal with Memorial Day sales. Good luck.

 

[capta]

Grind off the external mushroom outside the hull.

No need to grind it off. If you look into the outside of a real thruhull, it has two tabs inside which one can use to hold it while the inside nut is being turned. If it's as weak as what's in the picture, it should just crumble apart. If not, perhaps that piece is reusable. Someone in the yard can advise you on this.

 

[BigEasy]

Capta,
When I go thru the trouble of changing thru hull fittings every 10 years or so, everything gets changed--- thru hull fitting, valve, tailpiece, and hose. Makes me sleep better knowing that I haven't left anything to chance. Therefore, I like to grind off the mushroom-- very fast , no aggregation, and no busted knuckles!

 

[capta]

Capta,
When I go thru the trouble of changing thru hull fittings every 10 years or so, everything gets changed--- thru hull fitting, valve, tailpiece, and hose. Makes me sleep better knowing that I haven't left anything to chance. Therefore, I like to grind off the mushroom-- very fast , no aggregation, and no busted knuckles!

I sailed a gaff ketch built in 1909 through the SoPac in the 70's. Every single one of her thruhulls and seacocks were original and in excellent condition. My present boat was built in 1981 and I can say the same for every one of them on her too. So were the ones on a 1978 sportfishing boat I owned for 18 years. They all get maintained every few years (lapping & lubing), but it never occurred to me that they should be changed on general principles.
Whatever makes you sleep well at night is what's right for you, of course, but this equipment is not designed for such a short service life. I'd be looking for the reason your seacocks and thruhulls are deteriorating so quickly.

 

[jibes138]

I have found that using an oscillating tool with a metal cutting blade it is easy to cut off the thru hull flush with the nut for thru hulls with ball valves attached. Bronze cuts like butter. Then vertically cut each side of the nut so it is in two pieces. A screwdriver pries the two halves apart and then the thru hull can be knocked out with just a little pressure. While you're at it use Maine Sails instructions and install a real seacock. How big is your boat? I had a Catalina 25 for 10 years and it came OEM with gate valves, very very bad practice. If your backing plate need replacing nows the time for that also. G10 makes a nice backing plate, but OEM's used a lot of plywood that lasted a lot of years.

 

[seadaddler]

My thru hulls are a two piece system and were installed in 2006 and 2 were needed to be replaced one was worn and one would not oprn and close and other one was so so and I decided to replace both and only needed to replace the value and not thru hull part but I did use a tool that goes up into the thru hull part to keep from turning but was also changing the backing plates removed them all and used 5200 thinking not going to do them for over ten years.
Nick