Clean and lube ball thru hull valve?

[wavespray]

I am replacing throughulls in a refit. A new-looking seacock/throughull in the toilet outlet does not need replacing, but I took the hose off and looked at the stainless ball. It is crudded and does not move freely. After several hours searching the Internet over a few days, I cannot find specific instructions on cleaning a seacock ball valve in place. I am tempted to use varsol, work the ball-valve with its handle, rinse well with water and a bit of soap, and then lube with teflon grease. Safe approach?

 

[Cap't Ron]

Reasonable

But I would find out what kind of grease the boat yard uses for the type (Bronze, marlon) that you have.

They will be happy to tell you, and they do 'em alla time.

Yes, it does sound like a reasonable approach and will likely work fine, but it is an easy check tho~

 

[wavespray]

Hoping for speciific suggestions

Thanks Ron, but I have tried locally. Need to be clear about (1) Varsol idea, and (2) best lube to use.

 

[Warren Milberg]

Here is how I do it

I lube my inline valves and seacocks when the boat is on the hard as follows: take a 1/4 inch dowel and put a dab of grease (I use white lithium or Lanocote)on the tip. Stick it up the thru hull from the under side with the valve closed. Move the dowel around to spread the lube on the lower side of the closed ball. Now go inside and rotate the valve handle a few times. At this point, you want to end up moving the handle just enough to allow the ball to be open "just a bit." This will take practice and "feel." Now go back under the boat with the re-lubed dowel. Put it up and thru the opened ball of the valve. You'll know it when you get it right. The idea is to get the dab of lube on the top side of the ball and then scrape it off by pulling it down and out. Rotate the valve handle again and you are done. This works well on my H28.5 and hope it works for you, too.

 

[Gary]

Recall

I use lithium grease on mine. I buy in in a spray container which makes it easy to apply. There was a recall on some thru hull seacocks of the kind that you describe. It think it was the Apollo brand. Wrong materials used in construction.

 

[wavespray]

RE: REcall

There was a Groco recall on some of their stainless steel seacock valve stems (the bit that the handle fits onto to turn the valve). Details on the Groco website. Google "Groco recall".

 

[wavespray]

Varsol in ball valves?

I'm still wondering about cleaning the stainless ball valve with Varsol in this bronze seacock. Any other thoughts? Thanks.