Hasn't been much activity in the forum lately, so maybe we can liven it up. How many of you, if you had a new boat, would immediately replace your marelon thru-hulls with bronze. Who would stay with marelon and why?
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LaDonna Bubak - Planet Catalina
I'd switch
I'd switch out at my next haulout. It wouldn't be my sole reason for hauling out but I'd definitely do the switch if I was hauling out to do my bottom. Till then I'd be sure to have easy access to them and have plugs tied to each. LaDonna
I'd switch out at my next haulout. It wouldn't be my sole reason for hauling out but I'd definitely do the switch if I was hauling out to do my bottom. Till then I'd be sure to have easy access to them and have plugs tied to each. LaDonna
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Bob Teeter
We have a 1990 C 42 with Marelon thur-hulls. I have not had a problem with any of them, but have considered replacing some of them. I have a friend with a newer C36 and he has broken the handle off of a couple and has had some freeze either open or closed. I always close the thru-hulls when I leave the boat and have used a lube on them when I have had the boat out of the water for a bottom job. We may replace them before we go cruising. Another 5 years will tell. Bob Teeter Camelot
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Charley Eddy
Marelon is OK with me
I had a Hans Christian 38 with lots of really heavy duty bronze seacocks and now have a 1992 Catalina 42 with Marelon seacocks. I prefer the Marelon seacocks. On the Hans Christian, which I owned for about 10 years, the bronze seacocks got harder to work over time as the mating "cone" areas developed some corosion/deposits. Every time I hauled I generally took them apart and wet sanded them smooth and greased them to keep them working smoothly. In the 8 years I have had the C42, it has been used year round, and I have completely ignored maintenance on the marelon seacocks, other than closing them everytime I leave the boat. I had a problem on the one for the sink which got hard to work and had to be replaced. The replacement seacock was only $25 or so and I was able to easily replace it with the boat in the water. All the other seacocks have been fine. The other thing about the marelon seacocks is that you can be certain they are not being affected in any way if you have any electrolysis issues on your. I would stick with the marelon, they are low maintenace and well suited to what 99% of all catalina owners use their boats for, bay and coastal sailing.
I had a Hans Christian 38 with lots of really heavy duty bronze seacocks and now have a 1992 Catalina 42 with Marelon seacocks. I prefer the Marelon seacocks. On the Hans Christian, which I owned for about 10 years, the bronze seacocks got harder to work over time as the mating "cone" areas developed some corosion/deposits. Every time I hauled I generally took them apart and wet sanded them smooth and greased them to keep them working smoothly. In the 8 years I have had the C42, it has been used year round, and I have completely ignored maintenance on the marelon seacocks, other than closing them everytime I leave the boat. I had a problem on the one for the sink which got hard to work and had to be replaced. The replacement seacock was only $25 or so and I was able to easily replace it with the boat in the water. All the other seacocks have been fine. The other thing about the marelon seacocks is that you can be certain they are not being affected in any way if you have any electrolysis issues on your. I would stick with the marelon, they are low maintenace and well suited to what 99% of all catalina owners use their boats for, bay and coastal sailing.
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Dan Smith
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Dan Smith
I changed some
I have my 42 hauled and have replaced the raw water with a bronze one and a marine screen so the inlet can't suck in crap. I addition A surveyor said to replace all plastic in the eng. comp as in a fire you will burn off your valves . I wanted bronze to support a series of valves in the system so that I can use the engine to pump bilge in an emergency I can shut down the thru hull and open the Y valve to take suction from my bilge I have installed a dual strainer on this 1.5" line to prevent the heat exchanger from clogging, and for real emergency operations I made a riser for my engine air intake so the engine will run submerged if I have to I did this as I am running the boat offshore a lot and want relability of dual systems. I also use bronze on all inlets rather than plastic as bronze comes with marine screens... plastic has none Dan Hull 533 REUNION
I have my 42 hauled and have replaced the raw water with a bronze one and a marine screen so the inlet can't suck in crap. I addition A surveyor said to replace all plastic in the eng. comp as in a fire you will burn off your valves . I wanted bronze to support a series of valves in the system so that I can use the engine to pump bilge in an emergency I can shut down the thru hull and open the Y valve to take suction from my bilge I have installed a dual strainer on this 1.5" line to prevent the heat exchanger from clogging, and for real emergency operations I made a riser for my engine air intake so the engine will run submerged if I have to I did this as I am running the boat offshore a lot and want relability of dual systems. I also use bronze on all inlets rather than plastic as bronze comes with marine screens... plastic has none Dan Hull 533 REUNION
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Gerry Hull
Marelon vs. Bronze
Keep in mind that if you go to bronze that you should bond all the thru hulls together with copper strap and connect the whole thing to the engine... then zinc accordingly. Contact a big boat surveyor for a proper opinion regarding bonding protection for the thru hulls. Best thing would be if Catalina would do it on new boats but they won't because it would disrupt their low cost assembly line production. Bottom line is that worldwide,quality boats come with bonded bronze sea cocks ...primarily because they are stronger. For casual sailors Marelon is probably o.k because few small boat owners are actually going to do the yearly disassembly and greasing that bronze requires and if they don't the sea cocks will freeze up.
Keep in mind that if you go to bronze that you should bond all the thru hulls together with copper strap and connect the whole thing to the engine... then zinc accordingly. Contact a big boat surveyor for a proper opinion regarding bonding protection for the thru hulls. Best thing would be if Catalina would do it on new boats but they won't because it would disrupt their low cost assembly line production. Bottom line is that worldwide,quality boats come with bonded bronze sea cocks ...primarily because they are stronger. For casual sailors Marelon is probably o.k because few small boat owners are actually going to do the yearly disassembly and greasing that bronze requires and if they don't the sea cocks will freeze up.
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Dale Flaming
Stick with Marelon
I would stick with the Marelon because of the corrosion problems with any metal sea-cock. Even with bonding you can have electrolysis with bronze sea-cocks, this is not a problem with Marelon. On a Du four 31 which I owned a non bonded bronze sea-cock failed due to corrosion. I am very comfortable with the Marelon sea-cocks on my C470. The handles can cause problems if the sea-cock are not used very often, but this will happen with bronze sea-cocks as well. Marelon is very strong and is really trouble free.
I would stick with the Marelon because of the corrosion problems with any metal sea-cock. Even with bonding you can have electrolysis with bronze sea-cocks, this is not a problem with Marelon. On a Du four 31 which I owned a non bonded bronze sea-cock failed due to corrosion. I am very comfortable with the Marelon sea-cocks on my C470. The handles can cause problems if the sea-cock are not used very often, but this will happen with bronze sea-cocks as well. Marelon is very strong and is really trouble free.
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