Newbie: Through hole valving and procedures ?

[Delawaredave]

Does every "through hole" have a cut-off valve ?

When you leave boat in slip, do you close all of these cut-off valves ?

Example: our sink drain goes down to through-hole. There is a cut-off valve. The valve is open - and appears like it has never been closed.

I'm curious if folks regularly open/close these.

Thanks !

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

All sea clocks (thruhulls) should be regularly exercised as they will freeze if not periodically turned and it is always a good practice to shut them all when away from the boat. It is often stated that more boats sink in their slip than anywhere else.

 

[Benny17441]

I agree with Don. Irrespective of the good advice it has been my observation that most h27 owners do not close the sink drain because of the difficult to reach location. The safety then relies on the condition of the hose and clamps. Make sure the hose is in good condition and and that it has two clamps at the valve which are in good condition. The OEM valves were gate valves which have fallen out of use as they may be more prone to not closing properly due to obstructions. My personal dislike withe OEM valves has nothing to do withe their design but with the fact that those in use today are likely too old and have outlived their useful life. To test the material of the valve you may tap it lightly with a light hammer. Years ago I was closing such a valve and ended up with the handle in my hand and water entering the boat. The material at the top which held the valve shaft had desintegrated. Having an appropiately sized wood plug tied to each valve made the ocurrence a non-event other than the fact I was closing the valve in preparations for a hurricane. The replacement of the valve had to wait but the tightly driven wood plug held aided by duct tape.

 

[robertsapp]

Closing all your seacocks whenever you leave the boat is the prudent thing to do. That way you're relying on a bronze valve to keep the water out of the boat instead of a hose clamp. There are probably some who always do it, and many who never do it. I imagine most of us are probably somewhere in between. Ours get closed a lot, but not always. And now that it's getting into air conditioning season, our A/C seawater supply line stays open continuously.

Just try and come up with a good way to remember whether or not your engine raw water line is open before starting your engine. Some recommend hanging the key on the valve handle so that you can't start the engine without first checking that the valve is open. I just try to remember to check. So far I've only forgotten once. I found out in the process that my overtemperature alarm does in fact work as designed.

 

[Dalliance]

I close all of mine when I leave the boat. They are very easy to reach, so I have no excuses not to. The galley sink is the least convenient since you have to remove the contents of the locker under the sink to lift up the access panel & reach the seacock, but I solved that by putting everything I store there in a plastic basket.

The raw water intake is closed unless the engine is running and the key hangs on the valve. You would think that would be idiot proof but I did once manage to open the engine compartment, remove the key and start the engine without opening the valve. It confirmed that the high engine temperature alarm works. I blame that incident on the distraction caused by a passing power boat, or more accurately, the young ladies dancing on the bow of that boat!