through-hulls/seacocks

sailingdog · Oct 31, 2008

Mike-

You need to grease them annually, and exercise them monthly.... at a minimum. Do not use WD40, since it will remove what little grease is left. A heavy silicone grease would be a good choice. Exercising the valves monthly is especially necessary if the valves are Marelon.

If the through-hulls are bronze it would be a good idea to check the color of them. If they are starting to look pinkish, that is a sign of galvanic corrosion and means they will probably need to be replaced shortly.

Maine Sail · Oct 31, 2008

Mike8193 said:
What maintenance do you suggest on through-hulls/seacocks? I was thinking of spraying a little wd40 in them from the outside and then open and closing them a few times while the boat is on the cradle for the winter. Maybe also removing the hoses and spraying from the inside too. What do you guys do? Mike

A little Morey's Red Waterproof Grease, or similar, and a "flux brush" goes a long way to smoother operation and it lasts for a while. Also when you are in there use a flash light to examine the ball for any signs of pitting or corrosion. Ultimately the best way to lube is to remove the hose so you can get the top side of the ball and the bottom side.

WD-40, as Dog said, will only serve to remove any grease that is in there already and it will wash away very quickly when the boat is in the water leaving you with virtually no lubrication.

Warren Milberg · Nov 1, 2008

Here is how I grease the seacocks on my H28.5 once the boat is on the hard: take a small diameter dowel and put a dab of waterproof grease on it. I use some PTEF grease and it seems to work and last. Insert the dowel into each closed seacock from below and try to rub the grease on the closed ball. Now go into the boat and exercise the seacock handle a few times. The next step takes some practice, but is relatively easy: rotate the seacock handle to about the 45-deg point. Put some more grease on your dowel and again insert it into and thru the partially opened seacock. Try to scrape the grease onto the top side of the ball. Again, go into the boat and exercise the handles to spread the grease around. This system works nicely for me and avoids having to remove hoses from your seacocks. Hope this works for you, too.

Buck 100 · Nov 1, 2008

Hull valve repair

Mike. one of the first jobs i do when i pull my Oday 25 is to remove the internals of my hull valves. This allows me to inspect the seating surface of the valve. This also allows me to use a very fine sand paper to clean the green off everything and make any repairs needed. After cleaning i use a kitchen lard to lube the internals. I dont reassemble until just before launch next spring. It is possible for any water in your sewage system to drain back to the hull valves and freeze, if your unlucky enought to be in New England.

John · Nov 1, 2008

You E. Coast sailors have it easy

because you have your boats on the hard for part of the year. How about us out-of-luck guys here in California, where we have to keep our boats in the water 12 months of the year so that we can sail year-round? It's an awfully rough life here because of that, because I don't know how to grease my through hulls here while my boat is in the water. For us out-of-luck, year-round sailors, do you have any suggestions on this problem?

SoSound · Nov 1, 2008

John said:
For us out-of-luck, year-round sailors, do you have any suggestions on this problem?

Hold your breath?

Rich (P303) · Nov 2, 2008

Warren has it right with the dowel... no sense ripping your sea-cocks apart every year... or trying to take the hose off the other end.

Or you can make it a 2 man operation... open sea-cocks up all the way... put a dab of grease around the dowel end ... slowly close the sea-cock until resistance is felt... then the person on the dowel end spins the dowel as it is being removed... exercise seacock... leave it open. Water intake... you may be able to do just the exterior if you are already winterized... or leave till spring.

HAL · Nov 2, 2008

Seacock grease

I was just about to ask this exact question about seacock maintenance.
About the grease, will regular automotive - equipment type waterproof grease do?

sailingdog · Nov 2, 2008

Any good waterproof grease will pretty much do the trick.

As for doing this underwater... it can be done the same way it is on the hard...it just requires a bit of swimming.

Maine Sail · Nov 2, 2008

A flux brush

A flux brush, also known as an acid brush, is what is used to apply flux (which is an acid based paste) to a soldered joint when doing plumbing work. They are widely available in the plumbing section of hardware stores or home centers.

I like them for lubing valves because they have a hollow metal handle. If the brush is too short to reach the ball simply stick a pencil in the end, wrap some electrical tape around the joint, and the brush is now longer and can reach deeper into a thru-hull or hose barb to reach the valves ball to apply the waterproof grease.

If you own a Furlex Furler and got the blue Selden grease with it this stuff works very well too..

Flux/Acid Brush

sailingdog · Nov 2, 2008

Re: A flux brush

Flux brushes also have the added benefit of being cheap.

However, if you're using them underwater, be aware—they normally sink quite quickly.

Prime Time · Nov 2, 2008

Lithium Grease

I like to us lithium grease. I buy it in a spray can with a long narrow straw. I just spray it from the outside, and have someone operate the handle from the inside.

Warren Milberg · Nov 3, 2008

For Prime Time: While I like and use a spray lithium for a variety of lube jobs on my boat, if you only spray it into your seacocks from the thru-hulls under the boat, I think there is a good chance it will not lube the upper side of the ball even if you rotate the handle a number of times.

Prime Time · Nov 3, 2008

Partial job from outside?

Interesting point. I have just lubed at beginning of season as described for the last 3 yrs, without a problem. I don't know what percentage of the ball gets lubed by doing this, but it has seemed enough. I would say that I do it this way based on how I used to lube the older style seacocks, that can rotate completely in the housing.

DougM · Nov 4, 2008

Don't use WD40....a light grease would be better as suggested by others. One through hull to watch especially is the galley sink drain. Make sure it stays open in the winter. I had one that inadvertantly was left in the closed position in winter storage. It had some residual moisture in it, and it froze and split the valve body. Its an inch and one quarter seacock, buried in the cabin sole and a son of a gun to get a wrench onto it if it needs to be changed.

If your boat is stored in a dusty yard, and you grease from the outside, make sure you don't have an accumulation of grit in the grease come spring, or you could possibly score the valve ball or seat.

sailingdog · Nov 4, 2008

My galley sink doesn't have a sea cock, but drains well above the waterline...

jlp · Nov 4, 2008

John said:
because you have your boats on the hard for part of the year. How about us out-of-luck guys here in California, where we have to keep our boats in the water 12 months of the year so that we can sail year-round? It's an awfully rough life here because of that, because I don't know how to grease my through hulls here while my boat is in the water. For us out-of-luck, year-round sailors, do you have any suggestions on this problem?

As Deja Vu can go 2-4 years between haul outs and having 2 plastic(Marlon ?) valves seize and break while opening them the only solution I've found is to replace all thu-hulls with bronze.

jeff
http://home.teleport.com/~salmo/DejaVu/

sailingdog · Nov 4, 2008

JLP-

Marelon valves will generally only seize and break if not exercised regularly (at least once a month) and greased at least once a year. They don't have to be out of the water to be greased, but hauling the boat does make it a bit simpler.

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