Leaky Seacock - yikes!

[TernEggs]

Hello,

Today I installed a new head. Everything seemed to go fine, but when I went to close the inlet seacock after testing I saw that there was a drip coming out of the seacock body. It’s a tapered cone type valve, I believe a Wilcox Crittenden.

It’s letting in 1-2 tablespoons of water per hour. So not anything too dangerous… yet. I’m just worried that this portends a worse issue.

I’ve posted a picture of where I think the gap is. My questions are:

Why is this only happening now? Could I have done something to the seacock while installing the new Jabsco? I didn’t take the hose off on that end, but I did pump a few gallons through the thing when testing. I don’t think I jostled it at all, though it’s possible.

Could this develop into a boat-threatening leak? The failure appears to be in the washer on the non-handle side.

If I do need to fix this urgently, I need to haul out, right? It’s a flange type seacock bolted to the hull through the backing plate, so I can’t just spin it off.

Thanks for any advice or ideas!

[Knotical]

If the washer is still sitting properly did you try tightening the nut in the back? I believe that will stop the leak.

[Bowdrie]

I have a few of those WC seacocks on my boat.
Those seacocks should be greased every year at haulout.
And it's a fine line between adjusting them too tight to operate easily and too lose so they let in water.
Back off the locknut and flange a half turn, move the seacock handle back and forth thru its full range, (~180 degrees,) a few times.
Then while moving the handle back and forth slowly tighten the flange just till the leak stops, then re-tighten the locknut, (you need two wrenches, one to hold the hex on the flange, the other for the lock nut.
If all fails, then you'll just have to live with a bit of water coming in unless you want to remove the cone and re-grease it.
It can be done with boat in water, you'll let some water in, but no big deal.
You have a couple of plywood discs and a pre-adjusted C-clamp.
You remove the locknut, remove the flange, pull the cone out, slap-on your plywood discs and put the clamp on.
Now you can liberally re-grease the cone at your leisure, and re-installation is quite easy.
If you don't have to work upside down with one hand you should be able to do the whole job without letting in much more than a couple quarts of water.
Edit, Go easy with the wrenches, it's bronze, not a head bolt on an engine.

[GordMay]

Maine Sail (Rod Collins @ https://marinehowto.com/) offers an excellent tutorial, “Servicing Tapered Cone Seacocks”
➥ https://marinehowto.com/servicing-ta...cone-seacocks/