Remove Wilcox Crittenden seacock

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Many many boats don't have the bolts holding the seacock. Bolts are probably 'one degree' safer, but it's seldom an issue and more holes in your boat.

Not more holes in your boat if done this way:

https://marinehowto.com/seacock-backing-plates/

[Mike Burch]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

I have the factory brass ones I think. Apparently poor and short lived. Will the throughhulls fit the better Bronze seacock ?
I have seen the throughhull ripped out to replace them.
A nylon plate to support the replacement or rebuild might work out well. I see it used for motor mount brackets.

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. In contact with seawater the zinc leaches out and leaves just a mass of amorphous copper, which has about the tensile strength of chewing gum. Please do NOT use brass under water. Brass through-hulls or seacocks will indeed have a short life.

Bronze, on the other hand, is an alloy of copper and tin, and is generally unaffected by seawater.

The thread will probably be the same.

Surely a nylon backing plate would be too flexible to be any use as a hull strengthener? And nylon is not dimensionally stable in water—it can absorb water, and swells when it does so.

[Rumrace]

Thanks for that link. Yes I know the brass seacock has a expected life of 5 years.
I’ve seen worse. Copper elbow on bronze seacock ��.
I love that How To. The 3 bolts make massive sense now. Putting 3 holes through the hull is what I pictured, which explains why I’ve not seen any. There are a couple new nylons on the market. Glass or carbon fillers. A home 3D printer could not use it but a commercial company could produce those triangles threaded and stronger. They are waterproofed by structure.

[goboatingnow]

DNZ sea cocks do have a good life , mine were replaced after 15 years in the Med and the boat spent most of its time plugged in to shore power. One or two removed fittings were cut apart and examined and were deemed to be well within acceptable limits.

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

I love that How To. The 3 bolts make massive sense now. Putting 3 holes through the hull is what I pictured, which explains why I’ve not seen any. There are a couple new nylons on the market. Glass or carbon fillers. A home 3D printer could not use it but a commercial company could produce those triangles threaded and stronger. They are waterproofed by structure.

Groco does produce backing plates with threaded inserts for bolts - no holes through the hull required.

https://www.groco.net/products/valve...backing-blocks

[Rumrace]

Thank you so much. I’ve learned volumes

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Brace it with a piece of wood to keep it from turning or hold it with a pipe wrench. A piece of leather will keep the jaws from marring the seacock. You can also disassemble the seacock and put a wood dowel through the body to keep it from turning.

Going to try that. Maybe try to turn the valve body, and hope the mushroom head does not move while I remove the valve body, then take the thru-hull out., if not I will try and secure the valve while turning the thru-hull.

If I reuse this seacock, since it is not located with bolts, it looks like I will need 2 people to do the job? One to hold the valve in the orientation I want in the boat, one to tighten the thru-hull from the outside ?

[phantomracer]

Posting an update to the project.

Figured it would be easier to unscrew the seacock from the inside first then remove the thru-hull .

Went to put a pipe wrench on the seacock, but figured I would try and do it by hand first... it unscrewed with very little effort! Score!

Thru-hull came out as easy with the internal wrench .

Removed the rotted wood backing plate

Cleaned up the hull and scored the fiberglass.

Hand laid a fiberglass and resin backing plate in a plastic tub (cool whip). When it hardened, put it through my surface planer .. eh worked ok, not as good as I hoped. but got it flat enough.

Made a thickened epoxy mix and laid the backing plate into the boat. secured it from the outside to keep it from moving...

Now just waiting for the resin to harden and waiting for the new seacock to arrive. I did disassemble and rebuild the old seacock. it is working great. I just wanted a new pretty one

[phantomracer]

Job is done (well still got to put some bottom paint on! )

Drilled out the backing plate

Set the thru-hull in, held it in place with a boat hook while screwing in the Spartan seacock inside the boat. Measured the extra threads, added 1/4" , cut it.

drilled out the holes for the seacock bolts, countersunk them, both sides. Cleaned everything within an inch of its life with acetone.

Gooped up the the thru-hull with 291, did the same for the seacock. screwed it in using new bronze bolts

Once the bolts were tightened, tightened the thru-hull very tight with the step wrench

Covered the bolt heads with Epifanes 2 part epoxy filler.

Sanded everything, cleaned it, put some Interlux barrier coat on everything outside.

Reconnected the hoses and clamps. Came out pretty good, I think!

Still got to put bottom paint on it, but it is done!

I DID rebuild the old seacock, it is near perfect, but I wanted an excuse to buy a new Spartan one

The Marinehowto article was so helpful! Really saved me a lot of time doing it. It was a fun project, other than getting this fat old body into the tight engine bay!

[lk240]

Nice work. Thanks for the pics

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by phantomracer

I DID rebuild the old seacock, it is near perfect, but I wanted an excuse to buy a new Spartan one

Good for you, making the decision to support a rather small American company that produces high quality bronze marine gear on what is perhaps an artisan basis is to be commended.
Those swivel adaptors for the hose are the "Bee's Knees".
I have used their chocks and chain pipe fittings and find them to be superior to any of the "common" gear you find in a store.

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

Good for you, making the decision to support a rather small American company that produces high quality bronze marine gear on what is perhaps an artisan basis is to be commended.
Those swivel adaptors for the hose are the "Bee's Knees".
I have used their chocks and chain pipe fittings and find them to be superior to any of the "common" gear you find in a store.

Yea, I kinda hate that it is hidden! It is pretty and you can just feel the workmanship.

Also have their spring hasps on the cockpit lockers. They are awesome!

Their website is as close to Sailing p0rn that you can get! HAHA

[phantomracer]

Originally Posted by lk240

Nice work. Thanks for the pics

Thanks. I like to follow up with threads I start, in case it can help anyone down the line.