Seacocks

Well, the joke around here is that whenever I spend the time to wax a car, somebody comes along before it gets dirty and offers me more money than "No" equals.......maybe its that way on your boats!

I'm with you on re-inventing the wheel........I'm finding it harder and harder to re-do those long detailed explanations more than once. In fact, I've started keeping the good ones in a group of personal FAQ's to save time and effort.

I'm waxing a car.....gotta go finish!
 
The method I use to keep my seacocks operating freely is to lubricate them w/ silicone spray.

While the boat is out of water I remove the handle, then remove the nut behind the handle.

The nut behind the handle retains the stem. The stem is sandwiched between two Teflon washers. If disassembled, replace w/ the original orientation.

The silicone is sprayed into the stem, into the drain and into the ball.

The ball is worked back and forth to work the silicone into the mechanism.

The stem nut is replaced, tightened snug, then backed off slightly.

The seacock always works fine ‘till the next haul w/ this process.

Water intrusion is expected ifin the nut is removed while in water.


Don’t use WD-40 instead of silicone spray!
 
Captain Don said:
Frank,
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Captain Don said:
These are old pic's I had. The one with 2 seacocks is Stbd. I could probably get to that one, the other is the nightmare Port. You could only see the tip of the handle, it opens and closes bow to strern so the t handle is almost against the stringer. Maybe I'm wrong, not too sure. Hope these are helpful.
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The hose from the seacock to the strainer has a kink and should probably be replaced.

The Apollo Conbraco seacocks used on my boat are easily adjusted to correct lever action that is too tight or too loose.

The stem is retained by a nut. The tightness of that nut determines how easy the lever moves.

Just remove the handle, remove the nut, lube w/ silicone spray, not WD-40 and replace the nut. Snug it up tight, then back off slightly.

The nut retains the stem, sandwiched by two Teflon washers. If disassembled, replace in the same order.
 
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great advice, thanks Frank.

Anyone know the right size stainless grease fittings to order?
 
wingless said:
The hose from the seacock to the strainer has a kink and should probably be replaced.

The Apollo Conbraco seacocks used on my boat are easily adjusted to correct lever action that is too tight or too loose.

The stem is retained by a nut. The tightness of that nut determines how easy the lever moves.

Just remove the handle, remove the nut, lube w/ silicone spray, not WD-40 and replace the nut. Snug it up tight, then back off slightly.

The nut retains the stem, sandwiched by two Teflon washers. If disassembled, replace in the same order.
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Wingless,
Thanks for the information. I have a tough time getting to them, I was able to loosen the T nut and spray them good with silicone, they freed up pretty good. I did not take them apart. They operate 100 percent better. I'll check out that hose also. Thanks
 
fwebster said:
The seacocks Sea Ray uses now are marine grade ball valves with vitron,nitrile, or some tough rubber substitute. They have Teflon wipers or pre-seals in them as well. All this soft stuff rubs on a polished stainless steel ball with a shaft thru it. The yellow handle you grab is attached to the shaft thru an oblong hole with flats on 2 sides in the handle and a nut on the outside.

When these valves are new, they are stiff and should be because the seals and wipers are making contact on both sides or 360 degrees of the ball. It takes very little marine growth to stick a seacock. Exercising them regularly is important.

A trick I learned is that Sea Ray uses a valve on all boats that is designed to northern climates. They have a small threaded plug on the side of the valve body down where the guts or ball is. Remove that plug and insert a grease fitting. I bought stainless steel fittings and just leave mine in place all the time. I think the thread is 1/4" X 20 NF, but you might remove one plug (don't lose it!) and take it to a parts store to match it. You can use any grease fitting that will fit for now, but you should (and probably have to) order stainless ones.

Unsticking the seacocks isn't a matter of throwing the handle with enough force to make it move. It is instead, a matter of fractions of an inch. Put the grease fittings in, first, give then a shot of grease then try to move the handle very slightly. Use a small cheater like a 12" Crescent wrench opened the width of the handle and placed on the end of it. Get the handle to move 1/4" then go back to open, then move it 3/8" and back to open, then go back to 3/8" and stop, Give it another shot of grease and open the valve again, give it another shot of grease and move it 1/2", back to open, move it 5/8", grease, then open all the way and grease it again..........get the picture?

...

The grease I use is Mercruiser anti corrosion lubricant or their all purpose grease with numbers in the name.....4-2-C, I think.
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There are three concerns I have with this procedure.

The first is the specified grease. When I contacted Apollo Conbraco they said no lube. When pressed they allowed a silicone spray, not WD-40.

Contact them and ask about this choice of lubricant. They are very helpful.

The second is injecting grease into an interference fit between the chrome plated bronze ball and the RPTFE seal.

The procedure you've defined probably won't cause damage.

It is reasonable to expect others would apply multiple pump injections of grease into the fitting, instead of a small amount, working it back and forth, as you've described.

Several strokes of grease at several thousand PSI could cut through the seal like a knife causing an instant failure.

The third is this will have a negligible effect on most cases of the typical problem of a difficult-to-move lever. The lever friction is determined by the tension of the gland screw.

If the lever requires too much force the gland nut is too tight.
 
You guys can wait a long time on this one..............

My personal policy is to post only methods and procedures I've done or seen done on my own boat and know that work. In this case, I have used the seacock maintenance methods described above for the bronze ball valve sea cocks for 12 years with no ill effects and a child can open or close my sea cocks. On the plug type sea cocks used on the pre-1990 boats, I serviced them by the methods I described (I forget what thread that was in) for 10 years on my 390EC and they were simple and easy to operate.

But, you guys go ahead and mess with the tension nuts and take the ball valves apart if you want to...............but please be sure your boat is out of the water before you do.
 
sprink56 said:
I found additional reference material on this subject for the "library". This guy also did some research...good information.
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Good page - thanks for sharing. That Home Depot ball valve is a bit scary - completely gone in less than a year. This is certainly an area where I wouldn't cut corners or buy a non marine part!
 
fwebster said:
You guys can wait a long time on this one..............

My personal policy is to post only methods and procedures I've done or seen done on my own boat and know that work. In this case, I have used the seacock maintenance methods described above for the bronze ball valve sea cocks for 12 years with no ill effects and a child can open or close my sea cocks. On the plug type sea cocks used on the pre-1990 boats, I serviced them by the methods I described (I forget what thread that was in) for 10 years on my 390EC and they were simple and easy to operate.

But, you guys go ahead and mess with the tension nuts and take the ball valves apart if you want to...............but please be sure your boat is out of the water before you do.
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Frank

Thank you for taking the time to post the logical, common sense solutions you have found to the boating problems of others.

Others who post their unconventional fixes are always going to post those fixes in order to troll for some sort of reaction. While one may want to smack such persons up side of their head and ask them "what the hell are you thinking", you always post information that is helpful to others.

I am sure that there are others who feel this way, also. Keep up the good work. It IS appreciated.
 
mistercomputerman said:
Frank

Thank you for taking the time to post the logical, common sense solutions you have found to the boating problems of others.

Others who post their unconventional fixes are always going to post those fixes in order to troll for some sort of reaction. While one may want to smack such persons up side of their head and ask them "what the hell are you thinking", you always post information that is helpful to others.

I am sure that there are others who feel this way, also. Keep up the good work. It IS appreciated.
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+1 :thumbsup:
 
mistercomputerman said:
Frank

Thank you for taking the time to post the logical, common sense solutions you have found to the boating problems of others.
........you always post information that is helpful to others.

I am sure that there are others who feel this way, also. Keep up the good work. It IS appreciated.
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Amen! :smt038 :smt038 :smt038
 
I also had a discussion with Conbraco some time back about greasing the ball in my 2" seacocks. I was told flately NEVER grease even with Super Lube Grease, because the grease can destroy the seals. This maybe unique to Conbraco designs.

Every seacock I have is nearly inaccessable unless I lay on my stomach in the bilge to reach the handles. There is not top access and the clearances from handle to overhead is sacant few inches. The issue is you can not get any mechanical heft on these handles, none nada neyt ... no mechanical advantage to operate the throw.

My solution has been to slip a piece of PVC pipe of the handle to get more leverage and get it closed. Mine do not work hard, rather are just hard work to throw, some mechanical advantage does the trick. This effort is such a task I frankly do not exercise these frequently. When I clean a sea filter I do not close the valves as the incoming sea water flushes the strainer bottom debris into the bilge where I can remove it. Messy, but effective and I love to clean my bilge.

I have one seacock that is impossible to reach without a "hook" to insert into the hole in the handle end and tug on it. SR could have done me better.
 
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