Flush mounted skin fitting

[Gypsyjoss]

My Sadler has a Stuart No2 Engine seacock held down by three nuts and washers onto bolts or studs. I had a bit of seepage from under the fitting and solved that by tightening up the nuts, one quite a lot. That was 3 years ago.

I've just scraped the hull down to an epoxy finish. I decided to remove the seacock, better to regrind the taper valve, and reseal it and am astonished to find that it is flush fitting with no spigot through the hull. The sides of te hole through the hull appears to be epoxied.

The seacock is in good condition, and my first thought is that if such a fixing arrangement has lasted since 1985 then a dose of Sikaflex will make the joint leakproof for another 20 years. However, one of the bolts is longer than the other 2, and one can be moved slightly. I'm concerned that they might be pulling through the fibre glass - I do have bad dreams!

Does anyone know if these had an external plate, with the bolts held captive such as Blakes seacocks do?
My other seacocks are Blakes, and though the spigots can be seen externally there's no visible sign of the fixing bolts and plates.

Cheers

Pete

 

[ghostlymoron]

Are you saying that there is no external plate? These type of sea cocks often had an external strainer presumably forming a sandwich with the GRP hull as the filling.

 

[Tranona]

The Stuart seacock never had a spigot. Does not seem to be a problem. If you are replacing it you might consider using a modern ball valve in DZR with a bronze through hull and an above the waterline strainer.

 

[vyv_cox]

It seems Sadler used this method widely. My engine, sink drains and toilet seacocks are all flush with the hull, no external plates or flanges. None has ever leaked so I have never found the need to investigate. I assume they were fitted using countersunk bolts, in the same way that the P-bracket is, second photo down, http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Pbracket.aspx

 

[Gypsyjoss]

My engine, sink drains and toilet seacocks are all flush with the hull, no external plates or flanges. QUOTE]

Vyv. Ditto -It's nice to have a smooth hull! I wondered whether a plate was embedded in the hull. Difficult to know without removing 3 coats of epoxy and digging. Your photo suggests that the bolts are just countersunk. I can wiggle one of them though. Me thinks that a new bed of Sikaflex and gentle tighten up when it's gone off should do the trick. The fitting isn't ever stressed.

Did I see on an earlier thread saying I can get rid of that monstrous hull anode? It doesn't seem to deteriorate. Nor incidentally do the shaft and skeg anodes, much, (only in the water 2months/yr now). The only one I have to change annually is the pencil anode in the engine. The engine, p bracket, hull anode and engine seacock are all currently connected together.

Thanks guys for your replies.

Cheers
Pete

 

[ghostlymoron]

My engine, sink drains and toilet seacocks are all flush with the hull, no external plates or flanges. QUOTE]

Vyv. Ditto -It's nice to have a smooth hull! I wondered whether a plate was embedded in the hull. Difficult to know without removing 3 coats of epoxy and digging. Your photo suggests that the bolts are just countersunk. I can wiggle one of them though. Me thinks that a new bed of Sikaflex and gentle tighten up when it's gone off should do the trick. The fitting isn't ever stressed.

Did I see on an earlier thread saying I can get rid of that monstrous hull anode? It doesn't seem to deteriorate. Nor incidentally do the shaft and skeg anodes, much, (only in the water 2months/yr now). The only one I have to change annually is the pencil anode in the engine. The engine, p bracket, hull anode and engine seacock are all currently connected together.

Thanks guys for your replies.

Cheers
Pete

If your anode is not deteriorating, either it's not protecting your metal bits or it's not necessary. Check your prop for damage and if OK you can discard the wretched thing.

 

[vyv_cox]

I have written about the anode several times. I am not sure if it is original from Sadler or retrofitted by some owners: certainly some 34s don't have them. Mine was installed in a very amateurish way that did not appear to be original. I took it off within the first weeks of ownership. The only useful thing it might have been doing was protecting the P-bracket but it was definitely not in line of sight, so pretty unlikely. I preferred to coat the P-bracket with epoxy instead for corrosion protection. When I replaced the bracket at around 20 years there was some minor corrosion at the bearing housing but the main body was unaffected.

 

[snooks]

My stuart seacock (sadler 32) was fitted in the same way, three countersunk bolts around a hole in the hull...I had to replace it when I replaced the engine as the new engine wanted more water....Have you seen how small the inlet hole in the seacock actually is??