How would you block a broken seacock or sterngland?

snooks

snooks

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You're sailing along, you go below to do a log/position and notice your floor boards are awash. You identify the source of the leak which is one of two scenarios:

1/ Your log/seacock has failed and you now have a hole in the boat. How would you block the hole?

2/ The stern gland has just disintgrated, how would you fix it?

Given that if there is any danger to vessel or crew, you'll contact the coastguard. But at the moment no one is near by and you have to reduce/stop the ingress of water

So until the cavalry come motoring over the horizon, using only what you have on board, what would you do?

We'll try as many ideas as we can when we do this test on our Crash Test Boat
 
I had the second scenario on a biggish boat a couple of years ago and used cling film the emergency repair whilst afloat. Gaffer tape was getting me nowhere. The clingfilm didn't totally stem the water flow but did reduce it to a manageable trickle and slow enough to wait for the boat to be lifted.

BTW - I did write up a big long post on my indicent on that other thread a few weeks ago, but it dissapeared when I hit submit and I really couldn't be bother to re-write!
 
For the stern gland I would try a strip of cotton, my dressing gown belt might do, and apply the thickest grease I could find before wrapping a few turns around the shaft and then pressing it into the gland.

I see a product idea here, a pregreased strip in a little tub and some cable ties to hold it in place when applied.
 
depending on the size of the hole, stuff socks, or tshirts into it to block it up, pack it in tight and use a long screwdriver if necessary to really jam it in, its very effective and can last ages if needed, the bilge pump should deal with the rest
 
1. Wooden plug. Have to admit that mine are all in the "emergency locker" rather than tied to each seacock, but that's no big deal as it's a small boat and all through-hulls are within arm's reach of said locker. I also suspect that a different-sized plug might be needed depending on whether it's a hose come off, valve broken off skin-fitting, or skin-fitting come adrift from the hull, so one plug tied in place might not fit all possibilities.

As I've previously mentioned, I have been on a boat where we had to do this for real after the log impeller came adrift. With the hatch closed we didn't notice the incoming water till it was up to bunk level. The wooden plug did the job fine. Good bilge pumping arrangements are obviously important to get rid of the water - that boat had two manual pumps, an electric one, and two guys with the buckets and it still took us a while.

2. Less clear-cut. I have a traditional gland on a short hose, so I'm imagining this scenario as the hose having split despite being fairly new. I suspect gaffer tape would be the first thing I tried - it might not seal completely, but winding lots and lots of it round stern tube and gland would be easy and could well stop a lot of the leak. I always have a roll on board.

The challenge for anything better than tape is that you really need a tube of some kind around the shaft - anything wrapped has an edge joint that's hard to seal - but you can't get it round the shaft without removing it from the engine which isn't much fun in an emergency. How quick does dinghy repair glue set? My repair set includes glue and a fair-sized square of fabric, which could be made into a tube in-situ around the shaft. Once the glue has set, it could be slid into position over stern tube and gland (or onto the shaft if the entire gland has catastrophically self-destructed) and then done up with jubilee clips at each end. I carry jubilee clips on board including a couple big enough for the stern tube and gland. Obviously this isn't feasible if the glue takes hours to go off, which I don't know.

Family legend has it that my grandad sealed a knackered stern gland like this, using a section of old welly boot, before setting off across the Atlantic on his circumnavigation in the '70s. Unfortunately I don't know the precise details like whether he had to unlatch the shaft to do it.

Pete
 
Seem to remember some gung stuff forget name that would block holes in boat saw it on here a while back looked like thick grease ! Wonder whether one of the underwater epoxy sticks that you mix by kneading would seal stern gland,suppose the shaft would have to be locked though
 
snooks said:
1/ Your log/seacock has failed and you now have a hole in the boat. How would you block the hole?

2/ The stern gland has just disintgrated, how would you fix it?
Click to expand...

My seacocks are all easily accessible, but what I would do depends on what exactly had gone wrong. I can easily imagine a few situations in which a bung would be useless. If there was s protruding stub I think my first choice would be to ram some cloth down it, then wrap a towel or T-shirt over it and tie that into position.

The stern gland would be a little more annoying, as access to it is atrocious. If I was sailing with someone competent and skinny I'd ask them to squirm across the engine and tie something tight around the remains. If I wasn't I'd ram stuff - a sleeping bag up against it - with a boathook or similar.

Then, and only then, I might call the coastguard, if the inflow was more than could easily be coped with by the pumps in the time it would take to get to a pier or beach.
 
Cannot rember what that gunky stuff is called had it bookmarked there was a video on here about a year ago grp open boat with a crack in the bottom ... The bloke just pushed it in the crack ... also a jambed sea cock
 
1) wooden bung and a bit if rag.

2) depends on the stern gland. Mine is a lip seal (tides marine) so if the gaiter was split I carry various tapes I am sure I could find something that would keep the water flow to a minimum. Wrap the whole lot in clingfilm?/duct tape? A stuffing box type as long as the shaft was still in then a bit of greasy rag?

Repacked a trad sterngland alongside Lymington town quay a few years ago. Not a problem only a few pints of water shipped.
 
For seacock/log I'd use the softwood bungs that are attached nearby. As an alternative to wooden bungs I like the look of the soft rubber bungs that you can get now - they seem like they would more easily conform to irregular shapes.

For the stern gland I'd wrap the gland many times with a self fusing silicone compression tape such as Bandit.

A concern with this particular failure would be stopping the shaft rotating. You'd want to stop the engine and put it in gear. Start the repair. Then you'd want to jam the shaft so that you could restart the engine out of gear to keep your battery operated bilge pumps going, without the shaft being turned by the prop freewheeling. A shaft lock would be good.
 
Given the purpose of this thread is to find things to try on the Crash Test Boat, how about experimenting with jamming a carrot, potato, etc into the broken seacock? Sure I've seen a picture of a failed valve closed that way (possibly not on a boat) and it's not an unreasonable standby if you find yourself without wooden bungs. Would probably raise the same kind of smile that the bare foot shoe test did :)

Pete
 
Salty John said:
Then you'd want to jam the shaft so that you could restart the engine out of gear to keep your battery operated bilge pumps going, without the shaft being turned by the prop freewheeling. A shaft lock would be good.
Click to expand...

It's a good point. Some types of coupling could be locked by putting a long screwdriver through them to jam against a nearby structure.

Pete
 
Inner Tube and Soft Wood Plugs in Bags

I carry a car inner tube for just such stern gland emergencies or anything else where only a heavy gauge rubber strapping is good enough.

Its actually proved quite useful over the years, recently a small square section was cut out to pad the deck cable gland for the mast cables.

Seacocks all have softwood plugs attached with lanyards to some part of the boat near the seacock. Plugs are in freezer / sandwich type bays to keep dry.
 
TQA said:
For the stern gland I would try a strip of cotton, my dressing gown belt might do, and apply the thickest grease I could find before wrapping a few turns around the shaft and then pressing it into the gland.

I see a product idea here, a pregreased strip in a little tub and some cable ties to hold it in place when applied.
Click to expand...

"my dressing gown belt might do, and apply the thickest grease I could find before wrapping a few turns around the shaft and then pressing it into the gland."

Try explaining that to your wife on washday! ;)
 
.
1) Wooden bung - one tied to each seacock

2) (Vovlo shaft seal) - most Vegas have a solid nylon stern bearing, so the amount of water ingress in in the event of stern seal failure is small and could just be mopped up as it came in with rags. If the seal was split I might try to patch it up with polythene and gaffer tape.

- W
 
Assuming you still wanted to use the engine (I would prefer not to lose that option) I would use grease & a poly bag wrapped around it followed by generous application of gaffer tape. Gaffer tape will stick to wet plastic & itself, so it should work. The grease & plastic should allow some engine use, but could drag on the shaft & rip. Maybe Kitchen foil & grease first?

Sea cock issue? I like the spud idea & I'm sure it would work if a tube existed, but I carry bungs (old screw-on table/ stool legs actually) for the purpose. If the tube existed, it would be simple to clamp a hose on & tie above the water level - seemples.

The wellie idea seems good for both.

Hole in the hull where a cock has fallen off - do Subrella still make their fancy gismo?

Sounds fun anyway, do report back.

Edit, how about using a leather strap/ belt to wrap around the split welly top wrapped around the shaft & housing - with a grease infil of course. Almost everyone would have that sort of stuff, or use rope with a spanish windlass to get it tight enough.
 
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prv said:
Given the purpose of this thread is to find things to try on the Crash Test Boat, how about experimenting with jamming a carrot, potato, etc into the broken seacock? Sure I've seen a picture of a failed valve closed that way (possibly not on a boat) and it's not an unreasonable standby if you find yourself without wooden bungs. Would probably raise the same kind of smile that the bare foot shoe test did :)

Pete
Click to expand...

A few years ago, OK, a long while ago. Driving a Ford Transit.

I drove over what I thought was a piece of tree branch, it was a piece of exhaust pipe....:(

It put a hole in the fuel tank, about half way up. Plugged it with a potato held in place with an empty plastic bottle and a length of wire a few times around the tank.

Drove it like that for a couple of weeks before I could get a new tank. :D


I've got bungs onboard, along with a couple of other bits which might come in useful.

Screwfix have a product called "Sticks like Sh*t" which will be added to the "Emergency kit"....

http://www.screwfix.com/p/sticks-like-sh-t-290ml-white/22070
 
If our stern gland goes (ie. the saildrive leg falls off!) God help us :eek::eek: Would need a tree-trunk to fit in the hole.

Actually we just bought a large red spongey foam thingy that I've forgotten the name of, but seems a brilliant alternative to wooden bungs, especially when you can't find the mallet!
 
TQA said:
For the stern gland I would try a strip of cotton, my dressing gown belt might do, and apply the thickest grease I could find before wrapping a few turns around the shaft and then pressing it into the gland.

I see a product idea here, a pregreased strip in a little tub and some cable ties to hold it in place when applied.
Click to expand...

Denso tape, available from good builders merchants. Filthy to work with but does the job!
 
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