Renewing Blake's seacocks - how to get the old ones out ?

[ostell]

although I have ground them in and greased them with Blake's seacock grease they seem to get rather "bindy" even with just a season's use.

I found that running a fine file a couple of times across the bottom of the cone gets rid of that problem. The lapping in reduces the diameter of the cone slightly, allowing it to drop down slightly more into the fitting. The bottom of the cone then interferes with the ridge that forms at the lower end of the fitting. It's only a small amount of work with a file. I had that binding/rough feeling problem but 3 years later all is still going well, enough to make me wonder if I need to do the maintenance this year (but I suppose I must).

I mentioned this to someone else who was having the same problem you describe and he chamfered the bottom of the cone (retaining the inside dimension of the cone) and his binding problem went away.

You may not need to change the fitting at all.

 

[yerffoeg]

I did it a few years ago. As with many seized and stuck items on a boat, heat is the answer. Once you have removed the bolts get a small blowtorch going onto the body of the seacock. Keep the heat on for a while without causing a fire. You can then gently hammer the seacock out.