Safe way to re position sea cock valve

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Dutch01527

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My boat has a engine cooling sea cock that is a bit of a pain to access. It is positioned half way down the engine and requires removal of the companionway steps and front engine hatch before getting on hands and knees to reach down to it. The pipe to the cooling system runs along the front of the engine and a valve could be easily added through the front bulkhead of the engine bay. This would then be easily accessible from the saloon.

However, this would mean that the section of pipe from the seacock to the new valve would not be isolated from the sea. Does anyone know if there was a way of doing the modification safely? The current sea cock has a wheel gate valve.

It is not a major issue and certainly not worth adding extra risk for but would make life a bit easier.
 
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Dutch01527 said:
My boat has a engine cooling sea cock that is a bit of a pain to access. It is positioned half way down the engine and requires removal of the companionway steps and front engine hatch before getting on hands and knees to reach down to it. The pipe to the cooling system runs along the front of the engine and a valve could be easily added through the front bulkhead of the engine bay. This would then be easily accessible from the saloon.

However, this would mean that the section of pipe from the seacock to the new valve would not be isolated from the sea. Does anyone know if there was a way of doing the modification safely? The current sea cock has a wheel gate valve.

It is not a major issue and certainly not worth adding extra risk for but would make life a bit easier.
Click to expand...

I don't see the point of only isolating part of the pipework and leaving one section open to the open seacock. Why not rotate your existing valve so the wheel faces you and fit a length of rigid pvc pipe to the wheel that can be rotated from further forward.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
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Re position the sea cock to somewhere easier to get at.
Apart from everything else.. you should be able to cut the pipe off and stuff a bung direct into the seacock as a basic safety measure. By the sounds of it.. you can't.

Best wait till autumn.
 
john_morris_uk said:
I’m more concerned about it being a wheel gate valve. They’re notoriously unreliable and prone to failure whilst appearing to operate.
Click to expand...

That I have to say was my first thought.

Secondly the seacock should be as close to the skin fitting as practical. If it is at the moment half way down the engine, can a new inspection hatch be cut to allow access? TBH though, I think all boats need hatches and or steps removed (via quick release clips) to get to the seacocks. Being on the bottom of the hull will always necessitate hands and knees.
 
Other boats I have sailed on or owned had the valve accessible via the hatch alone with just a bit of bending down, maybe I have just been lucky.
Mine really is in the depths. The boat is a Dehler and it is unusual for it to have poor engineering design so there might be a good reason for it. I had not thought about access to place a bung - good point. I also like the idea of some sort of pipe being added to enable remote turning.

As suggested maybe an Autumn job to have a good look at options.
 
Definitely change the gate valve for something better. When they fail, which is common as the very slender spindle dezincifies, they fail closed. This could put you in a very dangerous situation. It will also be easier to rig an extension that only needs a quarter turn.
 
+1 to replace with ball valve, ours is under the rear cabin bed, has a small 6 inch square cover that just needs the mattress lifting at the corner and a hand down to turn the 1/4 handle.
 
I had a seacock that was difficult to access and I used stainless steel pipe fittings from the existing seacock/skin fitting to a more convenient position then fired a ball valve at the new position.

It may also be possible to extend the lever upwards or to the front of the engine using transmission chain and sprockets or just an extension pole to attach to the seacock lever from above.
 
A couple of times, I've had to 'rod through' the seacock and skin fitting, due to the engine water sucking in a) lumps of weed and b) a polythene bag.
I would look at moving the seacock and aiming for a strainer-seacock-skin fitting arrangement that can be poked through with something like a long screwdriver, length of stiff wire or something you are likely to have on board. Ideally this can be done without dismantling too much or letting too much water into the boat.


Also, the worst happens one should be able to use the fabled tapered softwood plug to fill the hole if the skin fitting fails big time.
Ideally without swimming under the sinking boat....
 
colind3782 said:
I use a wire drain unblocker, something like this which is long enough to keep the inboard end of the hose above the waterline:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Metal-Si...=183508350727d886899bc5f0428eb05ff1c7701c2e35
Click to expand...

Do you always carry one of those? I used the first likely-looking object that fell to hand, as we were in awkward situations.
On my Impala, the hose was actually dead straight, you could see that it was clear just by taking the lid off the strainer. It's amazing how bright the water under the boat looks from down below in most yachts.
 
lw395 said:
Do you always carry one of those? I used the first likely-looking object that fell to hand, as we were in awkward situations.
On my Impala, the hose was actually dead straight, you could see that it was clear just by taking the lid off the strainer. It's amazing how bright the water under the boat looks from down below in most yachts.
Click to expand...

Yes. It coils away to nothing and I have it in my onboard tool bag.
 
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