PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
I wasn't looking forward to removing a seized sea toilet soil seacock today. But a few tricks helped. I knew the pipe was full of foul water and did not want mess inside the boat.
So I used an angle grinder to cut the skin fitting between the hull and the ball valve. Then contained the valve in a bucket with flexible soil pipe attached. Removed the clips holding the pipe onto the hosetail. Warming the hosetail area with a heat gun and persistent encouragement with a rubber mallet released the ball valve from the hose into a bucket which also collected all the fetid mess. Success number one.
This left me with the mushroom headed skin fitting to remove. I ground off the backing nut with the angle grinder. Still the fitting would not move. I've seen YouTube videos of people sawing off the mushroom head outside the hull, but this seems a method bound to cause damage to the gel coat. Instead I found a socket that fitted inside the mushroom where there were two lugs. I ground to grooves in the socket that gripped the lugs and was able to free the fitting with the socket and ratchet handle. Once the glue bond was broken the thru-hull fitting easily unscrewed.
I now have a clean hole to work with
My only question is what type of fitting to replace it with. I'm inclined to replace with like for like, i.e., a mushroom thu-hull with ball valve screwed on. Should I go for DZR, or 316 stainless for both thru-hull and ball valve?
So I used an angle grinder to cut the skin fitting between the hull and the ball valve. Then contained the valve in a bucket with flexible soil pipe attached. Removed the clips holding the pipe onto the hosetail. Warming the hosetail area with a heat gun and persistent encouragement with a rubber mallet released the ball valve from the hose into a bucket which also collected all the fetid mess. Success number one.
This left me with the mushroom headed skin fitting to remove. I ground off the backing nut with the angle grinder. Still the fitting would not move. I've seen YouTube videos of people sawing off the mushroom head outside the hull, but this seems a method bound to cause damage to the gel coat. Instead I found a socket that fitted inside the mushroom where there were two lugs. I ground to grooves in the socket that gripped the lugs and was able to free the fitting with the socket and ratchet handle. Once the glue bond was broken the thru-hull fitting easily unscrewed.
I now have a clean hole to work with
My only question is what type of fitting to replace it with. I'm inclined to replace with like for like, i.e., a mushroom thu-hull with ball valve screwed on. Should I go for DZR, or 316 stainless for both thru-hull and ball valve?
