Soft wood bungs

[PabloPicasso]

I would like to buy some soft wood bungs to be tied by the various sea cooks (I have 5 sea cocks aboard). All I've seen are sets with various sizes in. Does anyone know if there is somewhere I can buy just the ones I need (in the UK or Ireland)?

 

[chasroberts]

Not being flippant but they're not that hard to make from offcuts of pine for example. Pick the size you want, find a suitable length of wood, mark out a circle just below the end size you want and whittle away with your penknife until you are there or thereabouts. As long as the end of the end product will fit into the aperture that you;re trying to bung, hammering it home will do the rest. Really, it is not difficult or complicated. If you want them to look good then attack the whole thing with sandpaper afterwards, drill a hole and attach it next to the sea-cock concerned with a small lanyard and hey presto, job done. A good fun project for a rainy afternoon....

Chas

 

[PhillM]

Or buy a pack? I think mine cost me less than a tenor for about 12 inc different sizes to meet most needs.

 

[nigelmercier]

less than a tenor ...

Like Pavarot?

 

[oldbilbo]

Gron.....

 

[pvb]

Why not simply check that the seacocks are in reasonable condition? Having soft wood bungs on every seacock seems to suggest you're expecting problems.

 

[Martin_J]

The other intriguing part is then trying to keep them dry. I know your bilges are generally dry but the occasional splash will swell your bung. The bungs are supposed to be kept dry so that insertion into a hole will cause them to swell thus blocking it..

The other questions to ask yourself are (1).. will I be keeping the bungs at each thru-hull location in a sealed container in order to keep them dry.. and (2) will I have in each location sufficient bungs to plug a lost thru hull, the loss of the seacock or thirdly the loss of a connected hose at each location. This implies you will store at least three thru hull bungs in a dry store at each location..

Just a thought - I have been throught the same thought process and ended up with one bag with every size bung, sealed and stored centrally (which is also within 6ft of each thru hull).

 

[prv]

Why not simply check that the seacocks are in reasonable condition? Having soft wood bungs on every seacock seems to suggest you're expecting problems.

So why not ditch the liferaft, man-overboard kit, lifejackets, flares, PLB, etc etc? After all, I'm not expecting problems in any of those departments either.

I have once had reason to be thankful that someone had tied bungs next to each hole in the hull on a charter boat, and I don't think it's unnecessarily paranoid to do the same.

Pete

 

[pvb]

So why not ditch the liferaft, man-overboard kit, lifejackets, flares, PLB, etc etc? After all, I'm not expecting problems in any of those departments either.

I have once had reason to be thankful that someone had tied bungs next to each hole in the hull on a charter boat, and I don't think it's unnecessarily paranoid to do the same.

I think on your own boat it's somewhat different, and boils down to your knowledge of the boat and your assessment of risk. I think it's highly unlikely that one of my seacocks will suddenly fall off, so I don't have bungs on board. In fact, in around 40 years of boating, I've never owned a softwood bung.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Its remarkable that we have two completely different lines of thought on these forums.

prv Is completely confident that his seacocks won't fail, to the point that soft wood bungs are superfluous on his boat.

Others regularly write that any sort of hole in the bottom of the boat is anathema. If they could get away with NO seacocks it wouldn't be to soon for them and some even claim that they have NO HOLES in their hull at all.

Personally I don't mind seacocks when they are properly made, mounted and maintained. I keep meaning to get round to tying softwood bungs next to them (in line with the code of practice for commercial vessels etc) but in the meantime we do have a selection of softwood bungs on board since 'you never know!'

This doesn't help the OP as one of the reasons I haven't got round to tying a bung to each skin fitting/seacock is that the bungs are stupidly expensive down at the local chandler which is more or less exactly his problem too.

 

[prv]

prv Is completely confident that his seacocks won't fail, to the point that soft wood bungs are superfluous on his boat.

No I'm not!

(Well, I'm fairly confident my seacocks won't fail, but I still have bungs.)

Pete

 

[nigelmercier]

... prv Is completely confident that his seacocks won't fail, ...

No I'm not!

Confusion over the names, I think he meant pvb. Easily done.

 

[prv]

Confusion over the names, I think he meant pvb.

I know, I was just pointing it out.

Pete

 

[Iain C]

I also just keep mine in a box next to then flares, emergency VHF antenna etc. You'll never know the size of the hole until it happens...to me tying them on seems about as sensible as tying your fire blanket to your cooker...

 

[Salty John]

Thoughts on bungs: http://saltyjohn.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/plug-that-leak.html

 

[macd]

It's quite easy to remember who said what:
PVB: Prevention Vetoes Bungs
PRV: Pessimist Realises Vot can go wrong will go wrong.

And for what it's worth, bungs are big business here in Greece.

OK, I'll get my coat...

 

[clyst]

For the sake of a tenner why not just buy a pack ?? A bit like carrying a first aid kit . You hope you never need one but if you do ........... I don't suppose your insurance co would be too happy if your boat sank for the lack of a bung either.

 

[chinita]

I must be weird. The only time I have used a softwood bung was from the outside of the hull.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Why not simply check that the seacocks are in reasonable condition? Having soft wood bungs on every seacock seems to suggest you're expecting problems.

When I had new seacocks installed all round on buying Capricious, the boatyard attached soft wood plugs to every seacock as a matter of course; I didn't ask them to and at that time wouldn't have known it was regarded as a good idea!

I think the point is that seacocks and through-hulls can fail in a variety of modes, and some types of electrolytic degradation can happen quickly if faults arise (for example) in the electrical system - and it need not be your electrical system, it could be that of a marina or adjacent boat. I remember someone posting on here about his seacocks turning to mush (I exaggerate!) very quickly when he connected his battery incorrectly.

 

[pvb]

When I had new seacocks installed all round on buying Capricious, the boatyard attached soft wood plugs to every seacock as a matter of course; I didn't ask them to and at that time wouldn't have known it was regarded as a good idea!

I think the point is that seacocks and through-hulls can fail in a variety of modes, and some types of electrolytic degradation can happen quickly if faults arise (for example) in the electrical system - and it need not be your electrical system, it could be that of a marina or adjacent boat. I remember someone posting on here about his seacocks turning to mush (I exaggerate!) very quickly when he connected his battery incorrectly.

Presumably the boatyard charged you more for adding the bungs? As for electrolytic problems, bronze seacocks shouldn't be electrically connected to anything.