Someone to service seacocks - Plymouth area ?

pragmatist

pragmatist

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We are, once again, doing the cost in Dartmouth vs cost in Plymouth. Need to get hauled out (briefly I hope) but this year have decided we are no longer young or nimble enough to remove and replace all our 13 seacocks :) so plan to pay someone to do it.

Does anyone know a person or yard in the Plymouth area we could get a price from ? Then we can compare haul out + cost of s/cock service in the 2 places.

TIA
Penny
 
pragmatist said:
We are, once again, doing the cost in Dartmouth vs cost in Plymouth. Need to get hauled out (briefly I hope) but this year have decided we are no longer young or nimble enough to remove and replace all our 13 seacocks :) so plan to pay someone to do it.

Does anyone know a person or yard in the Plymouth area we could get a price from ? Then we can compare haul out + cost of s/cock service in the 2 places.

TIA
Penny
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Hi Penny
I agree we should have a competition as to guessing why and where you have 13 seacocks!

You also do not mention what type of sea cocks they are, for example the heads seacocks are probably be 'Blakes' type or simular and it's a service they will need 'not' replacement.

I would be very carefull just asking for a quote to 'JUST REPLACE EVERYTHING' as you may need a very large gin & tonic when you see the price!

Servicing them is one thing, replacing 13 of them them could be bad for your health.

Good luck.
Mike
 
Yes this last w/e whilst I was doing deck/hatch maintenance, my pal took an hour to have apart the main Blakes heads seacock, give it a little grinding paste for a couple of minutes x 2 then washed out with WD40 and then seacock grease and back together.
I replaced both my old boats heads seacocks, which were simple ball valves, last year in about an hour also. These are fairly cheap, cannot be serviced and usually just screw onto the through hull fixing.
So even if it's just maintenance/service it shouldn't take a skilled man long unless they are damaged or in the case of Blakes valves, very pitted.
If they are very pitted it may be o.k. to get a coarser gringing paste, and work through to the fine paste, but if they have been serviced like that many times before it could come to needeing them replaced.
The big gate valves can be a real pain to free up if they get stiff and I've not had a go at one of those.
Penny, you must let us know what all these 13 valves do!
 
Scotty_Twister said:
Penny, you must let us know what all these 13 valves do!
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2 x cockpit drains
4 x heads (in and out, x 2 bogs)
2 x head sinks
1 x galley sink
1 x engine

Only 3 more to find :). Bilge pumps? Salt-water galley tap? Washdown pump? Watermaker intake? More cockpit drains? Separate holding tank exits?

Plenty of scope for seacocks in 41 feet of boat :)

Pete
 
Easy peasy as we also have 13 seacocks. This is what we have:

4 for heads (in and out, x 2 toilets)
1 x holding tank pump discharge in the aft heads
2 x head sinks
2 x shower drain pump outlets (just above the waterline but they have seacocks on them anyway)
1 x galley sink
1 x seawater in for galley seawater pump
1 x engine in
1 x engine exhaust outlet (which I have just added as a belt and braces move against water getting back into the engine in heavy weather. The exhaust is just above the waterline, but with wave slap on the counter there is a danger of water getting back into the exhaust)

We also have a cooler for the fridge mounted on the hull (through a hole in the hull) but that is permanent and doesn't have or need a seacock on it.

You can add more for water makers and generators but we don't have these on our boat so take your pick for why the OP has 13.

It also amuses me when people say they don't like ANY seacocks or underwater holes! IMHO there is nothing wrong with a good and well maintained seacock. I don't add holes in the boat gratuitously but neither do I lose any sleep over them.
 
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john_morris_uk said:
Easy peasy as we also have 13 seacocks.
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273t70245_colander_with_tube_handles.jpg
 
Sorry - poorly worded - was typing in a hurry. I was talking about removing for service and then putting back - as we have done every year to date. We do the cleaning/abrading, grease etc but the difficult bit is getting spanners to a lot of them - I assume that they were put in before the "furniture".

To provide the answer to the competition :) :

3 in each heads - 6 in total (inc sinks)
2 in galley - one sink outlet, one seawater inlet
2 cockpit drains
Engine inlet
Exhaust system outlet
One on shower outlet
TOTAL 13 !

Only two are gate valves (which we may decide to replace) - the others are all Blakes, some with the "new" grease nipple. All are flippin inaccessible :)

Still like to get some more suggestions about reasonable places to get it done. I would be v happy to do the cleaning/abrading myself to save a few pennies.

TIA
Penny
 
pragmatist said:
Does anyone know a person or yard in the Plymouth area we could get a price from ? Then we can compare haul out + cost of s/cock service in the 2 places.
Click to expand...

SMS just outside the gates at QAB replaced some recalcitrant gate valve seacocks for me last year. Also have a word with FastTack: "office" in a container at the western end of QAB.
 
john_morris_uk said:
If you are implying rude things about our boat, it is still floating and the water generally stays on the outside; its the way I like things, but call me a funny old traditionalist if you like.
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You funny old traditionalist, you.

Sorry, I certainly wasn't meaning to be rude about your boat - it's just that to my naïve and untutored mind, thirteen holes in the hull seemed like a lot. Call me a funny old traditionalist if you like.
 
Ubergeekian said:
You funny old traditionalist, you.

Sorry, I certainly wasn't meaning to be rude about your boat - it's just that to my naïve and untutored mind, thirteen holes in the hull seemed like a lot. Call me a funny old traditionalist if you like.
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I know it seems a lot - but its the problem with two heads with showers etc - that's eight of them accounted for before you start on the engine (two) etc etc.
 
Weir Quay Boat Yard

They will hall you out and do all the necessary. I have always found Mike the owner pretty straight about estimates and he sticks to them.

Jamie
 
Thanks to you all. Hope the hull and prop are clean enough to get to Plymouth and not take several weeks over it :)

Ubergeekian - she's a very fine colander !

P
 
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