timber base of seacock

[duke]

Just started to service Blake seacocks.
First time doing this on current boat bought recently second hand - (20 years old)

I notice that the circular wood bases on which
the seacocks are fitted, are a little soft. The soft section is the area on the top of the wood base around the outside of the valve base plate. The side of the wood bases ( approx. 1" high) are not soft.
A sharp point will penetrate about 3/8" into the soft sections - in one case up to 1/2".
Also the soft areas will "rub" away if rubbed with a finger.

Are these these blocks normally made in teak? Can teak be affected like this?

Regards,

Duke.

 

[ccscott49]

Ther blocks should be replaced, if they are teak, they will eventually rot, but it takes a while, replace them with teak, sealed with epoxy, then painted, before you rebed the seacocks down in sikaflex, they will outlive you.

 

[tillergirl]

I agree with CSScott, time to replace them. Doesn't have to be teak, my boat's made of iroko and still going strong after 40 years. The key is protecting the wood with a sound paint job.

 

[ccscott49]

My hull is also 100% iroko, great timber! As you say iroko will also be fine.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Duke,

An alternative may be to replace the timber with fibreglass and not worry about it again, ever, well almost.

Hope this helps


Avagoodweekend Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[ccscott49]

Not a good idea oldsaltoz, the seacocks really need that bit of padding, to take any stress, and uneveness of the flange, after it's been tightened up, they are even fitted to the indside of my hull and thats 2 1/4" of iroko.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Collin,

On a 28 foot GRP I had all GRP backing, feathered out about 6 inches each side of the engine sea cock and the same for the loo in and outlets.

This was as designed and built, the only "padding" was a one eighth neoprene washer on the inside. Never ever had a problem, and never heard of problems on other yachts with the same arrangement.

And this particular yacht was built around 20 years ago. I called the new owner and he said he stripped all the valves about 2 years ago, no problems with seals or leaks, or cracks etc.

He did say the fittings passed through the hole with about a one eight gap all round that had been drilled / cut through a filler, so no fibreglass was exposed, the gap was filled with what looked like Silastic, He cleaned them and replaced them, with a new coat of Silastic. He also noted that the inside of the hull looked like it had been machined to provide a flat surface for the Neoprene washer to seat onto.

I have installed new through hull fittings since and used fibreglass without problems, however I am now looking at making up a tool to cut the flat on the inside for my next project.

I now wonder how many others have through hull fittings that are constructed of GRP only, or have I missed something?

Looking forward to your responses.

Andavagoodweekend Old Salt Oz /forums/images/icons/cool.gif

 

[ccscott49]

Are we talking the same Blakes type seacock? Probably, but most of the designed in ones I've seen, had a piece of wood epoxied/polyestered to the hull sealed with the same material and then the seacock fitted. different approaches, possibly. I was told that a seacock should be able to be stood on and not strain the hull, or break, which is why I reccomend the wooden block. You can of course glass it in, but if you dont, you can always check its sound. How thick a pad of GRP did you have iin your boat? Maybe if thick enough it would be plenty strong enough.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Again Collin,

As I said the Glass was feathered, with the largest section just over a foot wide, it was applied first (to the inside of the hull), each layer on top of that is a half to three quarter inches smaller to spread the load and avoid a hard spot, not less than 6 layers, the third or forth layer looks like a heavy roving, the others would be perhaps 6 to 8 ounce multi directional cloth.

As for standing on it, no problems at all....

Old Salt Oz..../forums/images/icons/cool.gif