Marelon Seacock Replacement

[witzgall]

Hi al;

We are on our way south!!! Well, we are sitting in Beaufort, NC but we are not at the dock anymore.

All of our seacocks are bronze, except for one, installed by the PO, which is Marelon. It is the kind with a mounting flange, three bolts through the hull, and some type of sealant between the base of the seacock and the hull. The Handle broke off, so I need to effect a repair.

From what I can see, the mounting flange and the valve are a single unit, not separate like the nice Groco flange and valves I put on our last boat. Is this correct? I don't see any way to make this repair without a haulout ;< which of course, we just did a few weeks ago (why, oh why did I not grease that $*%& thing!!!).

I am also wondering if the mounting hole pattern for these is by some devine intervention the same as the groco one, so we can go to bronze. The thru-hole is already bronze with a strainer, so switching would be my first choice.

Chris

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by witzgall

Hi al;

Marelon. It is the kind with a mounting flange, three bolts through the hull, and some type of sealant between the base of the seacock and the hull. The Handle broke off, so I need to effect a repair.

From what I can see, the mounting flange and the valve are a single unit, not separate like the nice Groco flange and valves I put on our last boat. Is this correct? I don't see any way to make this repair without a haulout ;< which of course, we just did a few weeks ago (why, oh why did I not grease that $*%& thing!!!).

I am also wondering if the mounting hole pattern for these is by some devine intervention the same as the groco one, so we can go to bronze. The thru-hole is already bronze with a strainer, so switching would be my first choice.

Chris

Can you post a photo - would help. And what size thru hull is it? Here are the groco diminsions. Column D is the bolt spacing and E is the bolt dia.



But yes, forespar does make an 'integral flang and value' type seacock with a triangle base with three bolt holes. And the bases are typically rather bigger than the groco's.

You can't fit a replacement handle?

If I understand what you are saying, you can probably replace this in the water by putting a wooden wedge (you should have them for safety purposes anyway) into the bronze thru-hole from the outside to block the water.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by witzgall

Hi al;

We are on our way south!!! Well, we are sitting in Beaufort, NC but we are not at the dock anymore.

All of our seacocks are bronze, except for one, installed by the PO, which is Marelon. It is the kind with a mounting flange, three bolts through the hull, and some type of sealant between the base of the seacock and the hull. The Handle broke off, so I need to effect a repair.

From what I can see, the mounting flange and the valve are a single unit, not separate like the nice Groco flange and valves I put on our last boat. Is this correct? I don't see any way to make this repair without a haulout ;< which of course, we just did a few weeks ago (why, oh why did I not grease that $*%& thing!!!).

I am also wondering if the mounting hole pattern for these is by some devine intervention the same as the groco one, so we can go to bronze. The thru-hole is already bronze with a strainer, so switching would be my first choice.

Chris

You will likely need to haul out if the Marelon flange is through bolted. I have been bugging Forespar for about three years now to build a "flanged adapter" as I have to replace a lot of Marelon valves with broken handles. Sadly the failure is always in the shaft of the valve and not just the handle.. A "flanged adapter" would make it FAR easier to do an in-water repair.....

The Marelon flanges and Groco flanges do not share bolt patterns which makes it even more frustrating.

SOME of these Marelon valves are just threaded onto the base and MAY spin off. Many though are locked onto the base with a SS pin that comes in from under the flange and penetrates the valve body. There is no way to know if yours is pinned or not so a haul out would be the only way to safely test it...

[GordMay]

Yes, the Forespar Marelon flanged seacocks are one piece:
➥ Boat Marine Plumbing Flange Mounting Seacock Thru Hull

You can see the Groco dimensions:
Here ➥ GROCO - SEACOCKS and BALLVALVES

[witzgall]

Well, not the greatest news. Looks like I will be replacing it with the same, and then looking switch to bronze in the future when we are spending the time on the hard.

Mainesail, keep the pressure on about making this thing two-piece! I cannot imagine why Forespar thinks a permanent mount solution is fine with all of the failures I have read about. Granted, if they are treated exactly as they specify, there should be no problems, but that is ignoring the real world...

Chris

[Cheechako]

Could you mount a ball valve on top until next haulout?

[delmarrey]

What would be nice is if they would put a 1/8" pipe fitting on the side like the bronze seacocks have. I use that hole to pump in lithium grease, keeping the valves constantly lubed.

[Noname]

My thoughts too.

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Could you mount a ball valve on top until next haulout?

[Cheechako]

I'm amazed that marelon after all these years has still not really beefed up their design. Seems like the shaft to the ball could be much larger and then a larger bearing area for the handle attachment. I like the product weight and non corrosive material. They need to do better than "you need to cycle your seacocks monthly"

[cburger]

Change out the plastic with a high quality bronze seacock installed correctly.

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by cburger

Change out the plastic with a high quality bronze seacock installed correctly.

not a really desirable course of action on my aluminum hull

[cburger]

Originally Posted by estarzinger

not a really desirable course of action on my aluminum hull

Yeah, that would be a problem with those hulls made from recycled beer cans.

[David M]

Some people swear by them but in my personal experience they stink. I agree with replacing it with a bronze valve. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks by using plastic valves. I'm sure the price difference is less than the cost of a haulout.

Stainless valves and aluminum hulls work fine together if you do it right. I have done it for many years now and my boat has 13 stainless thru hull valves threaded onto 13 aluminum pipe nipples. I would never thread bronze to aluminum.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by David M

Some people swear by them but in my personal experience they stink. I agree with replacing it with a bronze valve. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks by using plastic valves. I'm sure the price difference is less than the cost of a haulout.

Stainless valves and aluminum hulls work fine together if you do it right. I have done it for many years now and my boat has 13 thru hull valves.

Not sure, but, the marelon may be just as expensive! They dont give 'em away....

[cburger]

Originally Posted by David M

Some people swear by them but in my personal experience they stink. I agree with replacing it with a bronze valve. It's not worth trying to save a few bucks by using plastic valves. I'm sure the price difference is less than the cost of a haulout.

If you decide to go with the bronze do it right, a true "Seacock" should have a flange that is backed with wooden or fiberglass donut, through bolted and properly bedded with a good compound. Ball valves on nipples "usually" are not a proper seacock, many times the thread patterns are mismatched and they "Can" be a disaster waiting to happen.

http://www.proboat.com/attention-to-...il-1-2010.html

Seacock & Thru-Hull Primer/Pre Information Photo Gallery by Compass Marine at pbase.com

Seacock Removal and Replacement