Closing Seacocks

[GILow]

Originally Posted by NNBill

. The advantage of this system is when your boat is out in the mooring field, and something goes wrong and the horn starts blowing sooner or later someone will get annoyed enough to investigate why the horn is blowing.

Or scuttle the boat to shut it up.

[dadster3]

Perhaps you could consider what each particular seacock does. I have 4 cockpit drains so the two seacocks for them are always open so they don't back up. The raw water intake for the engine is closed when in the slip but I exercise it whenever I visit the boat, which is about once a week. The head direct discharge should be closed all the time unless you are underway and outside the limits of prohibited discharge. Use your head. "Never" and "Always" need to be given some thought.

[MJH]

Originally Posted by Tmacmi

How religious are you about closing the seacocks if you leave your boat for a week or two?

I have four seacocks, 2 for sink drains, 1 for head intake, 1 for motor cooling.

Do you have a departure check list to make sure you remember to open a critical seacock like the motor?

I always close every seacock, except for the cockpit scuppers, when leaving the boat for any significant amount of time. I attach a note to the engine key "Open Seacock" when departing the boat. The possible alternative is unthinkable.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ MJH

[Pelican_38]

Originally Posted by Alita49DS

Might adopt that. For the moment use the aircraft type system. For example, a streamer out of the locker when the gas is on.

I made the comment about the Remove Before Flight streamer for my closed seacocks. But this idea of flipping a streamer out of the gas locker is a great idea that I'm going to steal!

[neflier]

Originally Posted by Pelican_38

I made the comment about the Remove Before Flight streamer for my closed seacocks. But this idea of flipping a streamer out of the gas locker is a great idea that I'm going to steal!

That makes two of us

[SSgtPitt]

We close the seacocks when we leave the boat...period. I can't run, swim paddle or dinghy fast enough to get back to a sinking boat.
The thought of standing on a remote beach watching our dream sit lower and lower in the water makes me shudder.

[CaptMDG]

I have eight thru hulls: engine intake, genny intake, a/c intake, watermaker, intake, head intake, head outlet, galley sink outlet, and a galley saltwater intake. I close every one of my thru hulls when I am away for a period of time. It takes all of three minutes. I have experienced a thru hull failure once in my life - it made a very big impression upon me. I AM religious about this. Lesson learned!