Closing Seacocks

[darylat8750]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

I used to close the engine cooling intake and hang the starter key there in the past, however, the new boat does not have the key, and I am quite sure that closing the seacock will cost me the engine one day. Need to think of a protocol to completely eliminate a possibility of starting the engine with closed water intake. Any ideas? Checklists are not an option.
There is no risk in closing other ones, so why not?

Forgetting to open the engine cooling valve should not cost you and engine. EVERY time you start the engine confirm cooling water discharge. This will check actual water flow incase your water pump impeller is bad or intake blocked by crud.

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by darylat8750

Forgetting to open the engine cooling valve should not cost you and engine. EVERY time you start the engine confirm cooling water discharge. This will check actual water flow incase your water pump impeller is bad or intake blocked by crud.

Thank you, I do this all the time. I am more concerned about someone else starting the engine, like a boat yard tech. There are also distractions and stressful situations when I may deviate from the protocol. It would be nice to have a circuit disabling the starter when the water inlet is closed. Which is also not ideal, since it is yet another potential failure point.

[neflier]

Originally Posted by Lost Horizons

I used to close the engine cooling intake and hang the starter key there in the past, however, the new boat does not have the key, and I am quite sure that closing the seacock will cost me the engine one day. Need to think of a protocol to completely eliminate a possibility of starting the engine with closed water intake. Any ideas? Checklists are not an option.
There is no risk in closing other ones, so why not?

The Remove Before Flight streamer mentioned earlier was my first thought. Another option would be to mount a quality marine switch next to the raw water seacock and run the engine start solenoid wire through it. A second benefit of the added switch is that it would also act as a form of theft protection, considering you do not need a key to start.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by neflier

The Remove Before Flight streamer mentioned earlier was my first thought. Another option would be to mount a quality marine switch next to the raw water seacock and run the engine start solenoid wire through it. A second benefit of the added switch is that it would also act as a form of theft protection, considering you do not need a key to start.

The latter is what I did for the genset, which needs raw water for the muffler. I close the thru hull, turn off the switch. Then, if I try to start the genset from the pilot house, it won't unless the extra switch is on, which reminds me to open the thru hull.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

I agree that one that is eliminated is best, but the thought of doing that kind of glass work scares me. Could you elaborate or reference info that better explains the process to glass an old opening?

I’m sure sources like from a West System are online but here is the short version. I assume you have a solid glass hull;

Remove the thruhull fitting and clean away the sealant. Measure the thickness of the hull. Let’s say it is 1/2”. We’ll close half of that, 1/4”, from the outside and the other half from the inside. You need to bevel this 12:1 so 12 times 1/4” = 3”. Draw a circle around the hole where the line is 3” away from the edge of the hole. Time to grind. Use a flapper sanding disc in the angle grinder (I like to use paint stripper discs as well) and grind the bevel from the hole to the line. Measure the thickness at the hole regularly, making sure to leave 1/4” there, and make it as smooth as possible. You can finish with a random orbital sander to get it smoother.

Now cut round pieces of 1708 fiberglass. The first one as big as the whole area, then 1/2” smaller on top etc. You can push that stack into the beveled area to see if you need more layers. For 1/4” you will need about 6 layers I think. Now mix epoxy resin and wet out the area, put the largest piece in and fully wet it out, add next largest piece and continue until it’s done. Let cure before sanding and fairing and repeating the same thing on the inside for the other half of the hull thickness.
The whole thing incl. grinding, cutting glass and applying takes about 30 minutes per side.

[Lost Horizons]

Originally Posted by neflier

Another option would be to mount a quality marine switch next to the raw water seacock and run the engine start solenoid wire through it. A second benefit of the added switch is that it would also act as a form of theft protection, considering you do not need a key to start.

I like it. It is as close to hanging the physical key on the seacock handle as it gets.

[Alita49DS]

Love the "key on cock avoids cock ups idea"!

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

Personally, although I close the seacocks when I leave the boat, I am more scared of gas. Horrible stuff. On shore power we now use a portable induction hob and a microwave to avoid using the stuff. Unavoidable at sea.

[Paul Reading]

I used to religiously close my seacocks and the one time I forgot the heads back syphoned. The boat did not sink but took enough water on board to require a huge insurance claim. That boat did not have a bilge pump. The worse part was that a contractor came on board(to service the engine) saw it was overflowing and did not tell anyone. I lost a whole season whilst it was being repaired.

My new boat 55' is a different kettle of fish and the sea cocks are all over the place and difficult to get to. I only close the seacocks to the heads but on this boat I think the heads are above the waterline but I am not sure. I am not too comfortable about it but I have a monster battery so the bilge pump should work for a long time.

[Coast Wanderer]

We have 3 seacocks on our boat and leave them all closed unless we are on board. They are not all easy to get at, but on one of them we attached a length of copper pipe to the end of the valve handle and can reach it through a newly built hatch above the stairs to the galley. The thru-hull is brand new, so this works nicely and it is for the seawater intake for the waste system. The waste oulet is a bit harder to reach, but since we rarely use that, we only open and close it a few times every few weeks. Our other on is for our seawater deck wash, which we use for hosing down the anchor, but that is rearely needed, so it is normally closed. Leaving them all closed can't cause any problems.

[lewisa]

I rarely close my seacocks unless I will be away for a several week period. I have 7 seacocks and it would take 20-30 minutes to close them all each time. I know it's safer to close them, but I maintain the hoses and clamps and have not had a problem in 50 years of sailing. Having said that, a hose will fail next summer.

[sailing_jack]

When I got my latest boat, all the seacocks were siezed. The PO obviously never operated them. Then I counted them, 17 all told, all over the boat,

I am closing most of them up. All intake water will now be supplied by a seachest that is supplied by 1 2" seacock (new).

Now, if the is water coming in, I can say 'close the seacock' note: singular, not plural.

And since there is only one (not counting drains) and it is easy to get to. I will close it each time I leave the boat. I like the idea of a selenoid for the engine in the same place. I will add that to my system.

[RobPatterson]

I have 17 through holes with valves. The 4 cockpit drains stay open but sometimes I close the others. I check the valves, hoses, and clamps regularly.

[Leaff]

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 love questions about seacocks.

The first thing to ask yourself is do you have seacocks. My boat didn’t. She had quarter turn plumbing valves on the ends of straight thread thru-hulls. Not good.

One of the first projects on my boat was to install seacocks. These valves first off have a base that screws into the hull or plate attached to the hull. They are not tapered thread but straight thread to properly accept a through-hull. This way when the valve is opened or closed, it doesn’t apply torque force to the through-hull precipitating failure and even if the through-hull fails completely the halve still holds the hole shut and stops water infiltration.

All through-hulls that are not used frequently should be NC (as in normally closed) and those used on a regular bases should be NO ( as in normally open). NC valves should be open when in use then closed. NO valve should closed when leaving the boat for longer than a few hours. NC valves should be opened and closed once a month and all valves should be lubricated every six months or at least year or when ever hauled out.

Do not rely on hoses or clamps to keep your boat afloat. If you can’t be bothered to take two minutes to put your seacocks into your routine, you will, in my experience, spend no time inspecting them and their hoses and clamps for eminent failure. Nothing sinks a boat faster than a through-hull failure. Why take the chance. Introduce seacock operation, inspection and maintenance in your routine. Finally, tie a plug (wooden or otherwise), of the appropriate size, to each seacock. if your stop gap measure are bilges pumps, your a fool. Those little electric pumps you buy at the chandlery for bilge pumps won’t keep your boat a float. Even if you install large diaphragm pumps to do the job and your not there you better be plugged in at the dock because they’ll last till your batteries die. Cheapest most reliable way is seacock operation and maintenance. You can’t predict everything that can go wrong.

In conclusion, you will be less likely to forget seacocks and their state (NO or NC) if you operate and maintain them on a regular basis. It’s those who forget they are there because they don’t operate or maintain them that forget to open them when needed.

My two cents.

[Raggedglory]

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 all of my 3 seacock valves when leaving the boat for more than a day.
Everyone is talking of how great their hoses and valves are and that is great.
In my case mine were great too but my seawater foot pump for the kitchen sink had a rubber valve leak and i am so fortunate that i was not gone from the boat for any extended period of time.
Although a slow trickle, the amount of water in my bilge after only 10 hours away was substantial in my opinion.
Left for a week my vessel would have sunk.

[sailorladd]

Two reasons why, in my opinion, it's a good idea to close the seacocks when you leave your boat even for a day....

Firstly for peace of mind, which is a huge reason, knowing that your boat won't sink from a leaking sea cock ,as most sunk boats have (statistically) and second, it helps to keep the valve alive by USING it... when a bronze valve is left unused for a long period it will be hard to open and in some cases even be extremely hard to open, and by forcing it open, one can damage it..

Once, when I was living on my boat in Lanai Hawaii, I flew over to Maui to work for about three to four days, on my return as we flew over the little boat harbor in the 4 seater plane I was in, I saw to my horror, my boat was partially submerged and I almost had a heart attack... when I finally got on board, I saw that my marine head was overflowing out of the pan and....yup I had left the sea cocks open...It took half a day to bucket out all the water, as my whale gusher pump was broken, and I learned a severe lesson, which I am passing on to anyone who reads this... always remember too that Murphy's law works out at sea as well,:banghead if not better than anywhere else