Broke My Spartan Seacock

[fallingeggs]

One of my first to-do's on my new to me Sabre 38 was unfreezing my Spartan seacocks. Soaked them all in WD-40 and went to tugging on them or, if that didn't work, tapping with a hammer.

Worked for all but one. On the galley raw water intake, the point where the handle attaches to the seacock body (what I think might be called the plunge) broke in the open position. This was only at the tugging stage.

Question: Could this be a symptom of corrosion and possibly representative of the other seacocks? I am looking for pinkness but not seeing anything, but maybe the pictures will show something else to someone else.

Or should I chalk this up simply to it just being 30 years old and my tugging?



For what it is worth, I plan on doing some maintenance on the remaining seacocks per Maine Sail's article.







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[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by fallingeggs

...Could this be a symptom of corrosion and possibly representative of the other seacocks?...

It is a symptom of neglect and deferred maintenance. And the wrong choice of penetrating oil. AeroKroil is the right one.

[Allan S]

I found it handy to put a heat gun or hair drier on it to loosen things up.

[Terra Nova]

delete

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

It is a symptom of neglect and deferred maintenance. And the wrong choice of penetrating oil. AeroKroil is the right one.

Or PB Blaster and some heat from a butane torch.

WD40 isn't really the right tool for the job.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by fallingeggs

One of my first to-do's on my new to me Sabre 38 was unfreezing my Spartan seacocks. Soaked them all in WD-40 and went to tugging on them or, if that didn't work, tapping with a hammer.

Worked for all but one. On the galley raw water intake, the point where the handle attaches to the seacock body (what I think might be called the plunge) broke in the open position. This was only at the tugging stage.

Question: Could this be a symptom of corrosion and possibly representative of the other seacocks? I am looking for pinkness but not seeing anything, but maybe the pictures will show something else to someone else.

Or should I chalk this up simply to it just being 30 years old and my tugging?

Attachment 88921Attachment 88922Attachment 88923

For what it is worth, I plan on doing some maintenance on the remaining seacocks per Maine Sail's article.







Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

We had six of them on our long neglected CD-33 that were frozen. My husband broke one in the exact same place trying to free it up in place. The lesson he learned is....remove it, soak it in penetrating oil (we used PB Blaster) and it will come apart much easier. Ours all needed to be removed anyway as the plywood backing pads were delaminated. Those have now been replaced with solid mahogany ones (treated with penetrating epoxy for good measure). We found a used seacock on eBay to replace the broken one and all have been serviced now. But if they ever start to leak or the next time we need to remove them we plan to replace with ball valves.

[bsurvey]

the metal has de zinced

better to change all to marelon with marelon valves. then corroding is not an issue

[fallingeggs]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

We had six of them on our long neglected CD-33 that were frozen. My husband broke one in the exact same place trying to free it up in place. The lesson he learned is....remove it, soak it in penetrating oil (we used PB Blaster) and it will come apart much easier. Ours all needed to be removed anyway as the plywood backing pads were delaminated. Those have now been replaced with solid mahogany ones (treated with penetrating epoxy for good measure). We found a used seacock on eBay to replace the broken one and all have been serviced now. But if they ever start to leak or the next time we need to remove them we plan to replace with ball valves.

Actually sitting here reading your thread on this from a few weeks ago. Didn't make the connection that PB Blaster/penetrating oil is not WD-40.

The full winter project to be completed correctly.


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[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by bsurvey

the metal has de zinced

better to change all to marelon with marelon valves. then corroding is not an issue

Yeah, cos they only lasted 30 years, most of which it sounds like they were neglected. And even then, they didn't spring a leak, just won't turn.

Obviously they are rubbish and should be replaced with plastic. I see it now.

[oldragbaggers]

We had to replace two out of our six. The one that Lance broke trying to muscle it out and the one that was for the intake water in the head. That one was very loose, to the point that it wouldn't hold its position when the handle was up. This made sense to us as this would obviously be the seacock that would be opened and closed most frequently and our boat was a liveaboard for a number of years for the previous owner. But the other 4 were still very tight and operate perfectly since Lance lapped and greased them. They have lasted 32 years (so far).

[bob_77903]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

We had to replace two out of our six. The one that Lance broke trying to muscle it out and the one that was for the intake water in the head. That one was very loose, to the point that it wouldn't hold its position when the handle was up. This made sense to us as this would obviously be the seacock that would be opened and closed most frequently and our boat was a liveaboard for a number of years for the previous owner. But the other 4 were still very tight and operate perfectly since Lance lapped and greased them. They have lasted 32 years (so far).

On Spartans, on the opposite side of the handle are two nuts. The inner nut is to adjust how tight the tapered barrel is in the body. After it is adjusted to where it turns freely, and still stays in place, the other nut called a jam nut is tightened to lock both nuts in place.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by bob_77903

On Spartans, on the opposite side of the handle are two nuts. The inner nut is to adjust how tight the tapered barrel is in the body. After it is adjusted to where it turns freely, and still stays in place, the other nut called a jam nut is tightened to lock both nuts in place.

I read this to Lance and he said he is aware of that and tried making those adjustments. The cone was so worn that it was still too loose and, besides not being able to trust it staying where we put it, we were afraid it would leak. It was time to retire it. Even the best of hardware doesn't last forever, right?

[HopCar]

'the metal has de zinced"
No it hasn't. Spartan seacocks are made with low zinc bronze.
That thing was just twisted off because the OP didn't know how to get the cone out.
No penetrating oil, no heat, no magic, just a big wooden mallet.
All you have to do is loosen the jam nut and flange nut then smack that end with the mallet. I usually leave the nuts on enough to protect the thread. The cone will pop right out. If it doesn't you need a bigger hammer.

Maine Sail, as usual, has posted a great illustrated guide to servicing tapered cone seacocks.
Servicing Tapered Cone Seacocks Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

[HopCar]

If you look closely at the middle picture you'll see that one end has a shiny new break. The other end has darkened indicating that it had cracked some time ago.

[bobconnie]

First thing to do is THROW away the WD40 ! Over the years Ive found it to have no place on a boat ! As Hop Car said above get something that really works ! Just my 2 cents