Seacock Removal Advice

[Orion Jim]

I've been advised to heat the through hull, insert a step wrench and hope for the best. Any advice on removing a twenty-five year old through hull?

[Badsanta]

get an electric saws all type saw and a 6 inch fine toothed blade. Or just a fine hack saw blade and wrap tape on one end. Disconnect the tubing from the valve and cut the valve off then split the Thu hull in half and remove. Your going to mess it up anyway might as well get it done instead of spending all day on it. If the sea cock is not bolted to the hull, it will start to turn and be impossible to unscrew unless you have two or more people. I would just cut it out and be done with it. Its bronze and soft very easy to cut. Use a flange adapter on the new one. Makes for a great job. Best of luck

[delmarrey]

I just unscrewed a 3/4" TH a couple days ago that had been in for thirty years. They had used marine sealer on the threads and hole. It was a bit tight at first but once it moved, no problem. I did use some real expensive tools though.

[Orion Jim]

My boat was hauled today. No "ears" left in the through hull. In other words nothing for a wrench to grab. I like the photo that was posted but a few words describing the wedge would help. It looks like a piece of steel strapping. Was it pressed up against the "ears" to aid removal or was it hammered into the through hull to gain a grip? Thanks for the help.

[Joli]

Go to a plumbing supply store. They really do come out easier then you might think.

[donradcliffe]

A three minute job. Take a 4" grinder and grind the flange of the thru hull off the outside, then drive the remains into the boat. Hold the grinder body parallel to the hole, with the wheel centered in the hole, and rotate it until you grind the inside corner of the flange away.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Jim Walsh

My boat was hauled today. No "ears" left in the through hull. In other words nothing for a wrench to grab. I like the photo that was posted but a few words describing the wedge would help. It looks like a piece of steel strapping. Was it pressed up against the "ears" to aid removal or was it hammered into the through hull to gain a grip? Thanks for the help.

It's just a piece of 1/2" steel plate bandsaw cut to 10-15º. You drive it in with a hammer, the sharp corners dig into the bronze and you screw it out with a large adjustable wrench, just like with a square EZ-out. If the fitting still has ears you just straddle them with the tool. The worse that could happen is you ream out the inside so the head comes off. Then all you have to do is pull it thru from the inside. EZ

BTW- The tool above works good too but it's only good for one size and a lot more expensive. One thing about expanding wrenches is they may make the threads tighter if too close to the mating fitting.

[Roy M]

donradcliffe and delmarrey have good options. Another is to simply pound in a tapered wooden bung, then use a hole saw to chop out the size hole needed to clear all the metal parts. Then put a butt block to cover the hole, fill the remaining external void, then drill what you needed in the first place and seal with epoxy. This isn't rocket science.

[osirissail]

- -I removed 16 thru-hulls that were installed 34 years ago with T5200. The fast way was to use the saws-all with a metal blade long enough to reach all the way inside the then cut the thru-hull into 3 parts. Then each part could be pried away from the FRG hull and old T5200. Then I only had to use knives to remove the old T5200 to get to the clean FRG hull.
- - Pounding on a FRG hull is never a good idea, especially an old hull. Using a hole saw that is 1.75" in diameter invites it going off center and gouging the FRG.
- - Using an angle grinder to remove the outside lip is worthwhile as there is adhesive behind and after the "flange" is ground away you can test the adhesive used to see if it is still "strong" or maybe deteriorated enough to allow simple unscrewing of the thru-hull for removal.

[Orion Jim]

I ended up removing the seacock and through hull using the following method; I disassembled the seacock, which was a Spartan (which has the tapered plug) so I could save as many components as possible. I used a 4" disk on a pneumatic die grinder and (it hurts to say this) cut the body of the seacock free from its backing plate. I then used a reciprocating saw from outside the hull, reached up inside the TH and made four cuts through the TH trying not to cut into the hull but through the body of the TH. I was then able to use a punch and a 38 ounce ball peen hammer on the outside lip of the TH flange which broke the grip of the bedding compound (probably 5200 since it was so tenacious) and allowed me to break the grip of the compound on the hull. It was now an easy task to use the punch and hammer to drive the remainder of the TH out from inside the hull. There is no discernable damage to the fiberglass hull or the backing plate. I admit this was not the best solution to the task at hand but it did get the job done. I regret the loss of a perfectly serviceable Sparten seacock but I was impressed with its robust construction and I will replace it with another new unit.

[Maggie-K]

donradcliffe has it right , removed all on mine using an angle grinder . Took about 15 min to do 4 through hulls. The Bronze cuts very easily.

[pressuredrop]

i have removed a few from the outside use a hammer and cold chisel, like everyone says bronze is soft, get it under the lip and a few good whacks will take it off, if all else fails