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Old 16-06-2019, 19:24   #31
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

I have four 47 year old bronze seacocks and two marlon seacocks that are 20+years old. All in very good condition. Either choice is good enough.

Bronze tapered plugs should only be cleaned and lapped with a valve lapping compound. Sand paper should never be used.
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Old 17-06-2019, 05:30   #32
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

to clarify...that is exactly what I did.....I used valve lapping compound and rotated the plug back and forth inside the valve body to ensure both the plug and body would have identical surfaces.
the pitting in the plug was too deep to remove all the way and I could not get a good look inside the valve body, but I suspect the pitting there was equally as bad.
the question remains as to the quality of the bronze valve material.....and I have no answer to that.
I understand that bronze valves were the thru-hulls " de jour" back in the " good 'ole days" but I do believe the modern day marelon valves are a good substitute.
merely trying to give an " opinion" on an alternate solution.
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Old 17-06-2019, 05:49   #33
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

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Originally Posted by sanibel sailor View Post
Despite all the tech and hype, it is still plastic and breaks much more easily than metal.
Did you read Mikes opening post from May 2016? He said of bronze "hard if not impossible to find in Greece". Hopefully by now he has found a solution.

Even in the UK, you need to be aware and shop carefully and finally pay a premium. Trudesign plastic for me.

I wonder, did you try plastic and therefore speak from experience?

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Old 17-06-2019, 06:40   #34
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

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I replaced all my bronze seacocks with Marlon 9 years ago and never looked back. Much less maintenance and totally reliable.

why? bronze is pretty much maintenance free. stronger and more reliable. like anything else .. you have to work them once in a while.
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Old 17-06-2019, 07:25   #35
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

I use marelon ball valves on my steel cutter. They are mounted on steel nipples welded into the hull and threaded with nps not npt (straight not tapered).
No problems in 28 years excepting a single 1 inch valve that drains the sink. Once the handle snapped off and later the replacement had some kind of internal disconnect, maybe because its difficult to access for maintenance, my bad.
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Old 17-06-2019, 08:30   #36
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

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Originally Posted by Pete7 View Post
Did you read Mikes opening post from May 2016? He said of bronze "hard if not impossible to find in Greece". Hopefully by now he has found a solution.

Even in the UK, you need to be aware and shop carefully and finally pay a premium. Trudesign plastic for me.

I wonder, did you try plastic and therefore speak from experience?

Pete
Im fairly confident the answer is nope, didnt get past the word "plastic". How many thousands of boats are using marelon? real world evidence that they are up to the job.

Personally Ill never use metal again, why would one?
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Old 17-06-2019, 10:26   #37
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

my first boat was a home built Roberts 38. Like one of the previous posters I welded steel threaded nipples to the hull. At that time, early 80's, I can't recall that marelon valves were available, so I trundled down to a local pvc supplier and purchased a variety of different size pvc ball valves and hose fittings. I can only recall that the valve bodies were grey and the handles were a T-top variety in red. The valve handle could only be turned through 90 degrees. These were inserted onto the threaded steel nipples with some thread tape.
In the 15 some years I sailed that boat I never had a lick of problems with them. Not once, not ever !! The steel nipples, schedule 40, had been sand blasted and painted with a zinc chromate paint, so the valves were a little difficult to install over the painted threads, but I got them all on. Those were pvc valves.....I believe the grey color indicated some or other pressure rating, as they were quite thick.
Regardless, while bronze is undoubtably stronger than pvc, I would challenge anyone to break one of those pvc valves.
Several other pipe runs inside my boat, ie, the cockpit drains, were your regular pvc pipes which I glued together with pipe glue ( the blue stuff). Likewise, not a single problem ever!
Again, each to his own, but I had good experience with plastic.
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Old 30-06-2019, 16:31   #38
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

Can't talk to metal hull boats...but for fiberglass boats this would weigh heavily in my choice making...

https://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/swlightning.asp

Quote:
Giving the lightning a low-resistance path to the water is a good idea, but if it's not done right, the damage can be even worse. The owner of a 27-foot sailboat bonded his through hulls properly with heavy wire, but didn't realize that underneath one of the seacocks, the through-hull fitting was made of Marelon — plastic. When the boat was struck, the lightning dutifully followed the wire, but instead of continuing to the water as it would have through a bronze fitting, it jumped across the plastic one, destroying it and partially sinking the boat.
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Old 01-07-2019, 00:41   #39
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Re: Seacock: Bronze or Marelon

Wiring up seacocks is an American thing. The rest of us don't bother as it could introduce more problems than it solves. No statuary requirement in the UK and probably the EU.

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