Removing back plates for seacock replacement

[andre26]

Hi Everyone,

I plan on replacing all my through hulls this season. Currently, I have what I believe is a mix of brass and bronze through hulls, some original (25 years old) and some replaced by shipyards in the years.

My idea is to replace them all (24!) with Trudesign composite ones, apart from the engine one where I want to use the Groco one with the quick-release plug for emergency plumbing, (I was planning to use the same also for the genset intake but I believe to have a 3/4" for it and Groco makes it starting from 1-1/4").

My, I guess, main problem is that my through hulls now have wood backing plates on a wood hull, and I have no idea how to remove them, also without removing the coating that I believe protects the hull's wood from the water.

I'm not sure even if I should remove them given that I plan on using the trudesign, or if I should replace them instead of just removing them. For the engine and Groco seacock I will surely replace it

I attached a couple of pictures, any advice? Some backplates have a black "sealant" and 3 of the 24 are white with a white sealant

p.s. do you think I should enlarge my genset intake to a 1-1/4 though hull like the engine has? and so use a Groco seacock?
p.s. 2, do you have advice on where to buy both Trudesign and Groco in Europe (spain)?

Thanks a lot!

[coopec43]

I'm afraid I can't help you but there's a lot of advice on removing/installing seacocks online. I hope you won't find this helpful!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMlTtwWk_Fk

[MerMike]

I'd start by reducing the number of through hulls. A sea chest could be a useful modification.

[deblen]

Good seacock info here: https://marinehowto.com/


I looked at your pics. Fittings look to be in good shape-dry & no visible corrosion.
Wood backing plates appear to be in good shape & dry.


Do they need replacing?
Cheers/Len

[andre26]

@Coopec43 thanks for the video, i watched many but not this one, the backplate in this case got unglue after a bit of movement, that would be ideal for me, but I guess that my sealant won't let go so easily. My main worry is to damage the hull while trying to remove the plate.

@MerMike thanks for the suggestion, I never heard of this, I was thinking about like sealing some and have like a big main one for example for the bathrooms, but this could also be a solution.

@Deblen thanks for the link, I saw that article, very interesting and it was that and Nigel book pointed me towards real flanged seacocks with backplate, some further research later I discovered Trudesign ones.

Anyways, the ones in the photos are probably the better-looking ones, I attached a photo of a couple not that good-looking. The idea about changing them all is that I inherited the boat and have no clue what these are made of, and I heard not-so-good things about brass, plus they haven't been moved for a couple of years or even more, so I thought to change them all in Plastic and Bronze to be sure and safer