removing seacocks and below water screens

[defever]

i,m about to change out the screens/seacocks on my 25 yr old boat and know this'll be a real bitch. the bottom paint is ablative and has mucho coats. to make matters worse, the mfr. used slotted screws and these'll probably strip immediately. any ideas regarding their removal and un-freezing the seacocks?

[Badsanta]

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/seacock_primer

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/replacing_thruhulls

Also just cut off the old seacock, grind down the mushroom head or split he whole thing with a saw. The triangle flange does add cost, but if the seacock goes bad you can replace it with out removing the thruhull again. I hate to post another site but these are some great photo's.
When I did mine I mounted the triangle flange to a backing board I had covered in glass and then glassed the whole thing to the hull. after drying I screwed in the thruhull and then the seacock. Very strong and very happy. Best of luck

[Joli]

It's not hard to remove old seacocks. They'll come out fairly easy even if you have to cut some bits and pieces.