Tips for slow seacock leaks?

[clyde]

an old plumber friend used non-hardening permatex under, and over teflon tape on any questionable fitting...always worked...clyde

[donaldlmeyer728]

for leaking seacock use rescue tape from boatingsproducts.com ,$5 a roll 200lb per wrap, many uses

[sailorboy1]

when you fix it, use the right size clamps!

[Boatyarddog]

Teflon paste or non oil based pipe dope, on the threads.
If you need to disassemble the bronze seacocks, you can tap a short wood plug into the exterior of the ThruHull opening, from under water.
Then disassemble the valve to repair/inspect for burrs or irregularities, that can cause leaking.


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[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by clyde

an old plumber friend used non-hardening permatex under, and over teflon tape on any questionable fitting...always worked...clyde

I always use the Permatex #2 non-hardening on gaskets in the cooling system, and it never fails. It hadn't occurred to me to use it on threads. No reason it shouldn't work, though.

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

...never experiment with DIY sealants below the waterline...

This.

[SeaSon]

Salt crystals are filling the gaps causing the leaks to slow. If you are confident nothing is going to break, then enjoy the summer and redo in the fall.

[dgz3]

I'm assuming you mean that they leak only when the sea cock is open? If the sea cock itself is leaking, then they require disassembly and resurfacing for a tight fit. Which is why people use bronze ball valves now. If the sea cock itself is leaking AT ALL, then it defeats the purpose of the thing itself. May as well not have them. If they are leaking, and you don't want to haul again, then you had better make sure the rest of that stuff is bomb proof!
And speaking of bronze, don't mix and match materials. As has already been said. Bronze thru hull? Bronze valve. Bronze valve? Bronze fittings.
Teflon tape is intended for small fittings with small threads. If one wrap won't do it, neither will two or ten. It might not be leaking, but it's not the right product or intended application. If you have so many tape wraps that the threads are essentially full, then you have compromised the strength of the joint.
Use teflon pipe joint compound on the big stuff.
Personally, I don't use plastic fittings below the water line. Not on thru hull connections. I'm to clumsy. It's too easy to over tighten them or tromp on them accidentally. And a lot of that stuff seems to fit and tightens up, but the threads are not exactly the same. They are all a little different, And they leak. I suspect this may be the root of your problem. And no amount of any sealant will fix them. Especially if you ever have to take it apart again, which you should be able to do.
I would close the sea cocks, remove ALL that plastic stuff, and replace it all with bronze fittings and pipe joint compound.

[Tessellate]

Originally Posted by SeaSon

Salt crystals are filling the gaps causing the leaks to slow. If you are confident nothing is going to break, then enjoy the summer and redo in the fall.

This is an interesting point, and I had concluded salt crystals must be the explanation for why the teflon'd pipe threads had a fast leak upon launch and almost no leak now. That is until last night I remembered my boat is in fresh water! Silly thing to forget, but I tend to just take salt water for granted, since really that is where the boat should be (but is not, due to the 10-month waitlist at Shilshole). So it's been in fresh water (Lake Union canal) since the splash last Friday.

I suppose there can be other distillates in solution in fresh water, but it seems far fetched that they would be sufficient to change the seal that much. So I guess it's either unexplained, or some magic breaking-in / seating effect that happened in the first hour.

[Sailor Doug]

Is the valve or the through haul flanges? Tightening valve can cause the flange to leak.


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[Tessellate]

Originally Posted by Sailor Doug

Is the valve or the through haul flanges? Tightening valve can cause the flange to leak.

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I don't understand your question, can you rephrase? How would tightening a valve cause the flange to leak?

[Sailor Doug]

Thru hulls can leak at the flange nut that tightens it to the hull. As you tighten the valve you can rotate the complete thru hull breaking the seal to fibreglass. Hard to see or tell which it is.


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