Start by Drilling a Hole Many readers have asked me how to install stronger, flanged seacocks without also drilling extra holes in your hull for the bolts that hold the flange. It can be done, as you will see below. Though this method is going to be slightly [...]
All The Pieces In Maine we get long winters, and it gives us plenty of time to do projects most others would put off until failure. A sea strainer is one of those devices no one ever thinks to rebuild, repair or replace but they should. For years [...]
Male Adapter Too Short Quite often when working on boats I see odd fitting hoses. It doesn't take much to figure out why. Many male hose adapters are not built or designed for marine applications where we prefer to use two hose clamps for below waterline applications. When [...]
Choose the Location This photo is showing the spot for the new seacock & thru-hull as chosen from inside the vessel. Care should be taken when considering anew location for an additional seacock which includes, easy access, hose routing and seacock location for valve movement.. Once you have [...]
What Not To Use For winterizing your fresh water system you will need a few items. The number one item to have is RV type propylene glycol antifreeze that is safe for domestic plumbing systems. Unfortunately I see this type of alcohol based RV type product all too [...]
The Test Bench I had been meaning to test the strength of a ball valve threaded directly onto a thru-hull, as many production builders do for seacock installations, but never actually got around to completing that task until now. Many of the builders, who install seacocks in this [...]
Anatomy of a Tapered Cone Seacock These are the parts of a Spartan Marine tapered cone or tapered plug seacock. Over the years there were many brands of tapered cone seacocks but only two that I know of remain, Spartan in Maine and Blakes over in Europe. At [...]
Tip: If you would like a higher resolution or larger photo simply click on the picture and it will get bigger. A Poor Idea The picture on the left is what not to do if starting from scratch and installing new seacocks. If your thru-hulls and valves, on [...]
These are called Thru-Hulls This item is called a thru-hull or sometimes a mushroom-head or even a skin fitting. They are straight threaded (NPS thread) so they can be cut to the correct length, for your hulls thickness, and then be threaded into a female straight threaded seacock [...]
