Well, yesterday was the day I finally bit the bullet and winterized my mains, genny and air conditioning. I don't winterize the water as we live onboard year around. Everything went as planned until I got to the port main.

Since we live in a part of the country that can and does (still) see sub-zero temps, I try and take extra precautions to make sure that all will be well if the power decided it was going to go out with the temps way down. Usually this entails the normal winterizing and then doing the best I can to keep the seacocks from freezing if for some reason I can't get the genny to start. I do this by blowing antifreeze through the seacock until I hear bubbles and then I close the valve and pour in more antifreeze.

This year when I closed the seacock for the port main, it did not seal completely. Water ran into the bilge from the strainer that I was cleaning until I got the strainer closed again. Thinking it might be just a piece of something caught in the valve I openned and closed it again several times to see if I could dislodge it. No Dice! Still wanting to protect the seacock I poured about a gallon on vegetable oil into the thing and then blew enough out so that the throughull, and the seacock and assorted plumbing should not have (much) water in them. Normally I would have had the boat pulled and replaced the seacock, but the travel lift is out of service until next spring. So, I hope what I have done is OK.

As a result I have a couple questions. First does anybody know what seacock I need to get for spring replacement ('72 48 Yachtfish with 8V71N mains)? What is the best way to handle the replacement? Is this something that I can do, or do I need to hire someone (prefer doing things myself)? Last, the raw water hoses going from the strainer to the raw water pumps are getting to the end of their life for both engines. Should I replace with the wire reinforced rubber hose as it is now, or is there something else that is easier to work with and better?

Sorry about the long post, but I appreciate any and all answers.
Dwayne