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De-Commissioning seacock

  • Thread starter Thread starter scottwvyc
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scottwvyc

Active member
Joined
May 15, 2005
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98
Hatteras Model
37' CONVERTIBLE (1977 - 1982)
I recently installed a Vacu-flush toilet system in my boat. It was fairly easy to install and it work very well. The last item on my list to finish this job off is to de commission the seacock that suppiled the old salt water fed toilet. My question is how do I do this properly? Thanks
 
Pull the hose and barb and install a pipe plug. Make sure the seacock is in solid shape. Give it a sharp smack with a hammer. If it breaks off, remove and seal the hole. Its better to find out that way instead of a failure underway !! ws
 
I have five that I no longer use after installing new toilets. I just screwed a threaded pipe plug in each one and closed the valve as Bill stated. You never know when you might want to use one for something else like a washdown pump or a watermaker or whatever. This way all you have to do is unscrew the plug and you're ready to go.
 
Hey Sky-- on a side note, I will probably be using the 32VDC galleymade macerator and fresh water pumps for the new Atlantes crapper I'm putting in. If one is a dud, are the armatures etc. interchangeable? Ive never played with one before.
I know where the pressure switch for the FW pump is, but is there an on-off switch other than the breaker? ws
 
Just a thought, if you're going to leave the valve in place make sure it's winterized. Either open and empty it while on the hard, fill it with anti-freeze, or if you're lucky it's got that little plug you can use to drain it.

I'm going to be pulling out dead transducers this spring and until I make final decisions I'll be putting thu-hulls in the holes and capping them. That way I can still change my mind without all the grinding and drilling.
 
The GM pumps are all sevicable just like you would expect, no surprises. I only have a breaker and a pressure switch on my freshwater pump.
 
Speaking of plugging Xducers or sea cocks....how have some of you guys done it. I have three old xducers I'd like to get rid of next haul out. But not sure I trust the yard monkeys enough to do a proper glassing job. Thoughts???.....Thx.
 
Thanks Sky !!

Speaking of plugging Xducers or sea cocks.--- I have a tuff time trusting anyone to plug a hole in 'glass. Personally, the impact of XX,000 lbs of boat slapping down from a wave will blow out a little glass plug unless really done right. I almost lost my Roamer from a two inch paddle wheel T-ducer blowing out of its' hole from the same scenario. We had to beach the boat to save it. Thank God we were only a mile offshore at the time. I replaced the individual speed, depth and temp units with a combined sumlog unit with an EXTERNAL transom mounted transducer group.
I would stuff a carriage bolt in the hole with 5200, a nut and washer and then forget about it. Its there if you ever need the hole again. Same for a seacock you really want to remove it. Glass the hole fair on the outside and bolt an aluminum plate with the s-cock bolts with 5200 on the inside. Make sure the bilge is really oil free before you do any thing though. ws
 
To fill in the inch plus diameter hole in the hull from a transducer you can go about it two ways. The first is to plug it with something else, like a seacock that you can use for whatever puspose you can come up with. This is the quickest and easiest.

Second is to properly fill it in with an appropriate material. If you really want to do it right, both sides of the hole must be dished out a good bit at a fairly flat angle to enlarge the area where the glass will be filled back in. Don't increase the diameter of the actual hole, just make an area for the glass to adhere to around the hole. You then do the repair using any good epoxy and glass material (west is my epoxy of choice but others are good too). You fill just the hole with a dense packing of glass and epoxy or use a small plug of material like coosa to fill the hole, then you use several layers of glass and resin on both the outside and inside to fair back into the area ground out of the hull. 3 to 4 layers each side is good but don't make it wider than the original hull thickness. These layers of glass are what gives the repair strength and prevent the plug from working out or failing while at sea. If you do this properly the glassed area wil be at least 10 to 12" square if you are working to fill in a 11/2 to 2" hole. You of course have to fair the repair with the hull both inside and out then paint to match on both sides.

This will take some time to do properly. Most people will just stuff another seacock or transducer in and go have a beer...
 
yachtsmanbill said:
I would stuff a carriage bolt in the hole with 5200, a nut and washer and then forget about it. Its there if you ever need the hole again. ws
I really like this idea, and I would bet that you have a source for 1 inch or larger bronze carriage bolts. I don't think WM or the others carry anything that big, but I'll bet they use stuff like that on tugboats. Any ideas?
 
I would try Jamestowm Dist or Mcmaster-Carr. If all else fails, Chuck up a bolt in a lathe and make a button head bolt. A tiny hacksaw slot to hold it while you tighten the nut. Or leave a 1/8" thick hex on it for a wrench.
For a seacock, I would make a round beveled plate (1/4") and take advantage of the through bolts to secure it AND seal the bolt holes in one shot. ws
 
That would work. I just thought you might have a ready source. Thanks Bill.
 
Mcmaster-Carr is the place for 1" machine screws, but they only go to 3/4 on the carriage bolts. Hmm ws
 
I looked there and at Jamestown Dist. I only saw bronze fasteners up to 3/4 inch. I may have to buy bronze stock and make them on the lathe. More time that I don't have. :rolleyes:
 
To seal an open thru hull hole, I like to rasp the hole clean and rough; epoxy a larger piece of plywood over the hole on the inside of the hull, and seal it in additional epoxy. Then fill the hole with thickened epoxy/paste. The inner wood plate provides the additional strength to withstand outside pressure impact.

To close of a seacock, the hammer hit test is fine. Fill the seacock opening with anitfreeze then screw a pipe cap on. If not threaded, hose clamp on a short length of hose, clamp a short nipple and pipe on the inner/upper end.
Or one can tap in a wood plug into the inner and outer side of the seacock opening....gently....
 
I taper the hole from the outside maybe a 45 degree. I then put a piece of plastic, than a shop rag, than a piece of plywood and clamp it all there over the hole. Use a 2 X 4 from the floor or ground to the boat. The inside I grind the area around the hole about 3 inches around. I shred up a bunch of glass cloth and mix it with epoxy until it is saturated with glass fiber. I then putty knife the mix into the hole. On top of that I glass a heavy cloth patch. I've never had one fail. I've done 8 to 10 like this. I don't know if I would do it this way if the hole was bigger than 3 inches


BILL
 
I had to do this on Blue Note when I first got her; there were areas in the keel that had to be fixed because the PO had grounded her, and fixed the damage with Bondo. So the keel leaked, and there was water inside which had caused the foam to come apart.

I drilled a few 1.5" holes in the keel and sanded all the area around them bare. After letting them dry for a few weeks, I used a piece of glass and Peel-Ply to make up a laminate sandwich of 10oz cloth and epoxy, squeegeeing on additional layers as I went. It took about thirty plies of cloth wet with epoxy to make a 3/4" thickness piece about six inches square or so. When that was green hard (not sticky but will still dent with your thumbnail), I used a hole saw to cut out the plugs I needed, and buttered them up with thickened epoxy and silica powder. Then I used a plastic hammer to tap them into the holes I'd drilled in the keel where the bad areas were. Later on, I sanded them flat and epoxied about three or four layers of cloth over them in progressively bigger ovals until I got tired of doing it. Then I sanded the whole thing a bit and rolled bottom paint over it. That repair has held for years, as AFAIK is still in there.

There's an easier way to do this, now- you can get a scrap piece of FRP out of another hull, or a piece of premade FRP structural from companies like Strongwell, and just cut a piece the size you need out with a hole saw. Preformed FRP structurals come in all shapes and sizes and strengths, and can be really useful for repairs. The only downside is you have to buy a lot more than you need; they are often big sheets.
 
You can lay up a fiberglass panel for these type of repairs very easily.

Get a piece of flat plywood, cover it in plastic ( trash bag will work just fine ) wet out a few layers of fiberglass with either epoxy or regular fiberglass resin. I normally use about 6 layers of bi axial with a matt backing.

Then cover this wet fiberglass with another piece of plastic and place a piece of plywood on top. Then weight it down.

The next day, remove the weights/ply and plastic and you have a flat , solid sheet of panel. You can make it as large or as small as you want.


Now just cut out any shape size you need for these type repairs.

For holes in the hull, I cut out a round with a hole saw, just a tad smaller than the hole diameter itself. I use a couple drops of bondo to hold the "plug " in place. After it hardens in a few minutes, get out the grinder sander and bevel out the area inside and out as stated earlier.

Glass it over, sand smooth/paint/ you are done.
 

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