Raw Water Seacock, Installed!

Instead of going through several posts for each step along the way, I decided to make a post for the project as a whole. After seeing a loose thru-hull, I went ahead and worked on getting it replaced. Certainly don't want to sink the boat as soon as it gets in the water.

Looking at the old thru-hull, I saw the size was on the side. I ordered a new Groco flanged adapter and ball valve. I used info provided by "Maine Sail" (his screen name on forums) on his How-To website. I thought it was very helpful.

29 Nov 2012

I received the new hardware for the thru-hull and seacock. In this picture, you can really see the condition of the old one. It was backed by wood, so I am planning to use G10 fiberglass board and epoxy it to the hull.

5 Dec 2012

I bought a couple hole saws and made a base plate for mounting the flanged base to the hull. I also drilled the mounting holes for the bronze bolts.

11 Dec 2012

I ordered some bronze bolts for mounting the flanged base to the fiberglass board. I ordered 5/16" bolts that were 1-1/4" long, washers and nuts.

Looks to me that the setup will work out well.

I'm looking at the bottom of the board and thinking to drill out the holes just enough to counter sink the head of the bolts.

13 Dec 2012

More supplies for Epoxy work arrive. West System 105 Epoxy, 206 Slow Hardener, and 404 High Density Filler, Mold release wax. Pumps, stick mixers, and solvent for removing wax.

5 Jan 2013

I went to the boat even though it was around 45 degrees during the day. I did a little cleaning up. Not too much. I hooked up the shore power cable to the 1000 watt inverter connected to the truck to help charge the batteries. I came upon this fuel additive, Fuel Right, saying that it will help dissolve things that shouldn't be in the diesel tank. I got some Summer Diesel to try. One bottle is said to treat 100 gallons so I put half in the tank. The tank isn't full, maybe half, and I also added 5 gal. to help get things moving around in the tank. I'll add more at a later time but wanted to see how well this will work.

I took the new seacock to the boat with me to try dry fitting. I still haven't countersunk the bolts but I did a little measuring and sawed off a little to the new through hull so it should be flush against the hull. I'll try again when the bolts are countersunk and can do a better dry fit. Without the bolts being countersunk, there's a gap between the G10 and the hull.

 

 

6 April 2013

 

It was warm at 73F. I got tired of being stuck indoors for college work so I went to the boat and did a little work. I test fit the valve on the base to see which way the handle would face to make sure there was room for a complete open and close.

 

I placed some wax on the thru-hull to epoxy wouldn't stick to it. I braced it on the outside with a boat hook. This helped the thru-hull to be flush against the hull and to keep it from moving around on me.

 

 

I did another dry fit to confirm there was enough thread cut off the thru-hull. Everything looked pretty snug to me. I then did some sanding, solvent cleaning a bit to try preparing the surface. I also sanded a bit of the fiberglass base. I mixed up some epoxy with 2 pumps of the epoxy and fast hardener and enough 404 High Density filler to make it very thick. I then placed the epoxy around the thru-hull, thick enough to allow a little squeeze out when I put the base on. When I put the base on, a little did squeeze out and I aligned it to how I thought it would work out with the valve handle. I still had a little epoxy left and filled in the gap at the top where the hull bends from above the keel and around the edges to give a more finished look.

 

Since everything was snug, I removed the boat hook when I was cleaning up afterwards. This is what it looked like when I left it. I have some fiberglass tape that I could possibly use around the edge too but will wait and see how this turns out first.

 

 

7 April 2013

 

Went to the boat today, mainly because I left a pair of socks in the cockpit and didn't realize it until after I got home. Since I happened to be there, I took a look at my work to see how it turned out.

 

I first took the Groco thru-hull tool and a screwdriver to twist the thing out.

 

 

When the thru-hull was out, I saw that some of the epoxy had filled in the hole and a little around the thru-hull too. I'm thinking to have the boat shop to sand it down to do the final touches. I would work on it but with college work, I don't have too much time to spare.

 

 

 

From the inside, it looked pretty good too.

 

 

So far, I like how it turned out. I placed the valve on the flange base and also checked clearance on the floor board cover to show that there's nothing blocking it from closing.

 

 

This happens to be my first job with epoxy and so far, I think it went well. I took my time as much as I could. Now, I just need to clean the wax off the thru-hull, seal everything up and should be good. I got a tube Silkaflex 291 to seal it up. I plan on getting the boat shop at the marina to sand/prep the hull area around the thru-hull, along with a list of other things to do. I think it will work out, but we'll see once the boat is in the water.

 

After 5 months of work, or rather waiting, it's finally done. I'm glad it finally warmed up enough to finish this up.

 

I looked at how some strainers can get clogged up,

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

I read over these pages about how to do this work:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/seacock_primer
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/replacing_thruhulls
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/backing_blocks

I decided to go with a regular seacock/thru-hull arrangement and ordered a Groco
strainer that has a mesh that can be replaced.

Here is a list of what I ordered.

I saw the valve I took off was 3/4" so that's the size I used with the Groco.

Item #                 Description
500213               Groco ARG-S Series Raw Water Strainer          Defender
500414               90 Deg. Pipe To Hose Adapter                           Defender
039512               Groco Thru-Hull tool                                          Hopkins-Carter Marine
GRO-TH750W   GROCO THRU-HULL WITH NUT 3/4"          Jamestown Distributors
GRO-PTH750     GROCO PIPE TO HOSE ADAPTER 3/4"        Jamestown Distributors


G101223              G10 Fiberglass Board, 1/2" 2'x3'                       JD
M0811                  Meguiar's mold release wax                              JD
INT-0202Q          Wax cleaner Interlux 202                                   JD

750360                 West System Epoxy 105                                    D
750363                 Fast hardener 205                                               D
750405                 High Density Filler 404                                      D
754429                 Measuring pumps                                               D
750387                 mixing sticks                                                       D
755734                 Sikaflex 291                                                        D

Bronze bolts from McMaster-Carr

 

 

Eventually, I plan on replacing all the thru-hulls with the fiberglass board

backing and get rid of the wood backing. I also used some thick plastic drinking
cups from Walmart to mix the epoxy. I tested the mixing a few times before this
job to see how it was to mix it and thicken it up with the filler.