seacocks

[erice]

just recently purchased 1989 36' sabreline trawler; going through things recently, all of the seacocks are very hard/impossible to turn to close. i'm thinking of disassembling these to clean and lubericate. does that sound about right??

[sharffj]

need to be able to easily close the seacocks in case of an emergency. Say you rupture a hose, or suck weed into the strainer, you need to be able to shut the seawater off. I lub mine twice yearly and make sure they they are easy to close.
Jeff S

[erice]

can they just be disassembled for this? no fear of loosing any small parts?? what type of lubricant do you use?

[jleonard]

Some of those have a tapered center section. If yours is like that you can loosen the nut a scosh and it shoud move

[Pitou]

just recently purchased 1989 36' sabreline trawler; going through things recently, all of the seacocks are very hard/impossible to turn to close. i'm thinking of disassembling these to clean and lubericate. does that sound about right??

This is how I maintain the ball valves aboard PITOU ; I hit my while on the hard from below with Corrosion X while closed and then exercise them. Also hit them the valve handle where it is attached to the valve from the inside and exercise some more which helps big time as well. The lubricant seeps in and does its magic. If you are in the water you can always close the seacock, remove the hose and spray inside then reinstall the hose and exercise. For the environmentalist this may not be a great idea. You could also use Aero Kroil, Power Blaster or any other parts cleaner spray lubricant. Just remember to exercise those valves every now and again and give them a spray when on the hard as well.