Seacocks on A25

[Northern Spy]

Has anyone had any seacocks replaced with marelon. They seem to have a good reputation. I have several that are headed south.
The ones under the head I think can go. We use fresh water for flushing and we pump out. The sink discharge can go above the waterline. That just leaves the raw water intake for cooling an my a/c cooing pickup. Right?

[DesertAlbin736]

Can't really address pros & cons of Marelon through hulls, but I agree they seem to have a good rep.

But on slightly different tack, you have A/C on your A25? Would be interested to see & hear about your installation. We're in central Arizona, where you can boat on the lake all winter if you don't mind cool days in the 50s and 60s and nights in the mid 30s to low 40s in January but summers are a bear on our lake here. It can hit over 110 degrees in June-July-August, and if it's 110 degrees outside it's 120+ inside the cabin and pilot house, even with shade and ventilation. We have 12V DC fans and a small 110V AC fan we can use if we're on shore power, but that won't cut it with that kind of heat. Those Cruisair portable A/C units won't fit on our foredeck & hatch, and are bulky and heavy anyway. So unless we hit the road & trailer our boat to the Pacific Coast or other cooler locations in summer, after Cinco De Mayo (May 5th) we just lay the boat up and do something else until the weather starts to cool off in late October.

And speaking of pumping out holding tanks, the small tank we have is a major PITA, barely good for a weekend. I want to either replace it with a larger tank or add a 2nd tank connected together with hoses after I relocate my battery bank to the lazarette behind the driver seat.

Here's what it looks like now with the small holding tank outboard of the batteries. If I can get the right size tank, either one large one to replace the existing one, or a 2nd 8 gallon tank to add on I can nearly double my holding capacity to about 18 to 20 gallons. The master battery switch is mounted on the back wall of the head compartment, so those cables would have to be lengthened and/or the switch relocated

DSCN3331.JPG

There's enough room in the lazarette to fit the three group 27 size batteries, but I'll have to make reinforced flooring panels, which are now just thin veneer ply less than 1/4" thick.

[Beta Don]

I wouldn't hesitate to use Marelon seacocks - I've have them on more than one boat over the years. A friend has an Island Packet 31 which came from the factory with those Chinese made brass 1/4 turn ballcocks screwed to bronze thru hull fittings - I would consider a true seacock made of Marleon several steps up from the junk which came on his Island Packet . . . . his keel is filled with concrete instead of lead, so you know they don't hesitate to take shortcuts when there's an (out of sight) dollar to be saved

Don

[Northern Spy]

Thanks for the replies folks. yes here in North Carolina we have very damp hot summers with blinding sun, so air conditioning is a great luxury. i understand you about the cruiseair unit we had one and while it was effective there are better solutions. Our vessel was outfitted prior to our ownership with a Marineair 5k or 6k btu watercooled unit beneath the galley. The water intake appears to have used the fresh water intake for the sink. The discharge is through the hull side above the water line. One downside to our installation is the condensate drainage is significant, and it is going straight to the bilge.

If we start the A/C before it gets hot and keep some shade on the boat, it can keep it cool up to about 85 degrees outside ambient temp. Above that it cannot keep up. After dark it can freeze you out in about an hour and a half regardless of exterior conditions.

I have installed a duct splitter and run a ventilation line through the midship and aft bulkheads and into the aft cabin to provide A/C for my kids as well. The additional cooling load only marginally affected the capacity of the unit to cool the forward cabin.

Here is a link to a previous owners website that shows the location of the A/C unit. http://snpbarlow.rovr1.com/raz/index.html

Regarding the seacocks, if the yard doing the work is comfortable with the marelon fittings I think that is the way to go. Thanks for he recomendation Beta Don.

EDIT;

Regarding the holding tank, ours is aproximately 9 gallons and will last 4 of us a long weekend easily. Pee over the rail whenever possible. Drink liquor instead of beer. and most importantly minimize TP usage and flush with fresh water from above with a bottle or cup. Flushing with fresh water and not sing the hull pickup has two advantages, you only use a tiny bit of extra water and the critters living in the raw water stink up the head more than drinking water.