How do you reach seacocks?

Thanks, the polished aluminum valve wheels were an eBay score at $30 apiece. No buoys yet in great South Bay , but we did our civic duty and helped with some dredging

That bottom is mostly sand and muck. So no harm if you went slow. I used to run out of SS all year. Keeping that track over to the state channel on your handheld pays off. From there it's NBD. Local knowledge definitely pays off on LI's south shore.

I'm overdue to perform my spring dredging of the amity cut, the rest of the boats in this area are going to be upset.

Oh you did the Amity cut with no buoys. Brave. No wonder you dredged. Should have done the Lindenhurst cut then you'd have had an easy run down the state channel. Lesson for next time.

Stainless did the run .. I was just commenting on the dredging as I have been boating that area for decades.

Decades eh. Then we probably know each other. Used to manage the marina at SS and did quite a few lessons at the Anchorage.

I have a few hard to reach valves on my boat. Mainly the emergency fuel shut off valves but same principle. We just use some 3/8" stainless round stock and make a simple extension type reach rod. Easy to do and you just make the rod as long as necessary so you can easily work the valve. We bend a handle on the end but you can make a handle out of wood or anything you want depending on what you have. You really need a way to close those valves quick and easy if heaven forbid you need to.

Longer than normal for reach is good. Longer extension pipe for extra reach is good. Either of those things for leverage to open or close the throughhull is not good - they should move with minimal effort - certainly before any sort of leverage is needed.