How do you reach seacocks?

Post was a noted builder. What's their excuse? It's the nature of boats. So yes if something is inaccessible or inconvenient for you change it or find or make an adaptor for it. Just don't be surprised. You'll find things inconveniently located on most boats, especially on things that will most likely only be touched by people making $120 an hour.

I am currently managing 2 Post 50' SF's. Their excuse at least on the 50'. They initially designed everything in the engine room around it having 8v92' detroits in it in the mid 90's. Then they got away from the Detroits and put mostly V 10 MAN's in them and never moved anything around to where you can get to it. It's near impossible to squeeze between the generator and front of the engines to get to anything on the outbound side of the engine room. I can't without removing the entire generator sound shield. Had they moved the gen forward 4" that wouldn't be the case.

Agree builders may sometimes (often? ) opt for their convenience over the user's .. and sure sometimes it can easily be corrected. There are *some* seacock considerations though that may keep them from going just anywhere .. there may be spots under the hull that have more turbulence than others just due to its shape where there could be a flow concern at speed especially for cooling an engine. And while they have fancy super flat seacocks today, older boats had to deal with the turbulence created by the seacock itself as well for anything behind it.

Like you and J point out people are wanting more and more horses in the same hull. 10 lbs. of meat in a 5 lb sausage case. Something has to give and it's a big deal to move a through hull. So convenience loses out. Ever work on one of these go-fasts with 2 or 4 big motors crammed into a 10' wide hull. Talk about knuckle busting and having to pull things apart to get to other things. It's all a trade off and there's not much choice but learning how to adapt or getting a bigger boat. Of course boats are like closets. no matter how big they are we still manage to fill them.

I was going to start a thread about this but you guys beat me to it. I noticed this problem early on. Having worked in the maritime industry my whole career the logical answer to the problem was reach-rods. Whenever a valve on a ship or tug is in a bad location that's hard to access it is usually connected with a rod which relocates the valve handle. One project during the winter shipyard period was constructing these. I used 1" stainless tubing from McMaster, and some aluminum valve wheels off eBay. Because of the angle of the valves themselves it was necessary to incorporate universal joints so the rods could angle up next to the inboard side of the engine on each side. These I found in the form of stainless steering column joints on Amazon ($36) I welded these to some square u-brackets I made out of stainless flat stock, then to the valve handles themselves. I've test fit them and made some adjustments to the length, just need to finish making a support bracket for each near the handle end.

Say what? I thought you were pretty savvy........ A seacock is first and foremost an EMERGENCY DEVICE. There's all kinds of stuff hooked to it and when the popping and leaking starts you need to get to it NOW, and it has to WORK. You need to know where they are, there can't be a ton of crap on top of them, and you need to exercise them regularly. There can't be anything nearby to hit them hard enough to damage them. You need to be able to find them in the dark and in a foot of water if you got there late. And if they are inaccessible a workaround (like the reach rods above) HAS to be installed.

I may be under the edge of the bell curve closing them all when I leave the boat, but I can do all of the above. With my eyes closed.

Rule # 2...... Keep the water out of the boat.

I'll put up some more pictures once I finish the install

Looks really interesting and effective. Maybe nearly the effort of moving the the hull in some cases

it took me a month to find the through hull for my generator in a late 80s 46 Post.

It seems they never moved it from the older 46 post location.

I may reposition it into the engine room one day.

My genny through hull is under the step down galley, approximately under the stove with 3 different hatches to gain access.

Once you know where it is, just put a bloody big sign over it.

"It's under your wife's cocktail dress". All blokes will understand that, they've been told a 100 times not to mess it up.

What's in the plastic bin? Storage? Looks to me it was added in my a previous owner. Move it out find a new spot for it IMO so you can lay down and slide back to the sea cocks, not a great placement for said bin.
I like the idea some others have said and make up your own pipe extension to fit over the handle for a little more leverage. Ahhh...sea cocks, they are just a bit of mind over matter, take a deep breath and get your hands in there and move it... Sometimes I just use my large adjustable wrench open that up and snug it down on the end of the cock handle, that will also give you good leverage in stead of the pipe idea.

I work all of mine two times a year since I stay in the water year round. Open in the spring, closed in late fall. I must say mine are all rather easy to get to luckily .

Ah but the galley and salon will be used every day. You're thinking like a boater, not a salesperson. That said though, in an emergency you have to be able to get to it and work it. It doesn't have to be convenient. Hopefully at least once a season you'll work them, and again it just has to be workable. Now like anyone I like convenience. I've just come not to expect it on boats. However when I say workable I don't mean just to throw the handle. One day you could need it as a bilge pump. You need enough room to take the hose off. If you don't have that yes move it.

Yeah, I am aware that in a lot of boats the machinery is under the living room floor and you have to move stuff to get to it. In my Hatt I walk into the engine rooms to get to 4 of them, one is behind a hatch in my dresser wall in the MSR, and the other two are under a hatch in the galley floor, all I have to move is a rug..... I like easy access and for that reason will never own a boat that doesn't have it. But, fishing off the back of my 53 MY is not ideal...... It's all compromise.

Yep, on boats there's always compromise. On the 56 we had one about 3' below a hatch in the VIP SR. Cost me a phone (breast pocket is a bad place for phones on a boat. Especially older not waterproof ones.) We check and practice so that inconvenience doesn't become a stopper in an emergency. This is why I always tell new owners to open every hatch and learn their boats. I ran so many different boats that I could figure them out fast, but to people who only run a few or one often let the bilges and areas behind wall etc. be a mystery place.

I'll fish off it! You don't even have to move the boat.
I bet I could pull a 5lb. Largemouth right out from under it, by one of your shed pilings around your slip.

They can be an S.O.B. to open too, better make it an ''open/close'' actuator .....

So I promised more pictures when I finished the project. She's back in the water ran great from Lindenhurst to Freeport. Huge thanks again to Rich M for acting as pilot though the marshes that they call channels out here.

Thank you for sharing pics!

Oh come on now the run from Lindenhurst to Freeport isn't bad once the buoys are out. lol. (Are they out yet?) Seriously though that wheel is your seacock activator? Very cool. Never seen anything like that on a smaller boat. I'm impressed.