stiff seacocks (no pun intended)

I use a silicone based greased , Specifically a silicon grease for brake calipers. I use NAPA Sil-Glyde , great in hot engine rooms also . Non-melting, Non-freezing, Non--gumming, Water proof and doesn't harm rubber seals and O-Rings. Great for rudder and stabilizer shafts and all linkages in your engine room. It has one of the highest thermal temperature differences of any grease, --20 F to +600F. Got a tube in my hand but misplaced my camera batteries so look ay this link for now.


https://www.ebay.com/p/2-NAPA-76513...d-Tube-4oz/1086131766?iid=173555455432&chn=ps​

If a 18" pipe, basically a foot past their normal handle does not free them, and I can't get them free'd and turning with a relatively normal amount of effort. I don't free them at the next haul out, I replace them. I just had 2, 2.5-3" seacocks replaced on 2 different yachts. One a 2006 and the other a 2013, that the handle turned with a normal amount of restriction, but it didn't shut the waterflow off at all.

Do you have any tower fabricators near you? They usually have a bin of cut off tower pieces that are bent in different directions in the scrap pile to get recycled. Usually you can find one the right diameter (to go over the handle) and bent enough to fit in there.

Hi Beau. Just now noticed your post on the seacocks of your post 50 I’ve got the same boat and Ive installed the grease fittings and greased and spent quite the energy manouvering around the engines I order to exercise the valves with pipe wrench on handle lever at 90 degrees to lever due to battery box etc blocking access to lever. Anyway after this Herculean effort as a thin wiry guy I never did get them to operate by hand easily. Just have to live with it and develop technique with pipe wrench The valves and their handles are quite substantial to allow this tool work. You just need to learn how to work in that terribly cluttered space. My boat is a 2000 post 50 and that’s what I’ve done. The valves did loosen up but still need pipe wrench method due to no room!

The seacock valves on my boat would never have the desired feel when opening or closing, regardless of lubrication or frequency of movement.

All my seacock valves were reworked by me to remove the stem and nylon seal washers behind the handle and gland nut.

All of those parts were cleaned, lubricated and reassembled.

The gland nut was tightened to attain no leakage and proper handle movement.

Now all my seacock valves have an excellent feel when opening or closing.

Admin Edit: Hot-Linked image Removed.

Get a 18" piece of PVC or aluminum pipe that fits over the handle.

There are lots of remote manual and automatic actuators available.

Here is one example.

Wingless,

I just removed your image from post #29. We do NOT allow hot-linked images from hosting companies because the host can change the image to something less benign that a 'seacock'. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Sorry for my failure to conform with that rule.

Thanks for correcting my error.

Here is my seacock image that is hopefully properly uploaded now to the forum. This time I pressed the Upload a File pushbutton below the text on the reply.

The OP finds the seacock difficult to move. My reply w/ image is a direct response to the OP question.

My seacock valves also had less-than-desired action.

My post describes the method I followed to attain excellent action on the seacock valves.

The rework I created is totally different than the recommendations from others, like using a Zerk fitting on the drain to inject grease. When I spoke w/ the seacock manufacturer they specifically instructed AGAINST that action, that it could cause permanent damage to the seal.

The missing / now restored image shows the type of seacock valve that I reworked, because there are different styles. The OP does not know the seacock model.

Best wishes and good luck resolving your issue.