06/30/2020
Preamble:
It’s always a good idea to exercise all seacocks on a regular basis. You know, those valves that keep the water out of the boat in case a hose breaks? Not only will they last longer, but you can find problems before you NEED to close that valve! My valve broke during one of those tests. Luckily, it was at the dock and I didn’t have to fix it at sea.
A few days ago, I tried to close the valve attached to the lav waste through-hull and….. whoops. The handle came off with the valve still in the open position. What if this happened at sea with water gushing in from a broken waste hose! Option 1: Use a backup handle to close the valve. No handle? Use a small crescent wrench. Option 2: Remove the hose and quickly plug that gushing torrent of water with a wood plug that’s tied to the through-hull.
In my case, Option 1 was not possible! The handle didn’t break; It was the threaded attach point on the actual valve that broke! So Option 2 was required. ALWAYS tie an appropriately sized plug to each through-hull.
Replacing the valve without requiring haul-out:
- Parts ($160)
- 1 1/2″ bronze ball valve
- 1 1/2″ 45° bronze fitting
- 1 1/2″ male to male bronze fitting
- 1 1/2″ male to 1 1/2″ hose nipple fitting
- Waste hose
- 4 new stainless steel hose clamps
- White teflon grease
- Teflon tape
- Tools
- Pipe wrench
- Vice grips
- Small crescent wrench
- Small hack saw
- Screwdriver
- Wood plug
- Small hammer
- Stuffing box wrench
- Gain Access
- The waste through-hull on this Cal 39 was buried in a mass of hose deep under the head’s vanity.
- Most of my time on this project was spent disconnecting brittle hose to make elbow room for my wrenches.
- I found the hacksaw much more useful than a propane torch for removing the old hoses.
- Remove the old valve.
- First, ensure your bilge pumps are in good working order and have a good amount of electricity. Shore power if possible. You know, just in case :)
- Remove the flexible hose connected to the metal nipple.
- If the valve is stuck in the open position, have that wood plug immediately available! The water comes in like a firehose!
- Unscrew the valve from the through-hull and plug the hole.
- Hold the through-hull in position with the vice grips while getting some good torque on the valve with the pipe wrench.
- The goal here is to remove the valve without affecting the integrity of the through-hull.
- Replacing the through-hull is a whole new can of worms you do NOT want to open. (Haul-out would be a very real possibility.)
- As you unscrew, have a wood plug ready to stop the firehose immediately upon pulling the valve off the threads.
- Lightly hammer the plug in if you have to leave the area. I also pulled it out again to test how much force was required, then hammered it back in.
- I had to leave the boat to match the new valve to my old valve, so made sure that plug wouldn’t pop out!
- Hold the through-hull in position with the vice grips while getting some good torque on the valve with the pipe wrench.
- Install the new valve.
- I brought my old valve and fittings to POP Marine Supply and they were able to match them from their products in stock. Awesome!
- Test fit the parts and cut the flexible hose to length.
- Gah! The valve handle bolt was slightly longer than the original. I had to hack saw some fiberglass from the vanity to make room for the new valve to rotate onto the through-hull.
- Wrap each threaded section with 2 wraps of Teflon Tape.
- This is optional since the bronze threads compress into a water tight seal.
- Oops, the handle was facing the wrong direction when tight.
- Add more Teflon Tape to the threads so the valve will tighten with the handle oriented correctly.
- Tighten (but don’t over-tighten) the valve and fittings. The stuffing box crescent wrench was a perfect fit.
- Install the new hose.
- The waste hose was not flexible enough to slide onto the bronze nipple.
- After a light application of white teflon grease it slid right on. Don’t use petroleum products like Vaseline!
- Tighten on 2 hose clamps per side.