Manufacturer of CSY thru hulls

[Brett]

Hello All,  we recently had Kitty Hawk hauled out for some work and had the thru hulls inspected....bad news at least four of the thru hull barrels are worn to the point that they won't reseal  when reassembled......the yard, Deaton's in Oriental, NC, say they are unfamiliar with the brand and where to obtain replacement barrels....anyone have any ideas?  Thanks in advance

[Soggy Paws]

Brett,

If original, they are the old 'tapered plug' type, solid bronze, 35+ years old and would probably cost you a fortune to replace, since they are now almost antiques!  Long ago I tried to get a couple of mine to seal using valve grinding compound and finally gave up. 
My advice is to replace those 4 plus the rest with modern Apollo, Groco or similar 1/4 turn seacocks.  It is not a lot of money, if you do it yourself, and will provide you with priceless peace of mind.

Dave

[Jules Shockley]

Brett,
If you are so interested, Robin Hood Marine in Maine, carries a complete line of bronze tapered seacocks at a reasonable price. Designed to last 30 years with proper maintenance . Doubt if they will fit the WC barrels. I have found new original WC cocks in marine salvage outlets. One inch and 1 1/2 inch seem to be plentiful. As a side note, I recently hauled and found my original thru hulls in good shape. I lapped and serviced them and the job came out pretty good, didn't have to replace any. A heavy dollop of Spartan grease helped.  Try this website http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/replacing_thruhulls&page=1

[Brett]

After reviewing the thru hulls with the yard....and discussing the fact that only one of them was
leaking prior to being removed, we have decided to lap, grease and reinstall the good ones.  I found a bronze welder who can braze and machine the tapered barrel so it will seal again.  If that process proves to be cost prohibitive we are going to replace that one and then prioritize the others for replacement as we can afford to and try to coincide it with other haul outs.  Thanks for the link Jules....I'll check that out also.....I did identify these as Wilcox - Crittenden seacocks....

Dave....parts alone for total replacement was about $3800 and I don't really trust my skills in that department to tackle that job just yet.....so we are going to have to piecemeal it and go with professional installs at first....

[Jules Shockley]

Brett,
This is the kink for servicing the seacocks. http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/tapered_cone_seacocks
If yours are just seeping, a good greasing will work miracles.
The Compass Marine site has many useful articles.
Jules

[Brett]

Thanks Jules....I read that one the other day....our raw water engine intake seacock is pitted and I am investigating getting it bronze brazed and remachined.....that might not be cost effective compared to a new Apollo one though.....

[Brett]

Well, I tried Robin Hood Marine and Spartan and couldn't get a call back.....I found a place in Beaufort, NC called Bircher's welding that has remanufactured the WC seacocks....the down side is ours was so pitted that it would cost $700 to have it built up and remachined plus getting it reinstalled.  So we are going with the Apollo replacement.....we will probably do one or two a year as they need replacement from here on out. The good news is the other three bad ones should reseal and be functional for another season.....  Thanks for the input everyone .....

[Brett]

I forgot to post this update......as it turns out the seacock barrels were fine.....the boatyard (Deaton’s in Oriental, NC) apparently didn’t know how to lap the barrels and were too lazy to use google.  They media blasted them !!! Insane.....I was fortunately able to later remove, lap and grease them and they have all been fine and leakproof since.  Since this occurred in year number two of our big boat ownership, I mistakenly assumed a professional boatyard would know how to perform seacock  maintenance better than I.  They also installed the handles in the wrong orientation so they looked closed when they were actually open.  New rule of thumb......DIY if you want it done correctly or at a minimum double check all proposed procedures and watch the pro so you can do it next time.  Live and learn.