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Conference unifix::sailing

Title:SAILING
Notice:Please read Note 2.* before participating in this conference
Moderator:UNIFIX::BERENS
Created:Wed Jul 01 1992
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2299
Total number of notes:20724

648.0. "Shutting Seacocks" by NRADM3::MITCHELL (george..ya snooze...ya lose) Tue Sep 15 1987 15:21

    
    	I know that prudence dictates that ALL hull penetrations
    	have seacocks, and that when you leave for any length of
    	time that the seacocks should be closed.
    
    	My Question: Do you all close them? Why?, Why not?

        I don't always and I don't worry if I don't....should
    	I?                                     
    	
          
    		Just curious   

                               ___GM___

T.RTitleUserPersonal
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648.1Keep'em closed as mush as possiblePUNDIT::MCWILLIAMSTue Sep 15 1987 15:3221
    We always keep all Seacocks closed except when in use !!!!
    
    I have twice had problems with siphoning on the head lines, once on the
    outlet, once on the inlet, and woke up twice in the middle of the night
    to an 1" of water on the cabin sole. 
    
    This has made us believers in preventative solutions as above.
                                                    
    The only people I know who leave a seacock open is my neighbor at
    the mooring, who has a Tartan 30, with the bilge pump connected
    to the sink outlet. It's a bad design, and he will be changing it
    next season (he just bought the boat.)
    
    Our bilge pump vents above the water line, as do our cockpit scuppers.
    
    It may be a little more to teach guests how to turn on the seacocks
    for the head, but at least we won't have happen what happened to
    Bill Buckley's boat.
    
    /jim

648.2Wooden BungsRDGE43::BARKERLife on the Ocean Wave...Wed Sep 16 1987 04:5413
    If you don't regularly close the seacocks, for whatever reason,
    do make sure from time to time , that they still do close.
    Jammed seacocks can be very expesive & troublesome to fix and
    if you have a fractured pipe in the middle of the night in a force
    8 and can't close the seacock.......
    
    Offshore racing regulations insist that you carry a supply of wooden
    bungs to stuff in the holes left by a broken pipe or a disintgrated
    seacock. These should be taped to the pipes by the seacock.
    
    Not many cruising yachts have these, but for just a few pounds
    (dollars!) they could be a lifesaver.

648.3CASAD4::THOMASWed Sep 16 1987 12:0910
    I leave the cockpit scupper drains open but close the engine intake
    seacock. I always had some concern about leaving the scuppers open.
    I also close the fuel line valve and disconnect the battery.(No switch
    in the circuit).
    
    Don't like being pessimistic but I try to assume things will break
    and plan accordingly.
    Ed                     
    

648.4An ounce of prevention...VICKI::MONTIVIRDIMon Sep 21 1987 13:467
    I once left the cockpit scuppers closed, came back after a
    couple of days of heavy rain, and found the boat riding 
    several inches lower in the water and a cockpit swimming
    pool.  I now close everything, but the cockpit.  I also
    agree with .2, you should have soft wood bungs (sic) taped
    to the side of the seacock.