Just saved my old little yacht from sinking!

Got a call on Friday and a text pic of my old girl going down!

Got my emergancy response team onto the job to pump her out!

Booked a flight and got to the location Within 2 hours.

when I got there she had a gut full of water again. (battery was under water and waterline level at the top of bunks.

Found the leak at the 1/2 inch bronze elbow broken off where the raw water s/s sea cock WAS attached.

Shipwrights where paid to fit new skinfittings and seacocks 8 years ago. We where discraced they fitted 2 different disfamiluer metals!

plugged the hole with a timber plug! (now I understand why you should have them aboard!)

Cleaned bilge and removed all water logged belongings.

re-wired new tinned wire , new bilge pump, new float switch, new battery charger , new battery conectors.

Ran engine and spayed with Lanolin.

flew home!

last time she sank was 50 years ago !

Thankfully you got the call in time!

Yep as in approxmently 2 more hours she would have been submerged !

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southace said..
Just saved my old little yacht from sinking!

Got a call on Friday and a text pic of my old girl going down!

Got my emergancy response team onto the job to pump her out!

Booked a flight and got to the location Within 2 hours.

when I got there she had a gut full of water again. (battery was under water and waterline level at the top of bunks.

Found the leak at the 1/2 inch bronze elbow broken off where the raw water s/s sea cock WAS attached.

Shipwrights where paid to fit new skinfittings and seacocks 8 years ago. We where discraced they fitted 2 different disfamiluer metals!

plugged the hole with a timber plug! (now I understand why you should have them aboard!)

Cleaned bilge and removed all water logged belongings.

re-wired new tinned wire , new bilge pump, new float switch, new battery charger , new battery charger.

Ran engine and spayed with lanonlin.

flew home!

So glad you found out about it in time South Ace it could have been a worse case scenario

While this topic is open Id like to ask what material should I use as I'm replacing my sea cocks in a couple of months bare in mind I have a stainless steel sea strainer. The forward cabin sea cocks I'm removing and glassing up the holes while its out on the hard.
Im like what the engine sea cock has at the moment stainless steel ball valve and thinking of repalces it with the same .

I think bronze skin fittings and ss ball valves are the go .

Really Sands? I will be replacing it with a plastic chemical treated valve and pipeing!

I would be apprehensive about using plastic. S/S ball valves I got. They work well but always think about electrolysis before you decide. Like one would be mad using copper on an alluminum hull.
By the way, I would have an extremely serious conversation with the person who caused your misery after a quick chat with my solicitor! Claim the lot, tickets, rescue work done, loss of time etc. the lot.

I just replaced our skin fittings and sea cocks ,we used true design
they are made of fiberglass and are approved by loyds and survey
requirements for below waterline use ,made in new zealand, seemed
the best option for me, dont have to worry about electrolysis then
cheers ray
hey HG loved your battery terminals

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southace said..
Really Sands? I will be replacing it with a plastic chemical treated valve and pipeing!

I would agree. If you have bronze skin fittings then the valve has to be all bronze as well. Some of the gate valves sold by ship chandlers now have brass spindles. If your vessel is in survey the surveyor may have you pull the valves apart to demonstrate they are actually all bronze. Ball valves have the SS ball in a plastic bearing. I have a mixture of bronze gate valves and one plastic. The valves when replaced will be plastic.

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radar said..
I just replaced our skin fittings and sea cocks ,we used true design
they are made of fiberglass and are approved by loyds and survey
requirements for below waterline use ,made in new zealand, seemed
the best option for me, dont have to worry about electrolysis then
cheers ray
hey HG loved your battery terminals

Yes a little bit of improvisation those terminals were. I just had a look for those sea cocks it appears Road Tech Marine are distributors which will make it worth will having a look for me. there not far away thanks for the tip

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southace said..
Really Sands? I will be replacing it with a plastic chemical treated valve and pipeing!

yep..... ss ball inside a plastic sleave the body of the ball valve is bronze so ok with the skin fitting .


all good ...................


i wouldn't even consider using a gate valve they are crap for that use .

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SandS said..

southace said..
Really Sands? I will be replacing it with a plastic chemical treated valve and pipeing!

yep..... ss ball inside a plastic sleave the body of the ball valve is bronze so ok with the skin fitting .


all good ...................


i wouldn't even consider using a gate valve they are crap for that use .

Yes I am with you on that one SandS. They are actually ball cocks, not valves. One caveat is that they need to be worked regularly. If left shut for long periods, barnacles will grow on the ball and when opened the barnacles will tear the teflon sealing rings and then you will have a leaky cock.

A woman in Darwin gave me a leaky cock many years ago and the hospital didn't trust people to come back for their weekly injections so they gave me a massive 1000 milligrams of penicillin in each cheek. It damn well floored me and then I had to ride my motor bike home.

BOOM BOOM !!! Cisco

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cisco said..


Yes I am with you on that one SandS. They are actually ball cocks, not valves. One caveat is that they need to be worked regularly. If left shut for long periods, barnacles will grow on the ball and when opened the barnacles will tear the teflon sealing rings and then you will have a leaky cock.

A woman in Darwin gave me a leaky cock many years ago and the hospital didn't trust people to come back for their weekly injections so they gave me a massive 1000 milligrams of penicillin in each cheek. It damn well floored me and then I had to ride my motor bike home.

Thank you for sharing that heart warming tale Cisco, but would this not have been better over in the "Romance" thread of this site?

No LC, there was no romance in it at all. Pure lust.

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cisco said..

No LC, there was no romance in it at all. Pure lust.

Oh I understand, I have been in lust myself once or twice, but have not suffered your affliction.

I wasn't questioning if it was romance but rather it should have been maybe put into the "Romance" thread currently running which seems to be anything but romance related as you yourself will have noticed as you had posted there previously.

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cisco said..

No LC, there was no romance in it at all. Pure lust.

The N.T. must be good for afflictions when I was there I found some grabs some one said just use kerosene which I did straight out of the parts washer only thing it had Carbolene in it as a shandy got rather warm but highly recommend it

I guess it was a bit like a external curry

Yes, the romance thread is very lacking in romance at the moment, a bit like the life of the author