I took time on Friday, the 24th of October, to focus on the installation of Biscuit's seacocks. Going forward, these two seacocks would be the only valved opening in Biscuit's hull. I had removed the port side head intake, glassed it in and painted over as if it was never there. The starboard discharge thru hull had been removed sometime prior to coming to the Milbs Mobile Marine shop. At the conclusion of Biscuit's restoration, she will have three hull penetrations: the two cockpit drain seacocks and one thru hull mounted above the waterline for the bilge discharge. But today was for the seacock installations.

In previous work, I removed the old, unsupported ball-gate valves and thru-hulls, ground out tapers for closing in (glassing in) the holes, glassed in the holes, fabricated and epoxied backing plates, and drilled out fastener and thru hull holes. Most of the prep has been done for the installation, though some additional prep remained on the interior. Since painting the interior pan and backing plates, I needed to lightly clear out the 5/16" machine screw holes and did so by running a drill bit through them. I then placed a screw into one of the three holes and secured it with tape. I then climbed into the cabin and placed the seacock into its final position and over that one screw shank. Using that one screw as an index, I placed a second screw into on of the two remaining screw holes, essentially locking the seacock into position. I then taped of the perimeter of the seacock's base - a step to define where I needed to sand for a great mechanical bond between the seacock and its backing plate, but also to aide in clean up of the squeeze out caulk.

Having defined the tape lines, I removed the seacock and set it to the side. I stepped back out of the cabin to remove the one fastener secured on the outside by the tape, and then set that fastener to the side. I climbed back into Biscuit's cabin to begin sanding the starboard seacock backing plate. With 80-grit paper and a firm hand, I scuffed up the paint applied a couple months back. I then used a tapering drill bit to ream out a taper around the top edge of each of the three fastener holes - this would allow for a pocket of caulk to be pushed into and create essentially an o-ring between exterior and interior. I vacuumed all detritus up and wiped thoroughly with acetone. I stepped back outside Biscuit to grab the 5/16" nuts and locking washers, and then brought them back up into the cabin to position them for use. I also walked back to the shop to grab a large flat head screwdriver and three locking pliers (my extra set of hands on the installation). Back at Biscuit, I wiped the exterior countersunk fastener holes with acetone and then prepared the caulk tube (using BoatLife Life Calk for the seacock and thru hull installations).

I applied the BoatLife to the shank of one of the 5/16" machine screws, inserted it into the hole and secured it with tape over the squeeze out caulk. I repeated this process for a second screw. Stepping into Biscuit's cabin, I applied more BoatLife caulk to the baseplate, ensuring a good amount around the screw shanks as well as the field. I then shimmied the starboard seacock over the two protruding screw shanks, headed back out under the hull and inserted the third fastener into position. Back up in the cabin, I slipped the locking washers in place and then threaded the nuts to hand-tight. I brought in my assistant and locked the three pliers onto the three nuts, and then stepped back onto the floor to secure the machine screws. I removed the tape helping to keep the fasteners in place and then with the largest flat head screwdriver I had, I cranked down on the machine screws. The locking pliers mounted on the inside were preventing the nuts from spinning while turning the screw head from the exterior. I turned the screws until I reached my physical limit, and then with rags and acetone cleaned up the squeeze out on the surface of Biscuit's bottom. I stepped back up into Biscuit's cabin and carefully removed the pliers and cleaned the tape and caulk squeeze out from around the base of the starboard seacock. Quite a process and a lot of up and down the ladder, but really good to have these mounted, as I repeated the process for the port side seacock. The skin fittings, or thru hulls, will be screwed in next.

Total Hrs: 3