Do you close your seacock?

RalphD

RalphD

Member
Mar 4, 2021
39
Wenham Massachusetts
Boat Info
2006 52’ Sedan Bridge
Engines
MAN
I'm wondering how many folks close their seacocks each time they leave their boat. I have seen many posts arguing the pros and cons of both closing and leaving them open with the two biggest concerns at either end of the spectrum being:

1) A hose, clamp or strainer failure could sink your boat.
and
2) If you forget to open them you could damage the engine, etc.

Both are true, but from a practical standpoint I am curious as to what most of you do.

Thanks in advance-
 
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They need to be exercised and we did that but always left them open. If you do your maintenance and pay attention to what is going on in the bilge, you do not have the failures you mentioned. Many folks do not replace hoses on any kind of schedule. If you buy a new boat and keep it for longer than 12-15 years, you really need to watch for potential failures and do PM to prevent sinkings due to hoses and clamp issues. That does not get you off the hook for keeping an eye on new equipment, as those can fail too. Buyers of used boats need to be particularly vigilant.
 
Leave them open.

I can tell you from personal experience is no fun to overheat your engine with 20 people on board, get towed, replace the shredded impeller, and disassemble an aftercooler to remove all the impeller bits because you forgot to open the seacock.
 
When i had boat with a/c, never. This only has one for macerator, so closed. Depends on needs. I did recently read an article in Chesapeake Bay mag said most boats sink at the slip and number one fail is open seacocks. And dont yell at me, yell at the author.
 
I leave mine open. My AC is left on in the humid summer when I am away (on a dehumidify setting) so that seacock needs to stay open. I understand the risk that an AC water line can leak/burst. IMO an engine cooling hose is more likely to fail while running the boat as when it is sitting in a slip. I like to think my boat is well maintained and the risk is low. I also have agreed value insurance (which in this market may not be as great as it sounds)
 
Creekwood said:
I leave mine open. My AC is left on in the humid summer when I am away (on a dehumidify setting) so that seacock needs to stay open. I understand the risk that an AC water line can leak/burst. IMO an engine cooling hose is more likely to fail while running the boat as when it is sitting in a slip. I like to think my boat is well maintained and the risk is low. I also have agreed value insurance (which in this market may not be as great as it sounds)
Click to expand...
Thanks for a reminder Creek, i set ageed value at price i paid a year ago but after putting $5k in it i need call and increase.
 
I leave mine open but I have a camera in the bilge I check occasionally.
 
@Strecker25 what kind of camera do you have in the bilge? I have a couple of Wyze onboard with a hot spot.

On the seacocks, I leave them open. Engines are in the engine room, a/c and gen are in the aft cabin. My boats an '07 and it was scary how cracked the hoses were when I replaced them last year. They looked cracked in the boat - but once out it was scary! Very easy and inexpensive to do...
 
I leave mine open as it is one less thing to remember to close and then open again I have a Siren Marine monitoring system and it monitors all 4 bilge pumps so I will know if they start pumping. Each one is 1500GPH so that should keep up with any of the thru hulls failing.
 
firecadet613 said:
@Strecker25 what kind of camera do you have in the bilge? I have a couple of Wyze onboard with a hot spot.

On the seacocks, I leave them open. Engines are in the engine room, a/c and gen are in the aft cabin. My boats an '07 and it was scary how cracked the hoses were when I replaced them last year. They looked cracked in the boat - but once out it was scary! Very easy and inexpensive to do...
Click to expand...

Same! Just a basic Wyze cam. I put a dc powered USB port down there and pull power that way. For how cheap they are I like them
 
I flush my engines out with fresh water every time I use the boat, so I typically leave them closed, but have two laminated card that reads “seacocks closed.” One sits at the Helm and one sits in the panel to serve as a reminder. The AC and Gen stay open.
 
Mine are open all 4 of them. When I was forced to stay home after the heart attack I had a friend go close them.

I do recommend at least once a month checking them. I close them to clean strainers anyway. Once a year they get lubricant just before winterization.
 
Open here too. We have 2 pumps in the engine bay. Think they are 1000 GPH each then we have another in the mid cabin bilge that is at least 500 GPH. Barring a hose coming completely off I 'think' the pumps could keep up and we are always plugged into shore power so shouldn't drain the batteries. But other than that it is insured
 
b_arrington said:
Leave them open.

I can tell you from personal experience is no fun to overheat your engine with 20 people on board, get towed, replace the shredded impeller, and disassemble an aftercooler to remove all the impeller bits because you forgot to open the seacock.
Click to expand...

WOW, that's a lot of people to have on board. Could come in handy though if you had to do a bucket brigade. :)
 
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