Getting a grip took a little help
Issue 112: Jan/Feb 2017
To comply with the spirit and rule of USCG regulations, we keep the seacock on the holding tank’s overboard discharge closed and disable it by removing the handle. When I need to operate the seacock, I retrieve the handle, which hangs on a short tether in the bilge, and slip it over the square shaft.
My wife, Marilyn, had difficulty holding the handle in place while applying enough effort to operate the stiff seacock. Rather than have her fiddle around with the original stainless-steel nut to attach the handle every time she needed to open or close the seacock, I made her a special tool.
I shaped a short length of 3⁄4-inch copper pipe around a 7⁄16-inch #20 brass nut, fitted the pipe into a 3⁄4-inch copper end cap, and sweated all the pieces together. The cobbled-together nut hangs on its own lanyard next to the handle. When Marilyn needs to operate the seacock, she can now easily secure the handle in place.
Glyn Judson and his wife, Marilyn, have sailed Santa Monica Bay and the Channel Islands together since 1982, for the last 20 years on their 1979 Ericson Independence 31, Dawn Treader, that they keep in Marina del Rey, California. They always sail with Glyn’s current guide dog in training.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
