Hi All,
I know theres alot of experience in here so here it goes: I have a 1984 commander 360. I have to service my sea strainers/seacocks as they are nearly froze up. They are Groco svs1250 strainer shutoff combos. I talked with Groco yesterday and they informed me this model went out of production in 1987 and parts are no longer available. He said to take them apart and clean them and lube them wich is no problem,but... if the plug/rubber is ng then im sol. My question is what am i in for if i have to replace these units. They are the oem ones and have never been replaced. I can handle most body and mechanical aspects as i am a 26 year truck mechanic. I would just like to know of any surprises I may encounter and would i use grocos again or another brand?
Thank You Very Much,
Dan
Buck Algonquin has these, on page 15 or 16 of their PDF catalog. It's about a thousand pages of good stuff, and it takes a while to download. I think it probably costs about the same as the Groco shown here, which is a $300 piece of hardware.
Dan,
I will be installing the Groco SA 1250 strainers in my 1967 31' FSA. I removed them from the parts boat and am presently getting ready to install them. All the rubber gaskets were old, hardened and probably wouldn't seal so I am replacing them. I was able to find the strainer kits from Marine Parts.com. The part numbers are GROSA2. These strainers do not have the seacocks included, but the gaskets may be the same. Here's a photo of the SA 1250 strainers.
Another rigger had installed the galvanized street ells, which may be ok in fresh water, but the hose barbs are some kind of poly...? that looks like it was whittled down to fit the engine water intake hose. These are coming out and I have 4 - 1 1/4" bronze elbows on the way with the strainer kits.
You may find parts for yours in one of the marine parts sources. I'll post a note when I get the parts and find out how they look and fit.
Mike
The strainer repair kits came in last week along with some other thru hulls and valves. They look good and should fix things up. I dissassembled one strainer and here's the photo with the rebuild kit. All it consists of are the two sight glass gaskets, one for the removable top cover and a plastic washer for the wing nut. The instructions said that the threaded rods and nuts are only to hold the strainer assembly together during installation. The sealing is accomplished by tightening the wing nut on top. In fact, it said not to over tighten the small nuts or part of the strainer could be damaged. Here's the exploded view and the kit.
One thing the instructions didn't discuss was the mounting. Should a strainer be mounted above or below the water line? Another question regarding the backing block for thru hull fittings. What kind of wood, what backing block dimension and thickness should be used compared to fitting size?
I removed every thru hull from this boat before painting and the old blocks appeared to be plywood. It was for sure a laminated section. That doesn't seem good for that application. I used a piece of mahogany that was about 1 7/8" thick on the rudders and am satisfied with that.
I was thinking of cutting backing blocks out of a cypress board that I have (the valve's sitting on it). Here's a photo of the proposed intake assembly, just missing a hull and backing block. The seacock directions mentioned installing in accordance with ABYC Project H-27. Anybody know about that?
Thanks for suggestions and comments.
Mike
I would use mahogany, saturated with a 50/50 mix of varnish and thinner and then sealed up with bilge paint or another coat of varnish. Bed it in with polysulfide or 5200, then paint it with bilge paint. Bed in the through hull portion, use stainless steel fasteners, paint it again.
I had to laugh, a guy in our marina had a shop give him some help, and they installed the scoop pointing backwards.
The fact that you have a threaded pipe actually penetrating the hull, is where you get the strength. The screws don't really do much. Install your bottom scoop first, and then screw down the stopcock with hopes that the handle will stop rotating where it can actually be used without conflict with something else.
The OEM strainers on my 1964 38 are below the water line. Not sure if this conforms with modern day thinking or not. They are different than what you show in your photos, they are stacked on top of the stopcock.
I don't like the strainer and seacock combinations because mine are tricky to get to and the levers are weak looking (and stuck). Therefore I am considering putting in a nice hefty overkill seacock with ball valve, and using a remote strainer halfway to the motor where they can be more easily inspected and cleaned. Anyone got a new or better idea to the old standard?
I have a similar unit to the one above... I can crack the top wing nut and allow water into the stainer nearly to the top. After running the boat for a while, the water level goes down to where the water is coming in and going straight to the pump (the water level in the strainer is non-existant). Is this normal operation? The strainer on the other side always has about three inches of water in it...
Thanks,
freddie
Does nayone have any comments on this, please? It appears as though the pump is trying to "suck" more water that the thru-hull will allow into the strainer. But, the motor does not run hot, and the boat has been out recently for inspection, and the thru-hull appeared clear of obstructions. Any comments are greatly appreciated!
freddie
If so and you have plenty of water coming out of your exhaust and your temp guages are showing under 175 when underway then I would think everything is fine.
My strainers however are always 100% full of water when stationary though I have not inspected them while underway.
If your strainer has an air bubble in it while the motor is running or not, it would appear to be that you have a small air hole in the line somewhere. The hole is small enough that when you fire up the motor the sea water pump will overcome the air hole and suck water and all appears well, but SOMEWHERE in your system, even at the pump perhaps, I'll bet you have a fitting that needs to be tightened up a bit.
It may also be you have an air bubble that is captured, and it needs to be vented. See if you can momentarily open a hose higher up on the system to vent that air bubble out, and then see if it comes back.
