You know, I am actually not doing this job myself.
I have no trailer and no lomng term parking space, and time is of the essence. I will finish the head portion for the job once I am back in the water, and that will mean messing with the white hose. Therefore, I posted the question that began this thread.
I originally began to do what I thought would be the modest job of replacing some hoses, but I ran into a problem with one-and-one-half inch fiberglass cockpit drain pipes, two one-and-one-eighth-inch rubber plug Grocco sea cocks, and one frozen head tapered bronze plug outflow seacock.
A previous owner had installed on and one eighth inch un-reinforced clear plastic line on the cockpit and sink lines, which he stretched to fit on a one an one quarter inch "T" and the one and one half glass cockpit drain pipe. After fooling with this for a few days, I decided to consult with the yard in which my boat is captive.
I am hauled out and paying for yard parking space. The longer I stay the higher the daily rate goes. I am rushing to get to back to the water, so that I can drop the mast and start accident repair to my mast and deck.
While I am hauled, I had hoped to change a few hoses, but I discovered (in the opinion of the yard) that I needed new through-hulls and valves. So this was the hose project that began with a surveyor's recommendation, then moved to a bewlidered owner, whjo sought a yard consultation, and finally contracted for replacement of through hulls and valves by said yard: And alll because of a sticky problem in which I could not locate suitable parts and I needed some advice.
Unfortunately, my littel hose project became an expensive complete plumbing rehabilitation project inclusive of through hulls. When I began this thread by posted my question on that white hose, it was because we were having some problems with the stuff. The silicon grease thing is certainly worth trying. MY Yard folks use the hot water trick. I still have to plumb the rest of my head system, but I wanted the through hulls and valves connected before I launched. Thanks to my yard folks, they are now connected, but I am amazed at how difficult the process of working with the white hose appeared to be.
I also had some original tapered plug seacocks with no backing blocks on the head, one of which was frozen. I endeavored to free the valve, but failed. I failed mostly in that I failed to recall that Dan Spurr's "Boat Book" (in which he described his Triton rehabilitation in detail) has a spiffy protocol for freeing stuck tapered plug seacocks that involves a wooden hammer.
Even when I brought my errant seacock home and put it into a vise, a wooden hammer did not work, but a solid swack with a steel hammer loosened the tapered plug and the valve is actually in good shape, even though after being frozen closed for what was probably at least ten years. The seacock was still full of seawater. Of course it was. Where would the water go? If I can ever get the severed shaft of the through-hull out of it, it would be reusable.
My surveyor originally recommended pulling the seacock, cleaning it up and seeing if it was still good, but the seacock wasn't backed by a backing plate, so I asked the yard to loan me an expert, and they did. My local yard recommended that I replace the valves and through hulls, and that's where this project became expensive.
The yard apparently uses two types of hose for non-engine related sailboat hoses.
1. That white stuff. The installation of this white stuff became problematic. But it is now installed for the cockpit drains and head.
2. The clear black spiral reinforced hose sold as "bilge pump" line by West Marine. This connects the sink to a "T" in the port cockpit drain line.
The next task will be for me to install the white lines to the holding tank and through deck pump out.
So what's wrong with the white stuff for the cockpit drains besides the difficulty of installation? The cockpit drains and sink are non- pressurized. The white stuff is reinforced santitation hose. Is their vulnerability in having this stuff on the cockpit drains or sink?
How about that black spiraled bilge pump hose on the sink?
By the way, I found it interesting that the head seacocks, which I assume were original equipment, were not mounted to backing plates, but they had enlarged bronze bases. They were bedded solely with silicon?
My cockpit drain sea cocks were more recent, I think. They were bedded in some hardened cream-colored goop, and also some silicon. I am not a silicon expert, but bedding through hulls below the water line doesn't seem like a terribly good place to use it.
On the other hand forty years with no leaks is a pretty good run!
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