Info Diving and Seamanship

[Akimbo]

1st one: anyone who doesn't check every seacock before going offshore (and in reality every season) isn't anyone who you want to get on a boat with. ever.

Not sure I understand. Most seacocks stay open for water intakes and overboards to operate. Are you saying that seacocks should be periodically cycled?

its also incredibly rare for marleon thru hulls to "get brittle and break off".

Agreed, the most frequent problem I have seen is the hose between the seacock leaks or splits. I have seen a problem where something gets lodged into the valve (seacock) causing so it leaks or can't close. In that case, it is really handy to have some wooden plugs that can be jammed into the seacock hull penetration so you can fix the valve.

 

[TuckerIdaho]

Not sure I understand. Most seacocks stay open for water intakes and overboards to operate. Are you saying that seacocks should be periodically cycled?

They most certainly should be cycled and in some cases lubed depending on the seacock. Some will stay closed unless they're being used such as for water makers, raw water washdowns, etc.

 

[Akimbo]

They most certainly should be cycled and in some cases lubed depending on the seacock.

I couldn't agree more, I just wasn't sure if that was you point or you were heading on a different bearing.

 

[Bob DBF]

The most dramatic example I can think of is Honda Point disaster where seven US Navy destroyers ran aground almost 100 years ago. It's hard to believe for people who never knew what the world was like before Radar, GPS, and ATIS.

Tragedy at Honda
Book by Charles A. Lockwood. 1960. Reprinted by Naval Instifute Press 2004, or can be had as a $0.99 ebook.

I gave my original to a destroyer buddy.

 

[Akimbo]

Tragedy at Honda
Book by Charles A. Lockwood. 1960. Reprinted by Naval Instifute Press 2004, or can be had as a $0.99 ebook.

I gave my original to a destroyer buddy.

I read that last year along with:
Destroyers On The Rocks: Seven Ships Lost
by Spencer Duckworth

If you only read one, Tragedy at Honda would be my recommendation. An interesting piece of trivia is that Admiral Hyman G. Rickover was aboard one of the Clemson-class destroyers in the squadron that didn't run aground. He was an ensign right out of the Academy and joined the USS La Vallette (DD-315) a few months before the Honda Point disaster.

 

[lairdb]

Point to Port, Returning.

Point to port to (the) port.