• Untitled Document

    Join us on March 29rd, 7pm EST

    for the CBEC Virtual Meeting

    All EYO members and followers are welcome to join the fun and get to know the guest speaker!

    See the link below for login credentials and join us!

    March Meeting Info

    (dismiss this notice by hitting 'X', upper right)

Forespar Marelon replacement for RC Marine ball valve on E34 (main sink drain)

GrandpaSteve

Sustaining Member
On my 1987 E32-III it is 1.25" https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1&id=4210139

I replaced it because of a broken handle on the valve.

Note - this is a ball valve connected to a through hull, as is in the illustration you linked to, which is not the recommended configuration. The recommended configuration is a flanged through-hull connection bolted to a backing plate that is bonded to the hull. Just saying that before anyone else does.

That being said, the factory configuration works for me.
 
Last edited:

markvone

Sustaining Member
Brooke,

My 1981 E36RH has a 1 1/4 thru hull and 1 1/4 ball valve (MF 850, Forespar P/N 905103)) for the 1 1/2 inch hose for the galley sink drain. I broke the handle trying to close the valve and had to wait several years until my haul out in 2015 to replace it. All my 1 1/2 inch hoses (sanitary, manual bilge pump, galley sink drain and engine exhaust) use the 1 1/4 TH and 1 1/4 valve setup. Double check your hose size and ball valve size. There may have been change in the years in between your boat and mine. You can measure the ball valve and compare to the Forespar MF 850 dimensions but the 1 1/2 and 1 1/4 inch ball valves are REALLY close in size. The 93 series came much later and is a nice substitute for a two-piece seacock if you need/want one.

I chose to keep all six of my below waterline ball valve on thru hull setups instead of converting to the 93 series or "real" seacocks (Marelon or bronze) because each of my thru hulls is located in a dedicated small space protected from damage. I DON'T store my spare 40 pound alternator (or ANYTHING else) in any of these spaces.

Mark
 
Last edited:

Brookelise

Member II
Replacing ball valve for galley sink drain

Thank you, GrandpaSteve. The handle broke on the valve on our boat, too.

So the size is 1 1/4 inches? The old ball valve seems to say 25 mm on it.

On my 1987 E32-III it is 1.25" https://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1&id=4210139

I replaced it because of a broken handle on the valve.

Note - this is a ball valve connected to a through hull, as is in the illustration you linked to, which is not the recommended configuration. The recommended configuration is a flanged through-hull connection bolted to a backing plate that is bonded to the hull. Just saying that before anyone else does.

That being said, the factory configuration works for me.
 

Brookelise

Member II
Replacing ball valve for galley sink drain

Thank you, Mark.

Brooke,

My 1981 E36RH has a 1 1/4 thru hull and 1 1/4 ball valve (MF 850, Forespar P/N 905103)) for the 1 1/2 inch hose for the galley sink drain. I broke the handle trying to close the valve and had to wait several years until my haul out in 2015 to replace it. All my 1 1/2 inch hoses (sanitary, manual bilge pump, galley sink drain and engine exhaust) use the 1 1/4 TH and 1 1/4 valve setup. Double check your hose size and ball valve size. There may have been change in the years in between your boat and mine. You can measure the ball valve and compare to the Forespar MF 850 dimensions but the 1 1/2 and 1 1/4 inch ball valves are REALLY close in size. The 93 series came much later and is a nice substitute for a two-piece seacock if you need/want one.

I chose to keep all six of my below waterline ball valve on thru hull setups instead of converting to the 93 series or "real" seacocks (Marelon or bronze) because each of my thru hulls is located in a dedicated small space protected from damage. I DON'T store my spare 40 pound alternator (or ANYTHING else) in any of these spaces.

Mark
 

GrandpaSteve

Sustaining Member
Thank you, GrandpaSteve. The handle broke on the valve on our boat, too.

So the size is 1 1/4 inches? The old ball valve seems to say 25 mm on it.

Mine is 1.25 inches, but if yours says 25mm on it, I would call Forespar. Mine was marked in inches when I took it off, not marked in millimeters.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Metric and Marelon and Valves, oh my

Mine is 1.25 inches, but if yours says 25mm on it, I would call Forespar. Mine was marked in inches when I took it off, not marked in millimeters.

History trivia... All of these composite valves and fittings were originally from RC Marine in Australia. Company was bought by Forespar in the late 80's or early 90's.
After that they continued on with the the original tooling like the original ones in your boat, but by the early 90's developed a new design which is still in production. I am not sure about the sizing ID.
When I removed all of the original EY-installed valves screwed onto thru hulls, I replaced with the then-new series 93 (aka "OEM valves"). All of ours are, since then, true sea cocks. That means that the valve body is directly bolted to the backing place or clamped on by the outer threaded piece.
I recall that our original ones were stamped with the Australian label.

In our case, the new inner valve body and outer piece were screwed together with epoxy mush on both sides and after curing the outer flange was ground off.
Perhaps this makes our boat .003 nano knots faster. Perhaps. :)

One thing that (AFAIK) has not changed yet is the slight hydroscopic nature of the ball material. i.e. it expands slightly with water. This is the reason it gets more difficult to turn as the years go by. Forespar sells a proprietary lubricant for this, but we have not tried it.

This one drawback is inconvenient, but to me the alternative of electrolysis rapidly destroying a bronze thru hull is just as bad or worse.
"Everything's a compromise" .... everywhere in life.
 
Last edited:
Top