Regular maintenance keeps your Blake's sea snipe in top condition. Ocean surveyor Ben Sutcliffe-Davies showed us how

I know that some shipowners repair their Blake Mariner in the water by pulling out cones and inserting plugs, but they are much braver than me. When leaving the water, the maintenance of sea chickens is much better and should become a regular part of winter maintenance.

Seacock consists of a skin sliding flange, a body and two holes-one for taper and one on the side for the hose tail. The cone that is open at the outer end has a hole opposite to the handle. When the handle is away from the end of the hose, the sea faucet is opened, and closed when it is rotated 180 degrees (not 90 degrees) next to it. The taper is fixed with a collar, which is screwed into the threaded casting by two bolts, each bolt is located below the collar. To disassemble it, loosen the lock nut, loosen the screw and remove the collar. The taper will be pulled straight out.

If the valve is stuck, it may be difficult to remove the tapered valve. You can try to take a small piece of pin as a drifter, push it up from the outside of the hull, and then tap it lightly with a hammer. In the worst case, some heat that is carefully applied to the valve can sometimes help.

After the valve is closed, remove all dirt and old grease, but do not use anything that may scratch the metal. Check the external and internal condition of the casting. If there are stainless steel fasteners, replace them with bronze fasteners.

At this point, the key to a good seal is to perfectly combine the surface and taper of the valve body. Reinstall the taper into the cast valve body and cut into the assembly with the taper in place. Blakes cutting paste is packed in a bucket, and the two ends are used for coarse and fine.

First apply a small amount of coarse paste, then refit the taper into the main body, and then turn, turn, turn. You will see that the paste sprayed out as the body is cast is black and becomes harder as the valve makes good contact. The most important part is the correct placement of the part above the hole.

Once you have rotated a few times and confirmed good contact with the surface, then clean and apply a fine paste and repeat the bench. Once it starts to tighten, then clean everything with a soft cloth and apply a spoonful of good if you can't get it, Blake Waterproof Valve Grease or Waterproof Pump Grease.

Before reinstalling, please make sure that the handle is correctly positioned and the pressure plate is installed correctly so that it is clear whether the valve is open or closed! Before reinstalling the bolts and locknuts, gently reinstall the valve and turn it again several times to ensure that the internal components are well covered. After restarting the spacecraft, check them, and if necessary, gently tighten the bolts to pull more wedges into the valve body, but do not over tighten them.

Your Blake Sea Sandpiper can be used for another year.

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