Pearson 30 questions...any answers?

[rockhopper]

1. My Pearson 30 has a black plug on the port side of the cockpit, it appears to have 2 pins and has the brand name Guest on it. What is this for?

2. On the starboard side of the cockpit closer to the tiller there is an aluminum screw plug a little smaller than a cigarette lighter. Does anyone know what this is? I haven't been able to unscrew the cap off it to see what's under it.

3. How are the seacocks supposed to work? There seems to be a handle on one side and a twisting side. I can spin the twisting side loose but the handle with the rubber on it don't seem to move.

4. What brand of gauges did Pearson use on the engine? My temp. sensor for my Atomic 4 appears to be pressure operated, the sender is old and the fitting is corroded from my old enine, Ken with Moyer Marine said he hadn't seen a pressure operated temp that he could remember. The gauge reads Sunpro.

[romantic comedy]

Rock, pictures would be quite helpful.

[Marty Levenson]

Probably...

1. Guest makes battery chargers. Shore power in, trickle charge to batteries out. Follow the wires and check with a meter when power hooked up.

2. Sounds like the electric plug for the auto helm.

3. The ball valve handle is likely frozen. Penetrating oil, time, and repeated medium force wiggling might work it loose. Replace the whole valve next haulout.

4. Sound like you need a new sender and probably a new gauge.

[rockhopper]

Rock, pictures would be quite helpful.

Yeah, sorry I forgot to grab pictures. I just wasn't sure if it was a factory installed option.

1. Guest makes battery chargers. Shore power in, trickle charge to batteries out. Follow the wires and check with a meter when power hooked up.

2. Sounds like the electric plug for the auto helm.

3. The ball valve handle is likely frozen. Penetrating oil, time, and repeated medium force wiggling might work it loose. Replace the whole valve next haulout.

4. Sound like you need a new sender and probably a new gauge.

2. Was the auto helm a factory option? I'm pretty sure whatever plugged in is no longer on the boat.
3. It is on the hard right now so...What did the factory valves look like? What I've got on the 2 valves appear to be closer to a "Tapered Cone Seacock" like seen here http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/t..._cone_seacocks The raw water connection for the engine cooling is nothing other than a water hose connection like on my house. What is a better option for this? A marine grade ball valve?
4. I was guessing I might have to get a new sender or a new gauge to match the sender from the replacement motor. Is it possible to match gauges to the sender without knowing the make of the gauge?

[sastanley]

Rock
#3 - I think Groco used to make a seacock with a handle on one side and a wing nut of sorts on the other..If I remember, you spin the handle 90° and then locked the rubber inside shut with the nut on the other side to close the water flow. Great stuff back in the 70's, but junk now. I had a couple of these and the rubber inside broke free of the handle..I ripped them out and went to Marelon seacocks and have never looked back.

[rockhopper]

Rock
#3 - I think Groco used to make a seacock with a handle on one side and a wing nut of sorts on the other..If I remember, you spin the handle 90° and then locked the rubber inside shut with the nut on the other side to close the water flow. Great stuff back in the 70's, but junk now. I had a couple of these and the rubber inside broke free of the handle..I ripped them out and went to Marelon seacocks and have never looked back.

Right you were, it's a Groco SV750. Just got one of them to move, will dismantle it to check it's condition. What did the Marelon seacock cost and how was installation?

[Tim]

I also went with the Marelon seacock for the engine raw water. It was about $50 from Defender. You will also need a Marelon thru hull to go with it. The raw water inlet on my boat is 1/2 inch, Marelon was the only seacock I could find for 1/2 inch thru hulls.

[rockhopper]

How would the Marelon thruhull fitting work with the raw water scoop?

Installing my FWC kit on my new to me Atomic 4 now.

[Tim]

Here are all the parts I used for my raw water inlet. The valve, thru hull and tail piece are all 1/2 inch NPS. The strainer is optional, there are differing opinions on the need for the strainer on a sailboat. If you install the strainer, make sure the strainer portion faces aft, you don't want to scoop water when the engine is off. I also epoxied a fiberglass backing plate to the hull between the hull and the seacock. Secure the seacock to the hull with 1/4-20 stainless or bronze bolts. Good instructions for replacing a seacock can be found at:

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/replacing_thruhulls

[rockhopper]

Kind of nervous about drilling anything into the hull. I seen on that site there were some options for now drilling into the hull. What's your thoughts?

[Tim]

I went ahead and drilled thru the hull, counter sunk the holes for the bolt heads and faired over them with thickened epoxy. I also used 4200 sealant around the threads and bolt heads. There is no chance they are going to leak.

[rockhopper]

The two thruhulls appear to be in good shape for their age, finally loosened the nut up more and the valve turned. So for the time being I think I'm leaving them alone.

Does anyone have any photos of how the P-30 exhaust system was setup?

[JOHN COOKSON]

If you open and close the through hull valves every once in a while they will not "freeze" or corrode in one position.

TRUE GRIT

[ndutton]

If you open and close the through hull valves every once in a while they will not "freeze" or corrode in one position.

TRUE GRIT

. . . . aka exercising the valves.

[tac]

Pearson 30 Hot Exhaust

Here's a photo of my original exhaust, consisting (under the lagging) of a 1-1/4" x 1-1/2" reducer, two 1-1/2" els, some short 1-1/2" nipples sized to fit, and a 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" x 1/2" reducing tee for a mixing fitting, and a short piece of 1-1/2" exhaust hose to the waterlift muffler. Sea water (both raw water and FW cooled engine) was injected via a perforated cooper spray tube downward into the 1/2" port of the tee. Except for this tube, all parts were threaded steel pipe, which should be available from any good local plumbing supply.