Marelon Valves

[hawg]

While on a recent outing on my 2003 2300DV, the number 1 livewell pump became clogged. In order to clear it, I closed the Marelon ball valve to which it is attached and removed the pump motor from it's housing. When I did this, sea water began pouring in through the "closed" ball valve. I cleared the pump impeller, reattached it, opened the ball valve and continued fishing. When I returned home, I removed and inspected the ball valve. With the handle in the "closed" position, the actual ball itself is only 3/4 closed. It appears that the shaft attached to the top of the ball has  twisted away from it's proper orientation preventing the handle from fully closing or opening the valve. I believe I may have caused the problem when I replaced the bait pumps last year. I found that if I tightened the pump securely into the ball valve, the ball itself becomes jammed in it's housing. At that point, it takes an excessive amount of force to cycle the valve and quite possibly causes the shaft to twist out of place. This can be remedied by using a large buildup of teflon tape on the pipe threads of the new livewell pump so that it will screw in tightly without "bottoming out" against the ball valve housing. At any rate, I'll be replacing the Marelon ball valves with Groco stainless in the very near future.

[Moderator]

The Marelon valves were popular in their day.. You are smart to replace them at the first sign of trouble.

M-1

[smilemaker]

Do not  use stainless valves

Use a quality brass/bronze fitting

It will be a far better replacement

[Miss Jazzy]

Yes what smilemaker said. Those plastic valves are junk and I can't believe yours have lasted this long. Usually the t-handle breaks and you can't cut them off without vise grips. 

[fin-addict]

18 hours ago, Miss Jazzy said:

Yes what smilemaker said. Those plastic valves are junk and I can't believe yours have lasted this long. Usually the t-handle breaks and you can't cut them off without vise grips. 

x2, mine lasted 13 years. was the only problem when I bought boat, don't think they were ever used. was the first thing done after buying boat. use brass or bronze

[mulligan]

Just curious, why not stainless? 

[hurricane]

I think stainless is fine for our type of boats. Bronze is the best choice, however its pretty pricey. Bronze is great for boats that spend their life in the water, but trailer boats are fine with stainless. Just my thoughts. 

I believe they make a lubricant just for the Marlon valves, but even with that they still are not the best valve. Replacing them is a good choice.

[hawg]

Can you tell my why bronze ball valves are superior to stainless steel? Since a Groco bronze is only half the cost of a Groco stainless, I'd be happy to go with them if they are actually better. Thanks.

[Bamaskeet]

9 hours ago, hurricane said:

I think stainless is fine for our type of boats. Bronze is the best choice, however its pretty pricey. Bronze is great for boats that spend their life in the water, but trailer boats are fine with stainless. Just my thoughts. 

I believe they make a lubricant just for the Marlon valves, but even with that they still are not the best valve. Replacing them is a good choice.

I agree, I had problems with the Marlon valves, replaced them with 3/4" stainless ball valves over ten years ago with no problems.

[fishmanjj]

The stainless valves contain a small percent of carbon steel to achieve the desired hardness.....stainless comes in various grades, based on the % of carbon steel it has, all except marine grade will get a slight rust on them in the salt water ( just like stainless hardware, screws , etc will leech out some rust stains ) anyway, if they get rust on the actual ball mechanism , they can be very stiff or tight to open or close. It's a personal preference.....I have all brass in my 2009 and it's never had a problem.

Which ever way you go.....get the hard plastic type out of boat before they break. 

[hawg]

Thanks guys.