Clean and Lube the Washdown Seacock

Last year the handle on the anchor washdown seacock stopped working.  The handle would turn fine but the ball valve barely moved.  Apparently the ball valve had gotten so stiff that the square slot in the handle was turning into a round hole.

Several owners have reported metal failures on their seacock handle shafts.   Could this explain Nellie's problem?

Removing the seacock was easy.  A pipe wrench and very little torque did the job.  I was surprised to see that there wasn't any caulk between the seacock and hull.   Nor did there appear to be any sealant on the threads mating the seacock to the thruhull.  However, since the valve didn't leak, the lack of caulk and sealant clearly wasn't an issue.

After removing the top of the seacock it was obvious why flow through it had been restricted.

Mussels, one fairly big, had taken up lodging.  The valve was submerged in phosphoric acid for an hour to clean it.  Working the ball and applying some Vaseline eased the stiffness, but the ball still only moved about 95% of its full travel.  Tomorrow I'll remove the stem packing and see if that improves things.