Boat Fix Problems? 7.26.10

Well – I have gotten too far behind to ever catch up. i had house / boat guests tue-friday of last week. Daryl and Michele Liston came down from DC to see the boat and visit. We had a wonderful time and even went sailing one day between rain showers.

photos of our trip to NASA, and Daryl wrapping line around Michele's arms while we did boat chores.

This past weekend I went up to Dallas for the 30^th reunion of SubT-16. We had about 40 old guys and played a round of golf Saturday at the Cowboys course in Grapevine.

OLD NEW

The boat has been giving me some fits of late. I have started trying to get through some chores and it’s been kinda kicking my butt around. Thursday night after sailing (first we find broken hose clamp on the overheating engine, leaking engine coolant. 90 minute sweaty fix delay.) with Daryl and Michele, and as we were preparing to go out for dinner the front AC pump died. (it committed suicide) i lifted the floorboards to check why i'm getting no cool. and it has exploded. the little 6"x4" pump is parts-blown-away down in the bilge.... read no AC for the front of the boat. (guests are in back with second AC) so, while i'm bent over with head below floor Daryl approaches me, "skip when you finish with that, the back toilet doesn't seem to work." (read: 'oh damn') "that's OK, i'll be there in a minute, let's use the front one till i can fix it." (im thinking hurry shower and run away before the damn thing sinks!) so we all shower and get ready for dinner. ('i'll just check the deck fitting as we leave') i try to see if there is "pressure" building in the line. (the evacuation line that "POO" gets drained from on deck) well i'm sure you are way ahead of me on this one... Poo sprays ~ 5" into the air and across the deck. a not so fresh feeling gets on my hands and about six feet of deck. (we spray it off with the water hose and run away to dinner) after dinner it's to bed with only one working toilet, one working AC, and me running out of town in the morning! (oh and i forgot, the Fridge-Freezer wont start Thur night after sailing.) Daryl and Michele are great sports about it; “part of the adventure” and “we are really getting to see how boat living is.” (I was embarrassed – why did it pick this weekend for everything to break?)

Now today Craig (my sailing buddy) and i spend the day installing NEW front Pump Motor for the AC, and NEW strainer/filter for the pump, so the AC will work. this is completed about 5:05pm.... ($320 total) cool air coming out. "now let's look at the POO line." (smart right? just before dinner again.) we have an 'air vent' hose that is supposed to relieve pressure off the POO tank. but it's obviously building pressure as evidenced by the geyser Thursday night. So we start by using my water hose spraying into the 'outside' fitting on the hull of the boat. (craig sits down below while i stand out on deck {where there is no AC} spraying the water hose down into the little hole) it amounts to me getting water blown all over me and the hole staying stopped up. we perform this little trick over and over, him below with muffled talk and me yelling across the marina. "IS THAT WORKING? CAN YOU HEAR THE WATER?" not a thing! next trick: remove the hose from the POO tank. (DANGER DANGER call in the Hazmat Unit) all this stuff sits directly under my bed. so the bed is moved, the drawers for my clothes are removed and we are staring at a 30 gallon nightmare about to unfold... very carefully we pull off the offending hose and sure enough - 'product' in the line. it's not too odiferous but not clean either. (holy crap batman - what now?) i figure out we need some tool to remove the crusty offensive blockage. so a coat hanger bent straight, with a patented POO extracting twirl in the end is fabricated... (details withheld) it works and we put the hose back on. a very scary project completed and the toilet works perfectly again. no spills, no mess. the Fridge/Freezer is OK after sitting all weekend. it had just gotten air in the line while out sailing.

so im sleepy again. almost 11pm and i've been at it since i woke up today. but the boats cool and the toilet works. there's nothing in it, but the fridge is cold. now i'll go have a very hot shower, brush my teeth and crawl into bed knowing that the evil POO tank beneath me is safe again!

hope your dreams are as thrilling. (but without the nightmare!)

see, being a lazy pirate has it's days! xoxo skip