Gary, Brenda, Nick & Jake Garner came to visit Kemah, Texas. they stayed at the Passport Hotel, right across the street from the Marina. (not enough room on-board to house everyone) It was lots of fun having them as guests in town. We played golf twice. Day One: Gary and I played while Brenda and the boys went to NASA. The second golf outing was '
Night Golf' at Beacon Hills. It's a
lighted 18 hole course. Our Tee Time was 6pm, meaning it was pitch black dark by 8:30. We played till 11:15pm and finished still thinking - this is crazy! (you really have to ease up on your swing when you can't see) SAILING: we went out on the boat twice. On the second trip, two storm fronts blew through with nice thick squall lines pushing rain and cool brisk winds. The winds kicked up nicely making the Garner clan
scream like little girls... During the almost hour long strong winds we 'snuck into' a Regatta that was taking place out in the bay. We 'sailed close to take photos' and then sort of got closer till we were in the race. (we didn't win) More screaming like little girls and lots of laughter. Another day we went down to Galveston to play at the beach. It was a nice visit and we all had fun.
I started
replacing the two float switches on my two bilge pumps after the Garners left. For this you have to get down into the engine room, imagine an area in the bottom of the boat that's impossible to reach. So you are down on your knees in the door to the engine room, lean way out over the diesel engine and look down into the bilge about 3 feet down below you in the murky dark oily bilge. not a favorite job of mine. (the first thing i did was drop my screw driver down into the bilge) The bilge pump is a small plastic pump about 4" circle x 5" tall. The Bilge pumps 2000 gallons of water per hour. it turns on when the FLOAT SWITCH is raised by high water in the bilge. (unless your two old switches are worn out) I found water in the bilge on Monday before the Garners arrived. (i was double checking the hose clamps on the new AC water pump) Up in the front of the boat i found a few inches of water... so in the back of the boat - there was a
lot of water! down in the bilge it had risen almost up to the motor. (
FREAK OUT) I used the manual switch up on deck to drain the bilge and confirm both my float switches were worn out. Both pumps are good, but the float switches are bad. $24.95 and some sweat will fix this.
(
leaning way out i can barely reach the top of the stick)
Jump forward. I can only work on the switches for about an hour tops before my back locks up. On my knees, leaning out as far as i can, twisted sideways, all my weight on my left elbow while i reach out doing everything with my right hand stretched as far as i can reach. (like trying to grab an apple on a limb at your fingertips) i work till my back locks up then get up and stretch.
This is a work in progress. One float switch is installed and working perfectly. now i will tackle the second one. Oh, i forgot to mention. the old owner, or mechanic, installed 3' long sticks to attach to a thin plastic plate so you can disconnect the stick and pull up the pump and switch to work on it. Except the first stick i disconnected isn't attached to the plastic plate anymore. I'm holding the stick and the pump is sloshing around on the plate almost four feet below me. The second stick is attached, but is so far up under a panel that you have to remove the bolt blind reaching WAY WAY out. (this is when your back locks up)
One down, one to go.
gotta go stretch my back. -
Pirate Skip
