A Cold Rainy Sunday for boat chores

I had plans (for some months) to repair the broken Macerator and then it rained forcing me to stay aboard all day Sunday.  All my excuses and distractions were ruined.  Roll up your sleeves and get busy.  I know, you are thinking what is a Macerator?

Macerator Pumps are designed to empty your holding tanks when fitted onto the plumbing in boats. The function of the pump is to suction the solids and liquids from the lines connected to the holding tanks and grind the effluent with the rotating cutter head down to a small particle size for simple discharge of the waste. Eliminating gravity as a method to empty the tanks allows the user to lift the waste to a convenient receptacle either above or below the pump elevation. 

MY ACTUAL forward head hose *see macerator bottom right.

Installation guy circa 2008

My Original plans 2008.

I dont have any photos of me laying in the aft cabin floor with my arms stretched up under the cabinets trying to reach the aft macerator.  No video of me pulling, pushing, yanking, cussing the rigid 1 1/2" hose trying to pull it free. (the odor is not something i will even address here. Just envision a 25 gallon tank up under your bed full of 'stuff' and then you pull off the hose.)  I got through the entire day without any spills.  i had a new - in the box - spare macerator, so i cut and replaced the old one.  then i tested it a few times with fresh water.  I'm sore today with bruises up high on both shoulders, arms and hands.  But that's marked off the list and the fresh air is much fresher!

May God give you a long happy life 

and may you never see a Macerator!    

-Pirate Skip

HONEY - I'm home!

Well 'Diesel Don' came on the boat yesterday and confirmed my fear.  "I aint leaving yet."  it seems the Perkins, main engine, is in need of some loving.  i was afraid of a leaky seal on the rear of the transmission. (*and i still might have that.)  but we wont know for sure till we first have a scuba diver remove the prop.  loosen the drive nuts and pull out the prop shaft.  we have to pull the shaft out far enough to remove the bad bearings on the shaft.  ("skip cant you hear that noise?"  "those bearings are gone and if not replaced will bend your drive shaft")  now new bearings are about a $100 and a new transmission rear seal is probably $20....  BUT the labor to do all this will easily be a couple thousand and weeks of time.  So you can expect more posts from Marathon.

What's new?  The marina is doing mooring ball maintenance & replacing the pilings alongside the building.

Our friends Jim and Belinda left on their boat; This Is It.  They are on a 1973 cruiser and are meeting other cruiser owners up in Sarasota in late February.

Pirate Parrot

 A Pirate out walking his parrot around the marina.  "Normal here!"

 Finished flags.

 Installing grommets.  A Tuesday task.

My what a Big Conch Sandwich you have Grandma...

The Cracked Conch Cafe in Marathon has a $9 Conch Sandwich on their menu.  I ordered it not realizing it's a monster sandwich.  *note the conch shell and freshly removed conch meat.  (you get this massive conch mussel and then pound it flat with a baseball bat, cook it and eat.  yum)

 The church where Debbie and Lynne went for Hurricane relief clothes.  

i stopped during a bike ride for a photo of the stained glass windows.  

One is Saint Columba and the other is The Lohc Ness Monster.

 A mooring ball showing how it's actually screwed down into the seabed.

These other photos are 'typical' mornings and evenings, plus a rainbow.

Tommy Bonds wrote this morning with some questions & comments:

Glad you found  Lynne, she is a worker!!!

Thanks Tommy.  i am sitting by Lynne in the marina 'work room' a common room ~ 75' x 200' with 2 small TV rooms that seat 8 each in old movie theater seats.  (think kids with cartoons and that type show)  4 standard size picnic tables, 5 'patio size' round tables with benches, the mail tables ~30' long that they put packages onto.  (behind that sits the library of donated / swap books)  in one corner is the 'office' with a cooler for ice to sell a printer for ... well printing.  it's the honor system for donations to use it.  when it works?

The picnic tables have 2 cube-taps on one end and 'Free Wifi' in this area, so the tables fill up. (especially today - Saturday)  Why does the crowd increase on Saturday with a group of people who dont work - ever?  seems like every day would be a saturday?  oh well, happy saturday!   (the guy directly across the table from me is on his laptop doing continuing education "Investing for Dummies" via his speaker.  so i'll be a lot smarter pretty quick.  send money and i'll double it!   i plugged in headphones and turned on some music.)

Are you selling many pictures?  nope.  i'm still learning that process.  thanks for reminding me Tommy!   *NOTE:  please give me recommendations on any shots worth putting up for sale?  

So many boats anchored everywhere you go, any estimates on how many full time cruisers there  are out there?

How many cruisers?  heck if i know.  some are seasonal, while others are retired and some appear to be running from the law!  some are full time and others are taking a sabbatical, or are on a vacation of sorts with plans to return to land at a fixed date.  (are part timers and vacationers counted as cruisers?)  i only see a tiny portion of the local cruisers in the port i'm actually in.  For instance, there are about 30 people in this room now.  but i know there are 226 boats on mooring balls today with another 30 or so at anchor.  i cant guess how many people that is.  Now multiply that by every port and then count all over the world.  There are a lot of cruisers!

Glad you are doing well, can tell you are excited about the next leg of the journey. Something about going to another country that makes it more mysterious!

Yes i'm in a nice safe comfortable place here.  i'm surrounded by like minded folks with a common language and goal.  Although we are not headed to the same place, we are all headed somewhere.  Even those who never leave have managed to get here and are cruisers because of that regardless if they ever leave or not.  They are living their dream.  *i posted recently about Moray and Debbie and how they were going to the Bahamas.  I got an email last night from Moray, "We are in Morgans Bluff (bahamas) took us 30 hours and the trip was a breeze."  i just need to work down through my to-do list and then get a weather window...    (easy?   NOT!)   i'LL GET'ER DONE!

more later.     -S