Number Twenty Three

[S/V Deo Volente]

That looks great Bob - do you have shelves back there? if so, how did you set them up?

No shelves, but my wash-down pump is in there, and I use it to store paper towels and toilet paper.

[Dale Tanski]

Bob,
You have skills. Very nice work. WOW!
Dale

[S/V Deo Volente]

Bob,
You have skills. Very nice work. WOW!
Dale

"Jack of all trades, master of none"
But Thanks!

[FBNOODLEMAN]

The shower "door" project looks great; I have the 20 screws type, but your project works for me, so that will be on the list. Just finished removing the injection pump, and I think you gave me your injection pump number, and a list of possible places for a seal kit for it. there is an English guy on UTube who shows the complete tear down of this pump, and reinstall seals. I took out our pump, and since there is a mechanic here in Mexico who works the docks, and does immaculate work, I gave it to him, and in two days, it was back, clean, resealed, and bench tested. Wasn't much of a problem to reinstall, but the priming of the fuel is a collosal pain. Fortunately, several years back, I installed a small 12v fuel pump, in line between the primary fuel filter, and the lift pump, so it pumps away, and brings fuel up to the secondary fuel filter. It took several minutes to get the fuel to come out of the banjo bolt; now that I think about it, there is a lot of space that the fuel needs to get to before that happens. I have two injection pump drawings from Pearson, and the one which is illustrated as a service memo is the best. Anyway, it anyone needs this information, I will be happy to supply it. jim on Toothpick.

[JMB]

Truly a excellent piece of cabinet quality woodworking - well done!!

[#23]

at long last, the shore power project is complete!



I would have been done yesterday, but was 3 heat-shrink ring terminals short.

This project accomplished a number of specific objectives:

1. it replaced all of the OEM 35-year old AC wiring with new ABYC-compliant stuff

2. it replaced all the home-handyman fire-hazardy non-compliant AC wiring

3. it relocated the AC panel away from the DC panel

4. it added an inline galvanic isolator

5. and it put the shore power plug in a more intelligent location (and incidentally freed up room in the lazarette for my new bilge lines)






Total AC appliances are:

Battery Charger
Hot Water Tank
Fridge
Furnace/Air Conditioner

Each is on it's own circuit (the Fridge and Hot Water Tank are connected via water-resistant junction boxes). Then there is a circuit for the galley gfci and another for the two portside outlets (first in line is also gfci). All wiring is continuous and every wire ends in a heat-shrunk ring terminal - no butt or spade connectors. The AC panel back is in the portside lazarette and is protected with a BSS isolation cover.

One major winter project down and three to go!

[S/V Deo Volente]

Some Boat Yoga involved there!
I see you have AC/Heat, do you also have a generator?

[#23]

Some Boat Yoga involved there!
I see you have AC/Heat, do you also have a generator?

Hi Bob,

There's no genset (which raises the question: "why did a PO install an AC HVAC unit in a boat with no genset?"). I'm treating that appliance as temporary, until I get a hydronic diesel furnace. Not much need for the air conditioning in the PNW...

[SVJourney]

110 at the dock, Honda generator for away.

[#23]

110 at the dock, Honda generator for away.

installing a permanent air conditioning unit and then using a portable gasoline genset to power it sounds consistent with what I've seen of PO decision-making...

In any event, its days are numbered. 

I've ordered the parts for the septic system renewal, so I guess that's next on my project list!

[#23]

With a second critical project completed this month, Dharma Bum finally has a working head and a new septic plumbing system.

The old system was plumbed like this:

toilet > locking Y-valve > overboard or tank
tank > Tee > macerator or deck pumpout

The new system is plumbed:

toilet > tank > locking Y-valve > deck pumpout or manual overboard pump

As detailed previously, I decided to eliminate the "direct overboard from toilet" option because environmental regulations make it an increasingly restricted option, reducing the cost-benefit of the added plumbing. Sure I can pump direct overboard in open waters still, but I'm not liable to be actively poopin' in open waters anyway, so that option has the appearance of benefit with little practical application. The new setup also requires the regular use of the whole system, thereby ensuring parts of it don't seize up from disuse.

The only challenge to installing the new system, was aligning the new Mark V manual pump  with the Jabsco Y-valve, while also aligning the Y-valve with the holding tank outlet. I fabricated a mount for that, which also ensured the Y-valve would align with the deck pumpout hose and have clearance for the handle of the manual pump. 




The old 1" outlet thru-hull for the macerator became the 3/4" raw water inlet for the toilet, thanks to a new 90-degree male thread hose barb.  The old raw water feed had been Teed into the raw water for the HVAC off a whole other thru-hull, with a single rusty hose clamp and no siphon loop. Both the new raw water feed and the 1.5" overboard hoses are looped above the waterline to avoid a siphoning risk. All of the septic hoses are now double-clamped with non-perf hose clamps.

Here are the Before/Afters:






happy 2017!

[#23]

the past month has had a lot of background prep work but few projects that I can tick off as "completed". Waiting on bits & pieces via Amazon or chandleries takes time.

I have managed to replace the zippers on the cockpit helm cover, repair some horrid gouges in the cabin bulkheads, seal another window and re-hoist my reinforced genoa. The bilge pump replacement project is progressing, but I'll detail that once it's complete.

One other project I've completed is to refinish the main cabin entry. I've been putting off tarting up the ship's exterior woodwork to focus on systems, but decided to tackle the cabin door because it was so woeful looking. 



After much research, I decided to use teak oil rather than a varnish. It's a commitment to regular re-coats, but I don't mind and I prefer the look over varnish. I selected Daly's Seafin as my oil of choice, based on consistently good reviews and recommendations.

After hot-scraping the old varnish off and then removing the seemingly 4 pounds of silicone holding the two scratched and stained plexiglas windows in place, I scoured the door in Te-Ka wood cleaner. Then I glued down some edges that were splintering, filling in some holes with stainable filler and had tinted, tempered safety glass cut to replace the worn-out plexiglas.

With the new glass installed, I applied 6 coats of the SeaFin oil over 4 days, sanding with 400g after coats #1 and #2. Leaving the door to dry for an additional two days, I reinstalled it:




It's only a small start on the brightwork, but it felt good to tackle it and do something other than hang upside down in the bilge.

[#23]

“upgrade bilge pump”

Such a simple phrase from the prepurchase surveyor – who would have thought it would turn out to be the most challenging maintenance issue so far. In all fairness, it was a valid recommendation. The Par 36680 pump was poorly mounted, poorly wired and poorly plumbed. At a meagre 330gph, it was also woefully undersized.





I undertook a couple of intermediate steps shortly after bringing to boat back to Canada: I made the wiring less of a fire hazard and relocated the Par to a sturdier base. My permanent solution was to install 2 higher capacity pumps in the bilge itself: one main and one overflow. My challenges were threefold: (1) the bilge footprint beneath the engine was only a 14" by 6” triangle (2) access to that bilge was an opening beneath the driveshaft, approx. 5” x 6” and (3) to not add any more through-holes to the transom.

The size of the bilge footprint necessitated automatic pumps instead of ones with a separate float switch, and the size of the access opening necessitated physically small pumps. I decided on a Whale Supersub 1100 for my main and a Rule 1100 for my backup. My thinking was to use two different manufacturers to reduce the likelihood of systemic quality control failures.

To mount the pumps, I repurposed a ½” nylon cutting board. Both pumps came with separate snap-in mounts that I could screw into my “bilge board”, which meant I could get each pump in and out of the bilge on its own – one of the other requirements due to the size of the bilge access. Both pumps could be plumbed with 1” ID hose (although the Rule outlet was 1.125”). Using 1” outlets meant that I could manifold both lines into a single 1.5” transom outlet, as the math is such that two 1.0” flows only need a 1.25” opening to manage capacity.

At the transom end of the project, I had other challenges. The existing ¾” Par outlet was set so close to the 1.5” manual bilge pump outlet, that it couldn’t be enlarged to 1.5”. That meant I had to come up with a new 1.5” transom hole. Since there was an obsolete ¾” transom hole higher up, for an old propane vent, I decided to (1) enlarge that hole to 1.5” for relocating the manual pump outlet, (2) cap off the ¾” Par hole (and eventually glass it over) and (3) use the original 1.5” manual hole for my two new electric bilge lines. For the new manual outlet, I bought a Marelon through hull and I bought a Groco bronze one for the automatic outlet, to replace the cheap plastic one the factory had installed. I fabricated 4” square by ½” thick plywood backer boards for both new through-hulls. Each backer board got 3 coats of Bilgekote, except for the side that was going to be 3m 4200’d to the inside face of the transom. 

Between the pumps and the outlet, I decided to mount the bilge lines on the inside wall of the port lazarette. That meant preparing another mounting board, which also got 3 rounds of Bilgekote before being 4200’d to the wall. For powering both pumps, I ran new 10/2 boat cable from the master battery switch to a 4-post terminal block and then wired the two Rule 43 switches to it. I had spare 14/3 round boat cable that I used for the runs from switches to pumps. Rather than joining the pumps to the cables with heat-shrink butt connectors, I decided to use 3-pin waterproof connectors, similar to these:



This meant that each pump could be simpler to swap out while still maintaining water-proofiness, without the inevitable loss of wiring length that comes from having to snip off old butt connectors.


To be continued…

[#23]

after months of delays, measuring, waiting on parts and tackling other projects, I finally installed the two new automatic bilge pumps last weekend along with all their associated electrics and hoses.







Lessons Learned:

the outlet thread type on the Whale Supersubs is GHT (Garden Hose Thread) not BSP or NPT. That meant finding a conversion fitting that would get me to a final 1" hose barb. I ended up with 3 intermediate fittings to make that work.

the outlet size on the Rule pump was 1 and 1/8". I heated and pre-fit the hose before I got into the bilge. It was still a tough fit.

keep a jigsaw handy to trim the nylon bilge board that you successfully test fit months earlier. For some reason it won't fit that final time. 

[S/V Deo Volente]

Our bilge sumps are somewhat problematic. Are you using a check valve?