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04-07-2013, 06:13 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
City: Monterey, CA
Vessel Name: Mahalo
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 406
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Cleaned my shower sump pump
So I've hated my shower for two years! Anything more than a "boat shower" and she overflows. I shower with a plunger to force the water down from time to time.
This morning I bit the bullet and pulled the sump cover off. Turns out there is a screen in there! Hosed five years of crap out of there, scrubbed 30 varieties of undiscovered slimey life forms out of the sump and she drains like a dream. Shower flowing full blast and the water never gets close to over flowing.
Total time invested: 18 minutes. Total cost: one kitchen scrubbie sponge.
Who would have thought it would be so easy! And the best part about it was that completing this task did not reveal 5 new tasks or require a professional to complete my work!
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04-07-2013, 06:25 PM
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#2
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Master and Commander
City: Vallejo CA
Vessel Name: Carquinez Coot
Vessel Model: penultimate Seahorse Marine Coot hull #6
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 12,559
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Bag, do you have a screen at the top of the drain?
__________________
Kar-KEEN-ez Koot
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04-07-2013, 06:31 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
City: Monterey, CA
Vessel Name: Mahalo
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 406
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There is a screen but some PO had drilled part of it out. What surprised me was the hose, it was clean. I figured the hose would be totally restricted.
How many pictures of that boat do you have Mark?
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04-07-2013, 08:14 PM
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#4
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Veteran Member
City: Friday Harbor
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 85
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We lived aboard for 10 years and based on our experience I'd suggest you clean it once a month. Jus' sayin'
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04-07-2013, 08:24 PM
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#5
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TF Site Team
City: California Delta
Vessel Name: FlyWright
Vessel Model: 1977 Marshall Californian 34 LRC
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 13,728
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baggiolini
And the best part about it was that completing this task did not reveal 5 new tasks or require a professional to complete my work!
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Isn't that the truth! I can't believe how many simple tasks turn into projects. Now, FYI, I have had this boat for 6 1/2 years and thought I had gazed into every nook and cranny the boat has to offer.
Last week, I returned to the boat and was loading 1-gallon drinking water jugs after depleting them all on a previous trip. As I opened the cabinet to load the water, I noticed in the back of the cabinet that there were 2 wires joined together with WIRE NUTS! I thought I already found all the wire nuts on this boat...and there have been quite a few!
So before I could even unload the car, I had a new project on my hands with wire strippers, butt connectors, shrink wrap and heat gun. Ahhh, the joys of owning a 35 year old trawler! (Yup...I really do love it! )
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04-07-2013, 10:18 PM
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#6
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Master and Commander
City: Vallejo CA
Vessel Name: Carquinez Coot
Vessel Model: penultimate Seahorse Marine Coot hull #6
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 12,559
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baggiolini
How many pictures of that boat do you have Mark?
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Countless. Besides what we've taken, there are many, many scores of photos provided by the builder, most of which I haven't downloaded let alone displayed on TF. Potentially, it is almost without limit.
__________________
Kar-KEEN-ez Koot
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04-07-2013, 10:49 PM
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#7
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Guru
City: Hotel, CA
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 8,323
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Quote:
Originally Posted by markpierce
Countless. Besides what we've taken, there are many, many scores of photos provided by the builder, most of which I haven't downloaded let alone displayed on TF. Potentially, it is almost without limit.
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You're gonna need a bigger hard drive
__________________
Craig
It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they've been fooled - Mark Twain
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04-07-2013, 10:59 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
City: Monterey, CA
Vessel Name: Mahalo
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 406
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Seabag
We lived aboard for 10 years and based on our experience I'd suggest you clean it once a month. Jus' sayin'
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Not sure I can commit to that but I sure like the way it drains! It cracks me up, the things i procrastinate on usually only take a few minutes.....
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04-08-2013, 06:06 AM
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#9
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Guru
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 22,553
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Total cost: one kitchen scrubbie sponge.
You threw it out???
Must not be a recovering rag bager!
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04-08-2013, 11:10 AM
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#10
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Guru
City: Spartanburg, SC
Vessel Name: Big Duck
Vessel Model: '72 Land-N-Sea
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 535
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The wire nuts were good for 6 1/2 years...what made you think they needed to be removed?
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04-08-2013, 12:31 PM
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#11
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Guru
City: Everett Wa
Vessel Name: Eagle
Vessel Model: Roughwater 58 pilot house
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,919
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I relocated the shower sump under the bathroom teak floor for easy access instead of under the shower. Lift the bath room teak flooring to access the sump. Takes a couple of minutes to clean. My wife and I both have shoulder length hair, but her's is thicker. At least I have hair to clog the drain/sump.
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04-08-2013, 12:40 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
City: Monterey, CA
Vessel Name: Mahalo
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 406
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FF
Total cost: one kitchen scrubbie sponge.
You threw it out???
Must not be a recovering rag bager!
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No FF, it would be an argument if I kept stealing the sponges....I crammed it next to the sump for next year
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05-10-2013, 10:49 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
City: New Castle, Delaware
Vessel Name: Belladonna
Vessel Model: Monark 58 custom
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 132
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So interesting how boat designs vary. While originally looking over the boat, I had been pondering why Belladonna had no sump/pump. Until I realized that unlike every other boat I had looked at which used every square inch of hull space below decks, THIS boat was built like a commercial boat with a raised cabin....or a houseboat.......all the grey water just flows over the side because its above the waterline. Duh!
Which made me think about all that wasted space below the deck. Sigh. The upside is once I get down there on my hands and knees EVERYTHING is accessible without removing interior panels, etc. There is even a trolley on tracks for approximately 20 feet.
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05-10-2013, 10:59 AM
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#14
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Guru
City: Spartanburg, SC
Vessel Name: Big Duck
Vessel Model: '72 Land-N-Sea
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 535
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baggiolini
No FF, it would be an argument if I kept stealing the sponges....I crammed it next to the sump for next year
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Speaking of sponge scrubbers. I keep mine handy with a piece of PVC.
One More Time Around: Sponge/Scrubber Holder
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05-10-2013, 11:02 AM
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#15
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Guru
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,046
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Shower sump,mmmmm. My shower drains into the forward bilge and the pump sends it overboard......
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05-10-2013, 11:08 AM
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#16
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Guru
City: Inside Passage Summer/Columbia River Winter
Vessel Name: Alaskan Sea-Duction
Vessel Model: 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 8,046
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I use this for cleanup...(sorry couldn't resist)
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05-10-2013, 11:36 AM
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#17
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Senior Member
City: New Castle, Delaware
Vessel Name: Belladonna
Vessel Model: Monark 58 custom
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 132
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If you don't use a sump is there much buildup of soap scum, etc? I know in my case if I had to make a choice between bilge and sump I'd choose sump...my bilge area midships is approx. 30 ft x 16 and the aluminum hull is coated with foam...could be a mess. Would be much easier to clean a sump. Heck, you can make a sump out of one of those plastic 55 gallon barrels they use to hold pickles, etc. I see them on craigslist all the time for $10-$20.
Always wondered if they could be used for freshwater on board instead of buying expensive freshwater tanks...I should ask what others think.
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05-10-2013, 02:16 PM
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#18
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Guru
City: Long Beach, CA
Vessel Name: Heads Up
Vessel Model: Grand Banks 42 Classic
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 956
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I replaced my sump pump with a red head bait tank pump. It's the type with the sealed bottom and hose barb. I installed an inline strainer before it and it's positive overboard pressure with no smell. I also clean it about once a month. It was a very inexpensive fix and it has lasted over 20 years.
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05-10-2013, 02:23 PM
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#19
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Scraping Paint
City: -
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
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A previous owner of our boat installed a rather unique pump for the shower. I've been told the name of it but forgotten--- it's like a blood pump in that there is an arm that rotates in a round chamber with a soft tube around the chamber wall. The arm has rollers on each end that compress the tube and move the contents through the tube and out. So the parts that are doing the pumping never come in contact with what's being pumped.
The company that made it makes big ones for the printing industry to move different colored inks around without contaminating the pumps. They made these small ones for awhile for the RV and boating industry. The thing will pump wet sand through it. We bought some spares of the parts that wear and when it gives up for good we'll replace it with a Whale Gulper diaphragm pump.
I've only been personally familiar with one boat that simply dumps the shower water into the bilge for the bilge pump to send overboard. But bilge pumps never get everything and this boat did have a perpetual odor issue with the water in the bilge.
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05-10-2013, 02:43 PM
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#20
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Guru
City: Solomons Island Md
Vessel Name: Fryedaze
Vessel Model: MC 42 (Overseas Co) Monk 42
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,720
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Peristaltic pumps
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