Went down to Hattini Friday afternoon planning to complete two small tasks in the engine room. I anticipated these tasks would take less than thirty minutes combined. One was to replace the existing 3M oil-absorbent pads, the other....unfortunately was to remove the Vacu-Flush pump for the forward head to bring home and rebuild.
Before starting those projects, while using the aft head I realized there was a fairly significant water leak when flushing the toilet. A little searching and it was determined the vacuum break valve was leaking when the toilet was flushed. A quick Google search indicated this should not be too difficult of a repair so this was immediately moved to the top of the list (the Admiral along with her Commodore were on the way down). Without going into all of the details, three hours later the head was repaired and fully functional again.
While on the boat alone before the admiral arrived I also realized the aft bilge pump was cycling about every hour. After a little checking I determined the port side rudder stuffing box was leaking and would require repacking. Since it was late in the day I decided it would be best to tackle that job early on Saturday.
After a not so good night of sleep listening to the bilge pump cycle I took the Admiral to breakfast, walked the Commodore and then gathered all the necessary tools to start working on the stuffing box. I began working about 10:00 am, two trips to the ships store along with two trips to the big box hardware store I completed repacking the stuffing box at 2:00 pm. Suffice it to say that it did not want to come apart, the old packing did not want to come out, the new packing while not difficult was not easy to install either.
That job being completed I decided to go ahead with my original plans, replaced the 3M pads and removed the pump for the forward head. As anticipated those took less than thirty minutes.
So much for an easy Saturday enjoying the best Texas Gulf Coast weather we have had in weeks.
Before starting those projects, while using the aft head I realized there was a fairly significant water leak when flushing the toilet. A little searching and it was determined the vacuum break valve was leaking when the toilet was flushed. A quick Google search indicated this should not be too difficult of a repair so this was immediately moved to the top of the list (the Admiral along with her Commodore were on the way down). Without going into all of the details, three hours later the head was repaired and fully functional again.
While on the boat alone before the admiral arrived I also realized the aft bilge pump was cycling about every hour. After a little checking I determined the port side rudder stuffing box was leaking and would require repacking. Since it was late in the day I decided it would be best to tackle that job early on Saturday.
After a not so good night of sleep listening to the bilge pump cycle I took the Admiral to breakfast, walked the Commodore and then gathered all the necessary tools to start working on the stuffing box. I began working about 10:00 am, two trips to the ships store along with two trips to the big box hardware store I completed repacking the stuffing box at 2:00 pm. Suffice it to say that it did not want to come apart, the old packing did not want to come out, the new packing while not difficult was not easy to install either.
That job being completed I decided to go ahead with my original plans, replaced the 3M pads and removed the pump for the forward head. As anticipated those took less than thirty minutes.
So much for an easy Saturday enjoying the best Texas Gulf Coast weather we have had in weeks.