After resting in her shelter for 6 months, Retreat has returned to service. Our first venture out of the shelter was to return Retreat to Saltspring Island and cruise-ready condition. The crossing on Wednesday was in winds as high as 4 knots, though mostly the winds were not measurable, with seas down.
On arrival, use of the shower resulted in the shower sump pump coming on and staying on. My solution at the time was to just turn it off and deal with it another day. That day came yesterday. The shower sump is in the bilge, with hoses from both showers and the aft sink filling a 1cu ft sump and the pump and float switch evacuating it. The sump was 3/4 full, so the float was in the on position. When I grabbed the hose from the pump, it was obviously full of scale and the outside was very soft, so a trip to the marine supply happened on the way home. Armed with new hose, I was now ready to remove the hose going from the siphon break to the thru hull. That required slithering over the exhaust hose and water lift muffler, under the pipes from the old Espar, so those got removed to give me room. I took my phone with me into the farthest reaches of the ER, just in case. The new hose went on and was double clamped in place. I blew into it and found the blockage. Outside, a screwdriver into the opening of the thru hull revealed a collection of algae and little foam balls, detritus from the floats holding up the docks. Blowing again, no more blockage.
Then attaching the new hose to the bilge pump revealed a piece of plastic in the elbow of the fitting on the pump, so another possible blocking culprit removed.
That 1/2 hour job took several hours, not even counting the trip to the marine supply, but won't likely need to be repeated for another 39 years.
The other bilge pumps, hoses and thru hulls are much easier to get at.
On arrival, use of the shower resulted in the shower sump pump coming on and staying on. My solution at the time was to just turn it off and deal with it another day. That day came yesterday. The shower sump is in the bilge, with hoses from both showers and the aft sink filling a 1cu ft sump and the pump and float switch evacuating it. The sump was 3/4 full, so the float was in the on position. When I grabbed the hose from the pump, it was obviously full of scale and the outside was very soft, so a trip to the marine supply happened on the way home. Armed with new hose, I was now ready to remove the hose going from the siphon break to the thru hull. That required slithering over the exhaust hose and water lift muffler, under the pipes from the old Espar, so those got removed to give me room. I took my phone with me into the farthest reaches of the ER, just in case. The new hose went on and was double clamped in place. I blew into it and found the blockage. Outside, a screwdriver into the opening of the thru hull revealed a collection of algae and little foam balls, detritus from the floats holding up the docks. Blowing again, no more blockage.
Then attaching the new hose to the bilge pump revealed a piece of plastic in the elbow of the fitting on the pump, so another possible blocking culprit removed.
That 1/2 hour job took several hours, not even counting the trip to the marine supply, but won't likely need to be repeated for another 39 years.
The other bilge pumps, hoses and thru hulls are much easier to get at.
