Sump Dramas

How complicated can it be to get water from the galley sink to the outside of the boat? As it turns out, pretty damn complicated.

The galley sink sits pretty much at the waterline, so just draining through a seacock is not going to cut it. I don't know what the original set-up was like, but the previous owner installed a new sump system which, to say the least, has been the bane of our lives since Day One. Float switches that get jammed, plumbing hooked up to the wrong ports on the sump, a pump not suited to pumping dirty water full of scraps, fat and food scraps building up in the sump until it completely clogs, and all with the end result of dirty sink water spilling into the bilge on a regular basis. Every four weeks or so I would have to pull the whole sump out to clean it out in order to keep it working.

Enough is enough!

With the latest failure causing large amounts of crap to pour into the bilge and the ensuing clean-up, I marched up to the chandlery store in a righteous rage and bought a proper macerator pump, new fittings, hoses, etc, and proceeded to deal to the evil little ****.

So, here is a graphic of how you transfer the water from the sink to the outside of the boat on Kamalii.

I'd previously installed a capacitive level sensor hooked up to a timer circuit and relay, with a manual/auto/off control switch, which has been a load more reliable than the old float switch. Now with a proper macerator pump (instead of the old Par diaphragm pump) which is hooked up to the proper pick-up, all the crap actually gets vacuumed out of the sump; I went from two inches of rice and pasta scraps to clean bottom in just three cycles.

Still some tidying up to do, but that will wait for a month until I am 101% happy that all is good with the new installation. And here's hoping I never have to open that bloody sump again. (Dream on, it's a boat...).

Decks

The weather has continued to be crappy over the last week, but we have more or less finished the port side of the aft cabin. We have re-caulked the timbers, re-plugged as necessary, and given the whole thing a moderate sanding; not down to completely fresh timber, but pretty much smoothing it out and getting rid of all the really worn sections. Even though the teak has been sanded and scrubbed to death over the decades there is still loads of meat left - at least 1/2", which would be gobsmackingly thick for any modern teak deck. And that's just a laminate on the cabin tops!

Freshly done decks compared to the lazarette hatches which we have not done. I'll try and get the next photo in focus...

Rubber Fetish

So, after my last post, Winter decides to turn it on for a weekend, and we were able to rip into some of the deck caulking. We managed to get the port-side aft cabin top done, which has nailed the leak near the mizzen mast. One more leak off the list, just three to go...   We plan on re-caulking all the cabin tops and cockpit floor over winter, so here's hoping the weather plays nice.

Cutting out the old caulking. Note the hole at the mizzen base (partly covered by the sheet), this is where the radar cable goes through the deck. The caulking under the teak capping had failed and was letting water in.

I found using a Dremel with a drill bit in it was perfect for cleaning out the grooves of any remaining rubber.

Minty-fresh decks.

I'll post a shot of the finished work in a few days when the rubber has cured properly and we have given it a final sand (weather permitting).

New Toys and General Update

Winter sucks. It's official.

Progress is slow because it's dark and wet, and my motivation levels seem to be low. We had a big blow come through the other night that was way stronger than forecast - clocked 60 knot winds in the marina. Sharon and I were up all night, and unfortunately the sun canopy copped some damage before we could get it down. Let me tell you, running around in your underwear at midnight in 40 knot winds and driving rain in the middle of winter trying to pull down what has essentially become a gigantic kite is not a great deal of fun!

Apart from some repairable damage to the canopy, we got a couple of slightly bent stanchions and a burst fender, but otherwise were fine. Not so for a lot of other boats in the marina - one yacht a few slips down from us had moored his aft lines to his cockpit winches, and they got ripped clean out of his deck.

Turning to positive news, we now have a new autopilot installed. Yay! Have not had a chance to take it out for a sea trial yet, but I'm hoping having a working autopilot is going to make short-handed (i.e. less than 4) sailing a lot easier.

At last, my instrument cluster is actually a cluster!

The size of a piece of electronics on a boat is in direct proportion to its importance. On the left is the autopilot computer. On the right is the stereo amplifier.

And speaking of stereos, I found the main saloon speakers were clear but very weak in the bass. So I fixed that.

Monster sub-woofer installed in port saloon locker.