Hatches, Light Bulbs and Bilge; Oh My!

We thought we'd done a pretty good survey of all the items we would need to look at on the boat. There is even a relatively ordered list of things we'd like top get done; separated into three categories: "necessary for safety", "necessary for comfort", and 'oh, that'll be nice when it's done". We thought we had some priorities in place and we're trying hard to learn where to go for parts and expertise. Soon we will have to have the boat 'hauled out' and set up 'on the hard' for a while while we learn about cleaning and repainting the bottom of the hull. This is a tough one as the paint that goes on the bottom of a boat has to be made from material that will not only resist the attack of salt water, but also actively inhibit things that like to attach to boats, grow and create offspring that like to also attach to boats and grow... and.. well, you get it. Boats with barnacles sail slower than clean ones, and we're all about speed, you know.
The special paints usually involve things called 'biocides' which kill things like algaes and small, predatory single-celled sea monsters and the like. A common 'biocide' is copper which is blended into the paint and causes a normal can of paint to a) be pretty heavy and b) cost 5 to 15 times as much as regular house paint. Now, what we don't know is if we can cover the whole bottom with one gallon, but we're sure hoping so :) but I digress, hauling out will happen later in the summer or early fall, maybe even at the end of the hurricane season as the boat is pretty safe where she is docked right now.

So far we have learned what we already knew. That a 30 year old boat will take some work to get it into shape. We are currently working to try to rid the cabin of the smell of diesel, which we did not notice when we toured her but is apparently a product of a fuel spill as the mechanic was replacing the fuel pump. Sadly the clean smell of the boat was one of thing we really liked about her in the first place and the smell of fuel will be a sore spot until we get it cleaned out. We are trying various cleaners and deodorizers until we stumble upon just the right thing. We will get it, it just will be a while coming since fuel has apparently saturated wood somewhere. ugh.
On the advice of a neighboring sailor, we set out to work on some projects in the order: "inside then outside and from the the bottom up". So, starting from the lowest point on the inside we tackled cleaning the bilge and replacing the pump with a new one.
Now; here's the way things work when one begins to do a boat-project ... you start out to put in a new bilge pump, but you decide that "gee, it's awfully hot in here. I wonder what it would take to get the air-conditioner fired up?" so you start puzzling out the air conditioner which you were told worked but apparently doesn't want to at this particular moment. Then you remember that the previous owner said that you have to plug the shore power electrical connection into a different receptacle on the outside of the boat as the air conditioner is on its own circuit but when you unhook the power cord from receptacle 'a' and connect it receptacle 'b' the air conditioner still won't run and as a matter of fact you get a "Reverse Polarity" warning on the circuit breaker panel. So next you have to pull out your meter, disassemble the shore-powe receptacles and verify that the wiring is OK, only to find out that is is indeed wired the same and there's no way that the polarity should be reversed so you puzle over it for the better part of an afternoon before deciding that maybe if you plugged in BOTH shore powers at the same time it's either start a fire or get the air conditioner to work and you find out that it does work but you just didn't know the rules yet. OK, now ... there was this bilge pump thing... So, back to that. Now you have to mop out and lcean the bilge area and yank the old pump out but before you do you need to determine where the wayter seems to be coming from that seemingly just started to leak into the cabin area from nowhere... It's a small trickle, but nonetheless it would be a big problem to find out you suddenly developed leak into the boat right after you remove the pump that can keep you from sinking if the leak gets bigger. So.. climbing around all through the engine compartment, Robin spies the source of the influx of water. It's coming from a small, clear hose whigh is connceted to (you'll never guess...) the air conditioner. We reason that this is by design, al airconditioners give off condensation and punching a hole through the hull of the boat really doesn't make sense so it is logically routed to the bilge to get pumped overboard every so often while the thing is running. Makes sense now, well, sort of...
So we disconnect the old pump (you remember, the reason we started this?) and I clipped off the old wires and connected the new pump for a trial run. Well, then we decidied that the old pump wasn;t exactly in the lowest part of the bilge and went to relocate it, only to have to cut the wires and re-rout them underneath a diffent area of the floor and re-connect them. It ran fine and the only real issue we ran into was that it didn't fit. The hose connection was a different diameter and was way too small for the boat's exisitng hose. So .. off we went to get a new pump with a different sized fitting. We bought the next-size-up pump with the next-size-up discharge nozzle (thanks, West Marine, for taking the pump back without the original box which I had confidently tossed out while fixing the air conditioner) and I wired the new pump into place. It didn't fit either ... this time the discharge nozzle was a bit too BIG to fit into the tube. So I sat down and enjoyed the air conmditioner for a few minutes trying to cope with all the good thoughts running through my head at the moment.
The hose is very strong, about 1 1/8 inch in diameter and has a stainless steel coil running through the inside. You could likely stand on it and not inhibit the water flow.
I eventually got the hose freed up a bit, took some of the coiling out and used a heat gun to soften it enough to make a good fit at the pump.
All the while Robin and I were also cleaning out the grungy stiff which the bottom of a boat can somehow manage to collect over the years, but at the end of it all the bilge was clean, the pump is running and the air conditoner works. A 1 hour project that only took two days :)
Now, how many sailors does it take to change a light bulb? Now that's another story.

We've met some new neighbors at the docks and are learning a lot from them as we sit and chat and pass each other coming and going to the boats. To one side of us is a venerable 38 foot sailboat on its way from Canada to South America. She is the "Contour" of some note as having circumnavigated the globe a few times. The owner is new to this boat and his plans ran into a snag when the outboard motor on his dinghy seized up. Not having a dinghy is bad news when sailing off shore. On the other side is "Wild Mathilda", a 44 footer also preparing for a late spring run from Florida to Nova Scotia. He is finishing up preparatory projects and will be leaving this week if the weather allows.
Both of these crews are amazing to visit with and learn from. I can't begin to tell you how I am looking forward to meeting more sailors like them and becoming one myself. I hope that they are indicative of most of the sailing community as they have been sociable, friendly and extremely helpful. Robin and I have learned a lot already and it is just the tip of the iceberg. So thanks to you Jerome and Clayton and Bruce and Carol. It has been an honor and pleasure to meet you and spend time with you. I am glad we got to share a meal and a drink and play some cards and chat about the boats and the world.
Safe journeys, fair winds and God's speed to you in your travels.