Sometimes we need a little challenge

I notice everytime you mention working on a boat someone says "That's boating". I thought about this. Everything man made wears out. When your car needs a tune-up,oil change,tires,brakes, whatever. Nobody says "Thats driving". If your house needs painted,lawn mowed,toilet or disposal quits, window breaks. Nobody says "Thats housing"

My world is a mechanical world. I see everything as a puzzle. Things must be right or they won't work. Everything man-made breaks or wears out. Maintainance is key here. "That's living in a modern world with conveniences. All the things I have fixed on Mary Lee up to this point were caused by the previous owner trying to do it himself. It is evident that he was not mechanically inclined or tenacious enough to get the job done right. Therefore I get to.

I not only get to work on things, but I also have to figure out if what I am working on was right when I started. I have to admit. With the exception of the engine and a few smaller things I have never worked on some of these things before. Most cars and houses do not have these exact things. I have a mechanical mind though. Fixing things has been my lifes interest. Figuring out how it works. I do not believe they make anything I cannot figure out. I mean really. A man built it right?

Then there is fighting it out until it is correct. Sloppy work brings on more trouble. Did you tuck that wire away properly? Solder the connection and seal it so it never gives trouble again. A very excellant tool for running wires is a hot glue gun. First leave some extra wire on the end you start with in case you ever have to work there again. Then start running wire. Go a little way,then clean a spot well. I use a good cleaner and then rubbing alchohol so all soap residue is gone. Squirt a little hot glue, press in wire and hold until glue cools enough to do the job. I have used this on four wheel drives for years and even after all the rough roads I have driven in the woods it never broke one loose. I have even used it to seal a connection when nothing else was available. Run the wire nicely. When at the other end, again leave some extra. Trying to work with a wire that is to short later is a problem we do not want. How about Dialectric grease.

Did you put a small dab on each end of that fuse to avoid corrosion? How about that light bulb you just put in. It also helps make a better connection. A dab of that on those wires you just crimped before you slid them into that connecter will help stop corrosion..

I mention this because I have been working on electric connections this week. If you think corrosion just happens on boats then you need to open the hood on an older car someday and pull the first connector apart that is not factory. But that is not the big project of the week. It seems as if the cobbled up goodies just keep on testing me to see if I am going to keep fixing them.

So back to my toilet and assuming it was correct when I started fixing it.

This piece. See how it opens?

This is where it goes. I assumed the flapper was right so I fought with it. When it was obviously wrong I pulled it apart and thought about how it all should work. The flapper was facing straight away from the toilet but the drain was at at a 45 from the pump. Hmmm... wouldn't it make more sense if the flapper opened up towards the drain so the toilet paper did not have to fight around a corner to go down? I thought so. Once again. This is new to me but common sense usually wins the day. Back together. Works fine. Then....

I actually didn't want to talk about this at first. After the head was fixed it suddenly started acting up. It had not been used much so I assumed it was the vent. I pulled up the deck and had crap all over. CRAP. What do you do? Well...after a disappointing few minutes of not wanting to deal with it I decided that I had to. First was to clean up so I could find out where it was coming from. I did not like that. After I got it clean I went in head and flushed again. This boat has two 30 gal. tanks. One for grey water and one for waste. When I bought Mary Lee the grey water was just opened. He had taken off the hoses but not capped it off. It also had a tangle of hoses you would not believe.

The advice was to just cap off second tank as it was not being used anyway. The grey water from shower was pumped out by this neat little box that he had installed on a piece of plywood that covered the lid on the second tank. When I worked the toilet waste came out of a lose lid. GREAT. Talk about a problem growing. So another cleanup. I need tank pumped before I proceed. I  am thinking I need to run another hose to this tank so it can be pumped. The next boat I buy will be looked at more closely. I know even new boats have problems but at least somebody that cannot work on them hasn't get to repair them yet. Who knows. I love my boat and am really not that far from getting the bungled jobs fixed. Maybe by by the time I am done I won't ever want to part with her.

The new prop is not here yet so tomorrow I idle her over to the fuel island to pump waste and fill water. It is only a stones throw away but I am a little concerned because it only has a 2 blade prop and one blade is gone. If it was much further....well I don't know. I gotta have a head. It is a half mile walk to the marinas and I can't have the waste tank overflowing.

Update. Today I moved Mary Lee over to pump waste and fill water. Trip over went very well. Everything went well. Trip back was a little tougher. I should have done it about a half hour sooner. I didn't want to rev engine if I could help it so needed to slide easily into slip. Naturally the wind had picked up and by the time I could get Mary Lee moving backwards the wind would blow the bow over far enough I would have to start over. I am tenacious though. It took 3 tries and I found an angle that would let me drift slowly back and in before the wind put me off again.

Not difficult or stressfull. If I'd  had any kind of thrust I was lined up right the first time. I see it as a learning experience. If that is the biggest struggle I ever have then life is truly blessed. I am starting to get anxious to get the last few things fixed so I can be out there. I don't even care where right now.

Last but not least. The toilet works beautifully :-) I wonder how many years somebody fought with that bungled repair. God forbid the boat came new like that and nobody fixed it.