Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hatch Update and More
This past weekend was my 25th Moses Brown reunion. On Friday a couple of classmates and I made it down to the boat in the pouring rain to reminisce about days of yore. I'm pleased to report that the boat was bone dry, from the owner's cabin to the butterfly hatch. I suspect there may still be something funky on the starboard side behind the lockers, but everything seemed dry!
Today, after recovering from 36 hours of reunion, I made my way back down to the boat to tackle the manual bilge pump. I managed to get the coaming box out to reveal the pump behind it. (Good thing I did such a good job of sealing the coaming box when I put it in!) I managed to find an access port on the top of the pump and removed it to reveal a cracked diaphragm within. I made the fateful decision that the entire pump must come out, so I spent the next hour and a half removing hoses, bolts and asundries, and gently extracting the pump through the lazarette. Once I got it all outside I identified the model -- a Henderson Mark V. Then I realized a most peculiar thing... apparently the Henderson pumps can be joined together in pairs with a single handle. This one (or should I say this pair) has two inflows that are piped together, and the same with the outflow. My guess is that this doubles the capacity of the pump. In any case, I got the two separated and discovered that both diaphragms were torn. I found a rebuild kit on Defender and ordered two of them. With any lick they should be in Tuesday and I can reassemble the ensemble (!) Wednesday afternoon.
The outboard hose should really be replaced, but I'm afraid that's a project for someone smaller when the boat is out of the water. I think it's still usable, just worn.
In other news, I filled the fresh water tank, put the handle back on the water tank access hatch, tossed out some 4-year-old granola and took an inventory of food onboard. Looks like the poptarts survived another winter!
Today, after recovering from 36 hours of reunion, I made my way back down to the boat to tackle the manual bilge pump. I managed to get the coaming box out to reveal the pump behind it. (Good thing I did such a good job of sealing the coaming box when I put it in!) I managed to find an access port on the top of the pump and removed it to reveal a cracked diaphragm within. I made the fateful decision that the entire pump must come out, so I spent the next hour and a half removing hoses, bolts and asundries, and gently extracting the pump through the lazarette. Once I got it all outside I identified the model -- a Henderson Mark V. Then I realized a most peculiar thing... apparently the Henderson pumps can be joined together in pairs with a single handle. This one (or should I say this pair) has two inflows that are piped together, and the same with the outflow. My guess is that this doubles the capacity of the pump. In any case, I got the two separated and discovered that both diaphragms were torn. I found a rebuild kit on Defender and ordered two of them. With any lick they should be in Tuesday and I can reassemble the ensemble (!) Wednesday afternoon.
The outboard hose should really be replaced, but I'm afraid that's a project for someone smaller when the boat is out of the water. I think it's still usable, just worn.
In other news, I filled the fresh water tank, put the handle back on the water tank access hatch, tossed out some 4-year-old granola and took an inventory of food onboard. Looks like the poptarts survived another winter!
