Log 113; Day 309; Mar. 26, 2009; New River

Here is how I spent the last two days...looking at, and burried in, the bilge area. But all is fixed now, and works great.

Along with a bilge pump problem, we had to hire a diver to get a plastic bag out of our A/C intake

This is Roland...The Diver...getting ready to do his job


Deb says "if this retirement thing doesn't work out...you have a barge company to fall back on"

At the end of the day, all is well, and we enjoy a nice sunset over the New River

Log 113
Day 309
Thursday, March 26, 2009

8:30 AM EST
Location: New River City Marina, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Weather: 68 and still windy...it will be about 78, and windy today

The rain stopped on Monday, but the winds still continue to be 15 to 20 mph SSE each day. They are forecasted to remain like this until next Monday, when it will be in the 10 to 15 mph category. Still, it’s very warm each day (in the 80’s) and not bad at all. I’m just glad we do not have to go out in the Atlantic for a while.

The last 3 days have been about repairs and maintenance on the boat. The bilge pump turned out to be more of an issue than I originally thought. I lowered the pump, and raised the float switch, but that did not do the trick...it still would not run right. After a lot of time trying to determine why it would run sometime...and not others...I decided to call a mechanic to tell me what was wrong. The problem was I could not find a mechanic, so I walked the docks looking for someone who looked like a mechanic, and asked them if they could fix it. In doing so I ran into Ricardo, who said he only worked on electronics, but had a friend (Paul) who could fix it. He gave me his cell number, and I called Paul, who said he would be there first thing Tuesday morning. During the day, I got down in the aft bilge and cleaned away all hoses and wires that were in the way of the bilge pump (the hardest part of the entire job), so it would be easy (and less costly) for Paul to ultimately fix the problem. About 6 pm on Monday, Paul called to say it would be later in the day on Tuesday, and finally arrived at the boat at 4 pm. When I showed him what was wrong, he tried several things (all of which I had done) and finally said “I have never seen anything like this before...the only thing I would know to do, would be to throw this pump away, and install a new one”. Which is exactly what I planned to do (by the way...Paul never charged me anything to diagnose the problem). I called Jerry, late on Tuesday, to ask him for a ride to West Marine first thing on Wednesday to get a new pump...he was happy to help. During the night on Tuesday, all of a sudden, the A/C quit. I did not have the ambition, or the attitude, to fix it then, so we just shut it off and opened the windows. I did not need another project.

Wednesday...I got up early, and thought I’d try to fix the A/C before Jerry picked me up at 9, but it was not to be. Normally when the A/C quits on a boat, it is because of lack of water flow to the units, normally caused by an obstruction in the water intake from the thru-hull. I cleaned out the strainers, and then found out there was not a lot of water coming through the thru-hull. Assuming we had something caught in the thru-hull I took the hose and back flushed the system. It worked great...for about 10 seconds...then the water flow would decrease again. I tried this several more times...each time it would work...then stop again. Finally, I gave up...I figured we must have sucked up a plastic bag (very common) and that was causing the problem. Jerry picked me up at 9 and we headed to Boat Owners Warehouse (better than West Marine) and I got a new bilge pump, and also a couple of numbers for divers. Back at the boat, I called a diver (who said he’d be there later in the afternoon) and tackled the bilge pump problem. It took about 3 hours to install the new pump, and re-install all the hoses and wires, but in the end it worked perfect. The diver showed up at about 3 pm, and it took him about 2 minutes to locate the problem...a HUGE plastic bag had lodged itself in the thru-hull fitting. Because he charged a minimum of$200 to do the job, I also had him clean the bottom of the boat. He also noticed that some of my zincs were getting worn, and would need replacing in the next few weeks.

So, after a couple of days working, (while I was in the bilge and engine room, Deb was handing me tools, and cleaning the inside of the boat) we are relaxing today. We also decided to rent a car and drive to West Palm Beach tomorrow to see the West Palm boat show. This is a show we came to Florida to see a few years ago, and really liked it, so we are looking forward to seeing it again. The plan is to pick up the car first thing tomorrow, and take it back on Saturday. Only $49 for the day...not bad. We are also thinking a dinghy ride out to the ICW might be in order today. We’ll see.

I’ll keep you posted.

Bob