Being retired, I figure I should do something to keep me in touch with that "Monday feeling" that went with being a working man. My solution is to make Monday my housekeeping day. It is a poor replacement - housekeeping on this boat is not all that big a deal. It takes about 15 minutes to do a good job of running the vacuum - and that includes going out on deck and vacuuming the cockpit. Then, its time to get out the bucket, add, hot water and detergent and do some wiping down. I do a quick once-over to get the obvious hand prints, scuff marks, etc.
Now, I have noticed that just about any job I do on the boat turns out to have at least one other little job attached to it. Cleaning is a good way to find some of those jobs. Something always pops up that seems a good candidate for a more in-depth cleaning or fixing - or both. Today's candidate for cleaning was the space under the galley sink. It is one of those places that is easy ignore. It holds a trash can, a dust pan and the dish drainer. It also holds a non-functional pump that is supposed to be the backup for the pressure water system. Doing something about it was the extra job for today.
Since a boat is not connected to the city water, there has to be some device on the boat to get water from the water tank to the user at the sink or shower. Laelia has a noisy electric pump that does this. One truism in boat life is that electrical things will fail. Salt air and moisture take a high toll on electrical things. The second truism is that it will fail when it is most inconvenient - like half way to Tahiti with fifteen days left until you get to land. Obviously, a backup system is a good idea unless you are good at drinking salt water.
On Laelia, the backup is a little pump that is mounted on the floor and is operated by stepping on a lever repeatedly until water spurts out the backup tap. This one makes sucking and gurgling noises but no water is forthcoming. As I was cleaning today, I noticed (once again) that there was a lot of grunge around this pump suggesting that it had been there for a long time. I thought today would be a good time to pull it out and see if it could be fixed. Naturally, it was bolted to the sole (floor) with the nuts in an spot sufficiently inaccessible to make it undesirable to access them. After a half hour or so of effort, I managed to get one bolt out and bend another far enough to pull out the pump.
I disassembled the pump figuring I could get an overhaul kit to replace whatever was broken. I couldn't find anything that looked broken. I did find a wood chip in one chamber. Possibly it was keeping one of the valves from closing - but it seems doubtful. What I did notice was that the inside of the pump was almost as grungy as the outside in several key places. I concluded that I didn't really want to drink water that had circulated through it. I could give it a good cleanup and rebuild it but it looks like it is so old that the parts are no longer available - at least not through my friendly local West Marine store, so I pitched it all out. The replacement costs $120 so I hope the electric pump doesn't break soon.
I had another phone interview today. This one was with Intel in Hillsboro, OR. It seemed to go well. I neglected to ask how soon they would be making a decision so now the wait begins. Wouldn't that be ironic - move to Placerville to retire then go back to work in the Portland area. I can't say that I'm too excited about spending another winter in Portland but if that's where the money is, I guess I will do it. It is a 12 month contract and would give me more than enough money to finish outfitting and get sailing.
It is supposed to be partly cloudy with 10 - 13 knots of wind tomorrow. (A knot is 1.1 mph.) If it is from the west, as promised, I should have no trouble getting to Alcatraz and back - finally. Sounds like a good day to go sailing and finish my housekeeping by having the holding tank pumped.
I will be glad to get the propane stove installed. I am using a single burner hot plate for cooking. Tonight's delicacy is rice with a can of vegetarian chili added for flavor. It requires getting 1 1/2 cups of water to boiling. It takes roughly forever for that to happen. My normal approach is to put on the water to boil and go off to do something productive - like write tonight's blog entry. I'm just about finished with the entry and I see that I neglected to actually turn the hot plate on so it will be another forever before I can start boiling the rice. Ah! The joys of primitive living!
One of the hardest parts of boat living is that I've gotten accustomed to Judy's outstanding cooking for the last eight years. My cooking lacks both imagination and flavor.
Well, the wind is picking up. I can hear it whistling through the rigging and something is making an annoying tapping noise at the base of the main mast. Off I go to fix it...
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