The Blue View - A Simple Project?

One of the items on my to-do list was to replace the galley freshwater foot pump. We have pressurized water for the freshwater system, but fresh water aboard the boat is precious, and we try hard to conserve it. When a constant stream of water is not required, like when brushing teeth or washing hands, a pump or two on the foot pump sends a long squirt of water to the faucet above, and provides just the right amount of water without wasting much at all. Our foot pump died while enroute from Puerto Rico to St. Augustine, FL, and it's been on the repair list since then. Now that we are tied up next to a boatyard in Chesapeake, VA, I am finally getting to it.

It shouldn't have been much of a problem – just disconnect the hoses and remove four screws to take the old pump out, then reverse the process to install the new one. Simple – an hour, maybe two at most. Except, as our readers have heard on more than a few occasions, nothing's ever easy on a boat.

To begin with, the old pump is original equipment on Nine of Cups, and the same model is no longer available. The newer models are almost the same size, but the hose connections are not in the same place. Okay, add an hour or two to re-plumb the hoses.

As I was removing the pump. I discovered a couple of things: 1. The bulb in my task light had burned out. No problem – I'll order a new one on Amazon and use my “mouth-operated” task light in the meantime, and 2. there were several hose clamps that were overdue to be replaced. After checking my stock on-board, it became evident a trip to the chandlery was in my future. May as well replace the hoses at the same time. Add another hour and $35 to the job.

While removing the screws, it became apparent that the mounting block under the pump was somewhat dodgy. I probed it with a screwdriver and discovered it was wet through-and-through and delaminated, so it would need replacing. We also have a seawater foot pump mounted next to the freshwater pump. It is currently working, but the block supporting it also appeared to be deteriorating. Add four hours to R&R the other pump, then fabricate, seal and paint both mounting blocks.

But wait... as I was removing the mounting blocks, I noticed that the floor under the sink had a few soft spots. I investigated this to find some delamination problems with it as well. I could just ignore it and plan on doing it in a year or two, but since I now had the pumps and mounting blocks all removed, I might as well do it all now. Add a couple of hours to remove the old floor, then a couple more to fabricate and fit a new piece of plywood, plus a couple of hours to epoxy it in place, then seal, prime and paint it with two coats of marine enamel.

And as long as I'm painting the floor and the mounting blocks, I should repaint the rest of the area under the sink as it's starting to look a bit worn. Of course, I'll have to remove a few more things before repainting, like the filter assembly for the watermaker, and, oh, look there – the bracket holding the filter in place is all corroded underneath. Shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours to locate or fabricate a new bracket and fit the filter to it.

Finally, to add injury to insult – literally – I cut my head on a hose clamp on the sink drain as I was leaning in to remove the filter bracket. But that's to be expected; rarely is a project completed aboard Cups without shedding at least a little blood.

So now we're up to 18-20 hours – if nothing else goes wrong – for this simple, 1 or 2 hour job, and it's definitely cutting into my afternoon nap time. I'm really glad this wasn't anything complicated

Chores Galore Aboard Nine of Cups

Surprise! Surprise! We have chores to accomplish on Nine of Cups before we can leave the Atlantic Yacht Basin. We've certainly been in more exotic places, but the chore list remains pretty much the same no matter where we are. The to-do list is always LONG! Some chores can wait, like polishing the stainless, but it just makes sense to do some of them before we leave while we have access to shore power and a chandlery. With several days of rain due to the hurricane passing through, we're already behind. Really … some things don't change. One easy task was to replace the clockworks in our lovely ship's clock and to have both the barometer and the clock polished and lacquered. Both are solid brass and were showing considerable tarnish and weathering after 16 years aboard. The clockworks part was easy although we did go through a reputable clockworks dealer, Clockworks, rather than picking up a cheapie movement in a hobby shop. We'd tried our usual polish on the cases, as well as a host of other products designed for brass, but to no avail. We ended up sending the cases out to Refinishing and Plating Company in Milwaukee. What a great company to work with and the results were outstanding. David replaced the quartz movement and hands on the clock, reassembled the barometer, and hung them on the first day we were back. What an improvement, not to mention we have a clock that's right more than twice a day.

The manual galley foot pump for fresh water had quit working in St. Augustine, but we didn't have a chance to find a replacement before we left. David ordered one on-line and we brought it back. The installation should have been easy, but then “nothing's ever easy on a boat”. He couldn't find the exact replacement, but that wasn't the biggest bugaboo. Once under the galley sink, he found the plywood floor beneath the sink had deteriorated and needed replacement. A 2-hour project has become a 4-day ( 2-3 hours/day) project as he's gathered marine plywood, measured and cut replacement plywood pieces, installed the wood and epoxied. There's still painting and then finally installing the foot pump left to do. In the meantime, all his tools and the contents of the undersink locker are piled up and stacked in the galley, aft cabin and the saloon.

One other bigger project on the to-do list is enlarging the thru-hull/drain from the propane locker. David has modified the drain in the past by adding a screen to keep debris from clogging it, but the drain itself is just too small. Whenever there are hard rains, the locker fills and eventually the tanks are floating around and we have leaks into the locker below. He ordered the parts and we've been waiting for some sunny days to get the job done … after the galley pump is installed.

There are several niggly items on the list like replacing all the watermaker hoses (it's time) and fixing the lamp over the aft sink. With Hurricane Hermine's torrential downpours, we discovered three new leaks, all from hatches, which need to be addressed. And, of course, there's always varnishing to be done … both interior and exterior.

Because David's brother Paul is coming aboard soon, we've had to make room on the forward bunk, so he'd have a place to sleep. Actually, we had to find the forward bunk first; it's been loaded to capacity for more than a decade with “stuff”. We unloaded lots of gear before we left last July, but there was more to do to make it habitable for crew. I cleaned and found places to re-stow most of the gear elsewhere. We found that neither the fan nor the berth light worked, so we ordered replacements and the installation crept onto David's list.

Before we left Vegas, we ordered more “stuff” to replace some of the old “stuff” we had aboard. Our shore power cordset, for instance, had seen better days, so we ordered a new one. The gear hammocks were pretty sad, too. We'd mended them a few times, but figured perhaps new wasn't a bad idea. Now that we're back in the States, we can take advantage of Amazon Prime. Instant gratification!

Since we've been here, we also ordered some new 5-gallon gas cans to replace the old weather-worn ones we keep on deck. We use gasoline for the dinghy engine and the gas generator we have aboard. We'll eventually need to replace all the diesel cans, too, but this is a good start.

One new item aboard arrived as a surprise. Our Simplex tea kettle was 20 years old and had quite a few dents and bruises, having suffered from weather and rough seas over the years. It was looking pretty sad. The president of Simplex, Graham Tweed, is a sailor and has followed our travels for some time. He obviously enjoyed the comments about our Simplex kettle over the years because to celebrate our circumnavigation, he sent us a new one. It was sent to Lin in Boston to make shipping instructions easy, but we only got to see and use it recently. What a lovely addition to the galley. Quite an extravagant and wonderful gift! Thanks, Graham!

So … with all there is to be done, when will we leave? Well, the Captain is working hard to complete as many projects as possible, but none of them seem to be on the “A-must complete before departure” list. We'll complete what we can until Paul arrives and then head out as soon as he gets settled aboard.

Where to? Out of the ICW and into the Chesapeake Bay and then … ???

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Back to Nine of Cups - Chesapeake, VA

We're back! We left the dry heat of Las Vegas at 11 am (PDT) and arrived in Baltimore at 6:30 pm (EDT). After a 4-1/2 hour direct flight, a 3-hour time change and 2113.6 mi (3401.4 km), the humid heat of Baltimore smacked us in the face as soon as we walked down the jetway. We had reserved a one-way car rental to get us from Baltimore to Chesapeake, VA another 3-1/2 hours away where Cups was waiting patiently for us. Wimps that we are, we managed about an hour of road time before we opted for a picnic lunch from Safeway and a cool room for the night just south of Washington, DC.

We were back on the road by 8 am enjoying the scenery. Signs for crab and shrimp began appearing. Thick, green forests lined two-lane roads. There were antique shops galore. We passed through Windsor, Virginia … peanut capital of the world, they claim. Historical battle sites and markers were common and the Civil War iconic split-rail fences snaked along the roadside. And then there was the smell of salt and we were getting closer.

After a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some basic provisions and new pillows, we arrived at the Atlantic Yacht Basin. There was Nine of Cups gently bobbing in the water right where we left her. Inside, she was musty and had that closed-up smell, but there was no mildew nor mold to complain about. We opened all the hatches and ports, lugged all the duffels and gear aboard and began getting straightened away.

She was looking a bit forlorn with lots of pine needles and tree debris on her decks, but all in all, she was in fine shape. We washed the decks and got rid of a few new liveaboards … namely spider webs in the rigging and mud wasp nests in the cockpit. In no time at all, she was looking shipshape.

A day and night aboard and it was as if we'd never left … that is except for Hurricane Hermine which was quickly approaching. By the time she reached the Chesapeake, she'd lost some of her oomph and we only saw heavy rains and winds at about 30-40 mph.

There was significant surge and flooding along the coastal areas, but the Atlantic Yacht Basin is snug and secure and we experienced nothing beyond discovering a new hatch leak and a bit of rocking and rolling. We checked the lines and adjusted the fenders a few times, but otherwise neither we nor Cups were any worse for the wear.

So … now that we've weathered the hurricane, what's the plan? Well, David's brother, Paul, is hopefully heading our way in the next week. While awaiting his arrival, we have plenty of chores and repairs to catch up on. We're making plans for the few weeks we have on the Chesapeake, but mostly … it's just good to be home.

Happy Labor Day!