More Plumbing

Well, most of you think we should be ready to leave by now, and we are almost there. Our last issue was yet another plumbing job. With everything apart under the lazarette, half of our batteries out and on deck, the engine's exhaust apart, we took a good look at the mysterious underpinnings to see what else might break. We also had the boatyard's mechanic over to get professional eyes on this area. Klaus, our favorite mechanic, pointed to the large exhaust hose that exits from the engine, and said that needed replacing. OMG! Yes - it had a groove worn in it from chafe through the plywood partition covering the engine. To have that hose break or blow out underway would be catastrophic - no more motoring! This is a large, double-ply, heavy hose, but - see the groove:

Here's the old hose in place

The groove that is working on a break in the hose

We finally got the replacement installed by the mechanic, with a sleeve to protect it from chafe in the future.

The anti-siphon water lock that the hose connects to

The mountain of stuff out of our lazarette, under a tarp

 So, now we have a cockpit back - the batteries have been re-installed, the waterlock is back in place, and all of the stuff is stowed away again. Our engine purrs without any drips, in goes into gear, and now we are ready to do a sea trial in the next day or two!