Deck Bungs...

Replaced another 39 deck bungs with teak dowel. Used West 205 in lieu of 5 minute epoxy. The bungs need to be sanded down while the epoxy is wet so the saw dust fills any voids. The West is less viscous and some of the bungs rotated while being sanded. This is an atheistic problem as the bung's grain can go out of alignment with the deck's grain.

HIgh Current Battery Switch and Warm Color LEDs

Replaced the thruster isolation switch with a Blue Seas M-Series 6006. It's rated for 1,500A for 10 seconds, 775A for 60 seconds, 500A intermittent over 5 minutes, and 300A continuously. The thruster draws less than 425A. Definitely don't want to run it continuously for more than 2-1/2 minutes.



Not a flattering shot but what can you do? Installed a 12 LED, yellow-white light in the existing fixture over the sink. The LED comes with wire leads which easily fit under the socket's retaining screws for the +12 and ground lines. The new LED's light is much warmer than that of the blue-white LED I previously installed. In fact, the yellow-white LED light is very much like that given off by the existing incandescent bulb. The only thing that keeps me from replacing all the incandescent bulbs with LEDs is their $18/each cost. Question is how to keep the incandescent bulbs working continuously, not intermittently as they're prone to now. A Google search is in order.

Final Fix On Slipping Simpson Davit Wire Rope

The new wire rope in both davits has come loose from the winch drum's retaining clip. To fix the problem the retaining clip was tightened. Additionally the wire rope's bitter end, after the retaining clip, now goes all the way around the drum and then passes back into it. This extra wrap should keep the wire from slipping. The secret to putting new wire rope on the drum is to remove the three bolts holding the drum to the electric motor. With the drum and electric motor apart, it's much easier to get to the drum's wire rope retaining clip.

Wearing Impeller Pump and Final Head (as in Toilet) Thoughts

Since replacing the impeller the pump has been dripping water. Upon inspection I found two things. First, the pump's wear plate was really worn (was doing it's job I guess). Second, there was no gasket between the wear plate and the engine. I made and installed a gasket, put the worn part of the wear plate against the gasket, put the impeller against the wear plate, and finally the pump housing over the impeller. No leaks. Nellie has a spare raw water pump aboard. When next the impeller is ready to be changed out, I should put the whole spare pump in.

 Some final 'head' thoughts: The world has changed and it was while rebuilding Nellie's sanitation system that this point was driven home in some interesting ways. The old sanitation design (see first diagram below) reflected the mores of its time. Nellie's new design (see second diagram below) reflects today's rules and maybe, even some of tomorrow's. Almost everywhere in US waters it's illegal to pump the head directly overboard. In fact, where we normally cruise, the inland waters of the east coast, even having an open head through-hull is a fineable offense. So, how does this affect Nellie's sanitation design? Surprisingly in some dramatic ways, and mostly for the better.





When, by law, a normally-open through-hull becomes normally-closed, it's a game changer. There's a cascading affect on the sanitation system's design. The design used to require an anti-siphon and a three-way valve. The first kept the boat from flooding via the always-open thru-hull. The second allowed toilet waste to bypass the holding tank and go directly to the thru-hull. Now, redesign the system about a closed thru-hull and things get simpler. All toilet waste goes to the holding tank. From there the waste is either pumped overboard or vacuumed out via the foredeck fitting. Here's the up-side: by removing the anti-siphon and the three-way valve we eliminated 30' of hose, a dozen hose clamps, and myriad sources of potential 'stink'. A good trade I think against the ability to flush the head directly overboard. This project also resulted in some interesting lessons learned:

 1. The old 3/4" vent line was mostly clogged at its connection to the holding tank. The new vent line slopes upward from the tank fitting so that sloshing effluent will drain back into the tank with enough speed to scrub the line's walls.

2. Don't use brass fitting in a sanitation system—they'll dissolve. Use PVC or nylon.

3. All effluent lines slope towards where they drain to eliminate 'standing' effluent and the resultant odors.

4. The same long-moleculed plasticizer which makes PVC hose flexible also makes it more permeable to odors than solid PVC pipe.

5. A little heat from a heat gun greatly helps get stiff, white PVC hose over a barbed connector.

6. Effluent odors can permeate an inexpensive polyethylene holding tank. Test for this by first cleaning a section of the tank and then wipe the area with a cotton cloth. Take the cloth off the boat and then smell it. If head odor is present the polyethylene tank is permeable.

7. Adding some clear 1-1/2" hose at the through-hull allows you to see when you're done pumping out the holding tank.

8. Hiding the toilets water and effluent lines under the toilet's platform gives a cleaner look to the head. There's plenty of space under the platform to house the lines and it can be accessed from a hole made in either the engine room bulkhead or in the bottom of the stateroom's hanging locker.

 In conclusion, new laws, and hopefully some enlightenment, motivated us to change how we operate Nellie's sanitation system. Now all head effluent goes into the holding tank. The holding tank can be emptied with either a shore based pump out or into the surrounding water via a through-hull. Looking to the future, Vermont's law may be an example of what we can expect next—there it's illegal to even have a hose connecting the holding tank to an underwater through-hull. Clearly we haven't gone that far with Nellie but that configuration is achievable by removing just a few hose clamps.

Thanks got to Bob White, Renegade #72, for his review and inputs.

Replacing Simpson Davit Wire Rope

Put new wire rope (two each 18' of 7x19, right hand lay, 5/32" (4mm), stainless steel), swages, and thimbles in both davits. The 5/32" Amsteel-Blue worked fine but i worried about it chafing. It's now a spare and stored inside the starboard davit.

Oil Change Kind-of Day

At 5275 engine hours: new Racor and Cummins fuel filters; Cummins oil change and new oil filter; and transmission oil change. At 224 Onan engine hours changed the oil.

Paint and Poly...

Sanded and applied two coats of satin Minwax Polyurethane to the pilot houses' bench seat. Sanded and put one coat of Cetol on the Dutch door jams. Painted the two diesel deck fill plates yellow and two water deck fill plates blue. Painted the 2M and AM/FM antennas white. Wispy fiberglass strands were starting to show on each. Made new fiberglass screens for each small opening port.