April 16, 2022 Boat projects in pretty places

There is a saying that most boaters live by.  “Cruising is just working on your boat in pretty places.”  Today Dave worked on a couple little things to improve our holding tanks in the heads.  He added an extra air vent that will help when emptying the tanks.  I am always amazed at the tools we have on board for most any project.  And Dave keeps impressing me with his skills (or at least attempts after googling).  He had to drill a hole through the hull in each head (which is always a little scary).  Then he got in the dinghy and moved to the outside wall to put a fitting through the hole.  Then I added a collar and a nut on the inside.  He finished up by connecting them to our holding tank.  

the drill used to go through our hull

the piece of hull that was removed

the bright circle is the new hole in the boat

the holding tank with a perspective of the space he was working in

parts and pieces

new parts in place before connecting to tank

He also added a sensor that will light up when the holding tank is close to being full.  At this time, we just go by how many days we have been using it.  Or the sound of the water as it is entering the tank as you flush the head. 

light will be off if empty

the sensor will be towards the top of the tank and light up when it detects "contents"

Dave is always eye balling things on the boat to look for any problems. He found a rusty part on our anchor chain that was used to connect two chains.  The rode for our main boat anchor has 200 ft of chain attached to 100 ft of chain with an “indestructible” expensive chain link connector that had rusted, go figure.  Dave just happened to notice a rusty knot in the anchor locker.  The connector is after the first 200 ft of chain, so we don’t usually even get to that section while anchoring.

Since the anchor locker is at the bow, Dave used a cut off disk that worked in a battery powered hand drill to cut through the connector and through a chain link.  He knew there would be metal shavings, so he used a bucket on a rope to scoop sea water and wash down the deck.  Note for future projects-run a power cord out there with a shop vac to collect the metal shavings.  The shavings ended up all over our deck (and even through the hatch for the forward head) and ended up leaving rust speckles in places you wouldn’t believe.  Of course, you don’t notice them until the next day, which is too late.  He used all of our Starbrite Oxalic acid rust remover, so we’ll have to live with it until we find some.

rusty connector, links of chain, battery powered drill with cutting disc

rust found at a later date

He replaced the chain link connector with a stainless steel quick link that will have to be replaced in the future.